I’ve been working with two clients this past month who have recently lost a close family member and need to go through decades of paperwork to find important documents for the family, the courts, their CPA and their attorney. Both clients are inundated with voluminous amounts of paperwork that their loved ones left behind. Unfortunately, in these cases like so many others, the heirs and trustees, children, loved ones or other representatives are oftentimes left to deal with the paperwork and so much more.
The problem is there’s a lot to do besides sorting through decades of paperwork! The family has to figure out funeral and/or memorial arrangements, what to do with their loved ones’ possessions, determine what the current finances are, figure out if there is insurance, etc. And, they’re doing all of this at a time when they’re grieving. It is an emotionally charged time. Tensions are high and there are important things that need to be taken care of. Imagine having to deal with all of that and then having to deal with boxes and boxes or several filing cabinets filled with paperwork that need to be gone through.
Unfortunately, they can’t just throw it away or shred it all. They need to figure out what has to be kept and for how long, what can be tossed and what needs to be shredded. Their CPA will need some documents to file a final tax return. Their Estate Planning Attorney will need documents if the estate winds up in probate. If there is a car, they need to find the pink slip and, if there are insurance policies, they’ll need to find them in order to file a claim to receive benefits. Of course, there will most probably be personal documents that the family will want as well: Ancestry records, health history and other memorabilia.
What I’ve learned throughout my years of helping clients with their paperwork, is that the reason there is so much of it is that most people don’t know what to do with it all so they just keep it. They don’t know how long they need to keep the papers. Some don’t know the best method to file it, archive it or store it. Others just don’t have the time or make the time so the mail and other papers just get shoved in drawers, boxes or filing cabinets.
So, I’d like to suggest that you start dealing with your paperwork when you can, a little at a time. Here’s some suggestions to get you started:
· Toss what you don’t want or need (advertisements, mailers, flyers, donation requests)
· Shred what you don’t want or need (credit card offers, solicitations, anything with a bar code)
· File the papers that you need but don’t need to do anything with them at the moment (Investment statements, bills that are on auto-pay)
· Put the other documents in their properly labeled files to deal with another time (To Do, To Pay)
· Consider going paperless and getting on-line statements
· Scheduling some bills to be paid via auto-pay
As a Professional Organizer with a specialty in handling paperwork, I would respectfully ask you to consider NOT leaving this for your loved ones to deal with. Start purging a little at a time. Ask your CPA or Financial Advisor for guidance, look up the IRS Retention Guidelines or google the answers as to how long you need to keep certain documents, records, bills, taxes, etc. Of course, if you get stuck you can always call me for assistance. I’d be happy to help!
Stay tuned for next month’s newsletter where I will walk you through setting up a functional and easily accessible filing system.