Where to Keep Your Will & Trust
Where should you keep your original Living Trust, Will, and other Estate Documents? The common answer I get is, “In my safe deposit box.” However, you must consider that while that sounds like a good place to keep these documents, it is in fact “locking the key in the safe”. The reason is simply that it is those estate documents that will allow your trustee/executor to get into the safe deposit box in the event your your death.
There are legal procedures to retrieve estate documents out of a safe deposit box when the owner dies. Nevertheless, I strongly urge you to keep your Living Trust, Will, and other Estate Documents at home in an accessible place. You will need then from time to time, especially your Living Trust, for your own business transactions. Put a photocopy in your safe deposit box, or leave it with a trusted family member or friend as a backup in case something happens to your original.
I also often hear that, “My lawyer kept the original”. I do not think this is a good idea. One, this may seem cynical, but I think many law firms “safeguard originals” primarily as a way of guaranteeing future business. Two, law firms and lawyers go out of business, move, die, retire, etc. For these reasons I strongly feel clients should keep their own original documents, with the lawyer holding a back-up copy.
One last thing….Do you have someone else on the signature card of your safe deposit box who can access it if you become disabled or die?
-Ken