When you’re caring for a loved one near the end of his or her life, you may find yourself searching for important documents. Financial records, family histories, or medical files may be requested, and if your loved one is no longer living at home, or is too ill to help, you may find yourself in the position of having to track them down. 

After death, it’s also possible that you’ll have to go through a loved one’s personal information, looking for important records. This can be a difficult task, as it may trigger sad or challenging memories. It may be made more difficult if your loved one didn’t keep track of his paperwork. Here’s a guide to organizing personal records. Keeping good records can make any phase of life smoother and easier, and setting up a system and forming good habits as a younger person can make one’s later years much less stressful. 



First, you’ll need some sort of organizational system. For most people, a file cabinet works well. It should be durable, large enough to hold the records you have now and may accumulate in the future, and perhaps fireproof. 

Second, you should categorize the records you wish to keep. Your system may reflect your own preferences, but in general, important papers fall into a few categories: financial; health; home and property; auto; appliances and devices; and personal. Within those categories, you may want to make smaller divisions. For example, “personal files” could include birth and marriage certificates, diplomas, passports, etc. 

There are a few documents that should be kept forever. These are an especially good idea to keep in a locked and/or fireproof place: Birth certificate, death certificates (of a spouse or parent), marriage certificates, military records, Social Security cards, and retirement and pension records. Although you should always have the original on hand, make a copy in case they are stolen or destroyed. 

Financial files

These records are especially important for an aging loved one to have in order. During life, their financial records may be necessary to determine eligibility for Medicaid; payment plans for a nursing home; or apply for retirement or military benefits.

Financial matters can provoke some stress between family members. Many people don’t want their family members to know all the details of their financial status. However, as a parent ages, he or she must eventually deputize someone to act as the financial “power of attorney.” This document should kept carefully, as it will be required if a loved one enters a nursing home, becomes unable to make decisions, or passes away. 

Within the realm of financial documents, these are the most crucial: bank accounts; investment accounts, including 401(k)s or other retirement accounts; tax returns; savings bonds; stock certificates; statements reflecting any outstanding debts, like mortgage statements or credit card bills. 

Medical matters

Keep a list of all doctors your loved one is seeing. This should include phone numbers and addresses, to allow for more efficient planning of appointments. 
    
You should also keep a list of all medications. Frequently, when an aging patient has a health crisis, he can’t easily recall all the medications he’s on. This is crucial information for a doctor, who must consider any side effects of drugs being taken together. You may want to make a couple of photocopies so that your loved one could keep one in his car, and you or another caregiver could keep one on hand. A list like this is an excellent place to note allergies, as well. 

Ideally, you should also keep records of hospitalizations and surgeries.
    
Harnessing technology

There is no single best way of maintaining records. If you or loved one feel most comfortable with an old-school file cabinet, or even a large cardboard box with file folders, that’s fine. The most important thing is to have a system that works for you. 

However, plenty of technology has emerged to help reduce some of the paperwork. Some hospitals and insurance plans now offer online access to patients. Also, there are numerous apps designed to help manage records. You may want to check out iBlueButton or Track My Medical Records for health records, as well as Enfold or FileThis for financial and overall organization.