Guides / Be ready
Where to store important documents
What belongs in a home safe, a safe deposit box, or a secure digital copy.
Some documents are hard to replace. Storing them well protects you from fire, flood and theft, and makes them easy to grab in an evacuation.
Hard to replace (keep originals protected)
- Birth and marriage certificates, adoption papers
- Passports and Social Security cards
- Vehicle titles
- Wills, powers of attorney and trust documents (and tell someone where they are)
- Deeds and stock certificates
Options
- A fire- and water-resistant home safe: quick access, good for passports and documents you may need on short notice
- A safe deposit box: very secure, but not accessible after hours, and usually not the place for a will or passports
- Encrypted digital copies stored off-site: easy to share with family in an emergency
Grab-and-go
Keep copies of IDs, insurance cards and policy declarations in a "go" folder that you can take in an evacuation.
General household organization information, not legal, tax or financial advice.