If you are caring for your aging parents, now is a great time to do a “critical documents” review to make sure all essential records and documents are up-to-date, organized and accessible. Chances are you’ve at least begun thinking about doing that to prepare for taxes, why not do a general review at the same time?

When getting organized, there are four things I suggest we need to think about.  What are the documents I might need? How should they be organized and maintained?  How long should I keep them? What’s the best way to destroy the ones I no longer need?  This is the first of a two-part article to cover those topics.

Maintaining complete and current records saves you time and money, and may even save your life in case of an emergency. Here are the critical documents you should make sure you have if you are involved in your parents’ care physically and/or financially. You should also be thinking about gathering them for yourself!

• Trust.  A trust protects assets within the trust from the high cost of probate. If your parents (or you) don’t have one, consult with an estate planning attorney to see if it’s necessary.
• Will.  A will is the legal document that outlines how a person’s estate and personal property will be managed and distributed after death. Again, consult with an estate planning attorney. Both wills and trusts should be reviewed and updated every 3-5 years, or when significant life events happen, such as the birth of a grandchild or death of a named beneficiary.
• Advanced Health Care Directive. This document allows a patient to give explicit instructions about medical treatment to be administered when the patient is terminally ill or lacks the capacity to make their own decisions about their health. You can download your state’s Advanced Care Directive here: (http://www.caringinfo.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3289)
• Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA). This is a written document in which one person (the principal) appoints another person to act as an agent on his/her behalf, thus giving the agent authority to perform certain acts or functions on behalf of the principal. There are two types of DPOA: DPOA-Financial and DPOA-Health Care.
• POLST (Physicians Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment). This document (very often printed on bright colored paper) is completed based on a conversation between a patient and their health care professional. It is designed to ensure that seriously ill or frail patients can choose the treatments they want or do not want and that their wishes are documented and honored. Not every state has a POLST program. California does. The POLST does not replace the Advanced Health Care Directive. Learn more about POLST at http://www.polst.org/
• Emergency Contact List. It’s important to have a list of family, friends, and neighbors who should be contacted in case of an emergency. Note people who have a key to the house in case emergency access is needed.
• List of Medications and Physicians. Anyone over the age of 50 should carry a list in their wallet of their key medical providers’ names, specialties, and contact numbers along with a list of current medications and dosages.

Organizing documents

Of course, along with these documents you should also keep other critical documents that are important to maintain at any age, such as tax statements, insurance documents, banking information, mortgage or rental agreements, and vital records (e.g., birth certificate, marriage certificate, divorce decree).  You may consider grouping documents and records into the following categories:

• Financial/Tax – Bank statements, receipts, tax returns, etc.
• Legal – Estate planning, will, trust, DPOA, etc.
• Identification – Vital records, passport, Social Security card, green card, Military ID, etc.
• Medical – Health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, VA health benefits, Caregiver agency contract, etc.
• Ownership – Deeds for real estate, automobile titles, stock/bond certificates, etc.
• Valuables – Records related to valuable jewelry, art, collectibles, etc.
• Important contacts – Numbers to call/people to contact in case of emergency – health care providers, family, friends, neighbors, etc.

As you are gathering documents, if you find that you are missing some vital records, e.g., birth certificate, go here for information on obtaining copies: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w.htm

Use this article as a checklist to start gathering documents. Next time, I’ll talk about storing documents, how long you have to retain documents, and how to safely and securely destroy documents you no longer need.