A Parent’s Paperwork: What to Find, Keep, Scan and Shred

Updated 2026-10

Find these first

• Will, any trust documents, and the name of the attorney who drew them up
• Durable power of attorney for finances, and any healthcare power of attorney or directive
• Social Security card, Medicare card and any supplemental insurance cards
• Birth certificate, marriage certificate and, where relevant, divorce decree or a spouse’s death certificate
• Military discharge papers (DD-214), which are needed for veterans’ benefits
• Deeds, vehicle titles and mortgage or loan papers
• Life insurance, annuity and long-term care insurance policies
• The last two or three years of tax returns

If these are found and their location written down, the family has most of what it needs for an emergency, and most of what an attorney will ask for.

Keep the originals

Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, deeds, titles, birth, marriage and death certificates, and military discharge papers should be kept as originals in a safe place the family knows about. A scan is a useful reference but is often not accepted where it matters: a court generally needs the original will, and a bank or the motor vehicle office may want an original or certified copy. Some families keep originals in a fireproof box at home; a safe deposit box can be hard to open quickly after a death, so check the bank’s rules if you use one.

Scan and keep

• Tax returns and their supporting documents, for at least seven years
• Records of what was paid for the home and for major improvements, for as long as the home is owned and a few years after it is sold
• Records of investment purchases, which set the cost basis for a later sale
• Pension, annuity and retirement account statements showing beneficiaries
• Insurance policies currently in force, with the declarations pages
• The most recent statement from every account, which proves it exists
• Medical bills and insurer statements for the current and previous year

Usually safe to shred

• Paid utility, phone and cable bills once the payment shows on a statement, unless needed for a home office or rental
• Monthly bank and card statements older than a year or two, once a later statement shows the account is in order and nothing on them supports a tax return
• Expired insurance policies, unless there is an open claim
• ATM and shop receipts for ordinary purchases
• Duplicate copies of anything already kept
• Pre-approved credit offers, which are worth shredding rather than recycling

The IRS generally has three years to audit a return, longer if income was substantially under-reported, and indefinitely if a return was never filed. Seven years covers most situations. When in doubt about a legal or tax document, keep it.

A one-page index

The single most useful document a family can make is one page listing where everything is: the will and who holds the original, each bank and what accounts are there, each insurance policy and its beneficiaries, the attorney, the tax preparer and the financial adviser, and where the passwords are kept. Update it once a year. If something happens suddenly, it saves days.

When it is a garage, not a drawer

Some parents keep everything. Sorting decades of paper is best done in a set order: first the documents above, then anything that looks like an account, then the rest by year. Boxes can be sent by tracked mail to a bookkeeper who sorts and scans remotely, with a list of what can be shredded sent back for your parent to approve.

Where to go next

• Organizing a parent’s paperwork
• The money side of an assisted living move
• Record-keeping for executors and trustees