Why we put your estate planning documents in a notebook

Why we put your estate planning documents in a notebook.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Chrissy, I'm chuckling to myself, because I think over the years how many times has somebody said, "Tom, I brought with me my existing will. I brought with me my existing trust. Here it is. Take a look at it." I open it, I pull it out of the envelope. I find two possibilities. One is, it's an unsigned copy. "Tom, I didn't know I didn't have a signed copy." Or number two, it literally is a copy of the signed documents. "This is great, these are copies of your signed documents. Where's the originals?" "Tom, I don't know. I thought those were the originals."

Attorney Chris Merrill: What an important starting point that the clients don't even realize that they don't have the originals. Just that in and of itself is super important for them to know so that they can deal with it now.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Exactly. That's the whole thing about envelopes, is that you-- What do you do with envelopes? You seal them and you stick them in a drawer somewhere. When we do estate planning documents for people, we put everything in a white notebook. It is easy to get access to. Number one, you don't have to fold any documents. Everything is tabbed. If you want to find your will, your living will healthcare surrogate, open the notebook, find the tab and there it is.

Number two, it's easier to keep track of. Envelopes are so easy to lose in a drawer somewhere. If you got a notebook, you stick it on the shelf somewhere and it's going to be easier to find when you want it.

Attorney Chris Merrill: It is. In addition, Tom, I used these words with clients. When they sign and they are leaving with that notebook, these are my words. "This should be a working notebook. It should not collect dust." Why? Because one of the sections that we include in there is about their account information. Part of that is keeping it up to date.

If they are keeping it up to date, even quarterly, and making sure and-- I'm talking about, too, everything from car insurance, homeowners insurance, their bank account information.

As things change or are updated, you update this notebook. Why? Because then, not in addition to your estate planning legal documents, you also have the practical day to day of a snapshot of your accounts and information. That's what makes it easy for your children or loved ones to help you in two ways. One, yes, if you are alive but incapacitated, as well as if you've passed away.