I commented in the post about my parents' passing that I was grateful for the organized lists my mother left for me to sort out the family accounts. I made it a goal of my own to corral our accounts into a comprehensive list so that daughter Heather would have a clue what to do if Jim and I should not be around (or, more likely, a starting point for Jim or me when the first of us dies).
It is projects like this that can consume me because I have loved spreadsheets and databases since I first learned of their existence. When I told Heather that I had completed the list she asked if I could share or provide a template for others to use. Since these lists are personal and I think most people have their own organizational preferences, I doubt if my order will fit others. But, I have decided to outline what I did and anyone who reads this personal journal can use, adapt, or ignore it.
There are two lists. The first is a "Master Account List" and the second a "Where Is It?" list.
Master Account List
Columns: Institution / Contact / Account Type / Owner / Value / As of / Beneficiary 1 / Beneficiary 2 / Notes
I will comment on each of these columns.
Institution is pretty straightforward, but once I exhausted the financial institutions including banks and investment firms I went on to include Life insurance companies, property, cars and then finished off the list with sources (current and potential) of retirement income and credit cards.
Contact is the most loosely organized cell(s) since it might need more rows to include a name and a phone number.
Account Type is important. Is it a CD? Is it an IRA or Roth IRA, etc.
Account Number will help keep information straight.
Owner is also important. Is it joint? Is it one or the other? Should it be changed?
Value is just a snapshot in time. Mom's list was slightly out of date, but it was close enough so that I could make estimates for myself and others.
"As of" puts a date on that value. If an account is on an auto-payout plan the amount will be less by the time someone needs to do the accounting.
Beneficiary 1 and Beneficiary 2 may be critical if one is trying to avoid or reduce probate. This exercise has given me a "to do" list to check on beneficiary designations and to make them if they don't exist. I'd also recommend having the printed beneficiary document with signature(s) in the hard copy file. In my mother's case, we had a draft of a document without the signatures but the bank did not have the document in their digital files even though it was done the same day as another beneficiary document that they did have. It was a small account and I could follow my mother's beneficiary wishes, but it could have been the tipping point for the total value of the assets.
Notes just gives me a space to make a comment as to the source or plans for a certain account.
The second list will help someone to find important documents.
Where Is It?
Columns: Item / Place
Items includes banking, credit card info, digital files and backups, financial accounts, passwords, power of attorney documents (health and finances), taxes, and anything else that you have of value.
Second section list:
Contents of XXXXX (could be safe deposit box, fireproof box in house, freezer, etc.)
This list will help identify what is in these "boxes." (In some ways it duplicates the Item/Place list, but this is the list of the things in one place. Some things to include: auto titles, property titles, birth certificates, marriage certificates, passports, powers of attorney, social security numbers. Whatever you decide to save and protect, a list may help or speed the search.
I consider all of these lists/spreadsheets a work in progress. Yesterday I remembered an important document that was at the bottom of a basket. It would have been really hard for someone to find and it could have meant that our wishes for donating our bodies to the UW Medical School for scientific research would have been overlooked. Duh! Those forms are now in their proper place and ON THE LIST!
Hope this helps someone, sometime.
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