Where Is The Best Place?

[makaylagardner6]

Where is the best place to keep my signed original estate planning documents?

[Answerprancer]

Sounds like a biscuit tin under the bed to me!

[Answerprancer]

...and if you're worried about burglars finding it, just post Joeluke and his undisclosed stature/'wade in' abilities to guard the place ;-)

[owdhamer]

McVities AP.

[jamesbishop911]

The best place is probably in a safe deposit box because it will protect the documents from theft, fire, accidental loss, and most other types of damage or harm. A potential problem, though, is getting it opened after your death.

If you decide to keep your estate planning documents in a safe deposit box, consider naming a family member or your Executor or trustee as a joint holder on the box. That should simplify matters following your death because someone will be able to get into the box without delay. Also, if you live in a flood zone, be sure to put the document in a water-tight plastic bag. As many shocked clients have learned, water damage caused by flooding can ruin the contents of a safe deposit box.

Another place to keep your original estate planning documents is with the attorney who drafted them. However, I have decided not to retain original documents because of concern over theft, fire, flood, storms, or other loss of the document. It would also be prohibitively expensive to store hundreds or thousands of original documents. Also, what would happen if I were to die or my lawfirm were to cease operations?

Many people keep their original estate planning documents at home in a secure place. If you have a safe at home, that can be a good place to keep them. Be aware though, when thieves enter your home and discover a locked safe, they often take the whole safe thinking they'll find cash and jewelry. The last thing they want is a file containing your estate planning documents, but that's one of the things they'll get if you keep them in your safe. Therefore, unless your safe is bolted to the foundation of your house, it may not be the best place to keep your originals.

Another option with regard to a Will is to deposit it with the county clerk's office. Taking this approach can be a great idea, except that you need to be sure your records at home clearly indicate where the original can be found. Moving to a different county or changing your Will can cause problems as well.

More people than you would expect keep original Wills and other estate planning documents in an air-tight plastic bag at the bottom of their freezers. Freezers are well insulated and heavy, and have a way of withstanding fires, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Also, they don't die or move away, and they are stolen far less frequently than in-home safes.

[factor-fiction]

The answer above is probably correct as it has been pasted from one of several US law firm websites where the identical question and answer appears on the FAQs page- eg
http://www.cnthomas.com/Probate-Estate-Questions-Everyone-Should-Ask.shtml
http://www.gwenjoneslawfirm.com/estatefaq.htm

We get quite a few questions on AB where someone asks a technical question and a new member pops up quickly with a ready made answer, yet there is no link or obvious spam. We have had quite a few examples about Indian tax forms and tax allowances for example in the last week.

I'm aware that some posters in countries such as India use this site as a way of practising their use of English- the tutors may set this as a task for them- but these posts here same to be from the USA so I'm not clear what the purpose of copying and pasting FAQs is. But as buildersmate says on the mirror thread, there's no harm in just letting them get on with it

[factor-fiction]

Some answers here
http://community.lawyers.com/forums/p/128002/646172.aspx

[Baldric]

Could it be;
http://www.topix.com/member/profile/jamesbishop911

[factor-fiction]

I think so, baldric.

[woofgang]

strange.....very strange, and seemingly pointless.

[factor-fiction]

Did you find this one baldric?http://forums.altnews.com.au/users/makaylagardner6

[factor-fiction]

http://forums.altnews.com.au/users/makaylagardner6

[Baldric]

Here's another one;

http://forums.altnews.com.au/users/makaylagardner6

[Baldric]

Snap^^^^^^^^^^^

[Bazile]

I've got it folks - it is advertising .
That limk that factor30 shows the person advertising them selves , as in

//Im working for tax adviser and asset protection and estate planning. We offered services like asset protection solutions and bookkeeping, accounting, business owners, companies trust, tax advive and legal.//

With the website address clearly stated .

Because they are not allowed to advertise on AB ( without paying ) they have come up with this rouse of putting posts on the site , which on the face of it , doesn't seem to have a reason .
However what they hoped is that someone would do a bit of investigating to find out who they are and post a link ( which contains the 'advert' )

[Bazile]

//That limk that factor30 shows the person advertising them selves , as in //

should read -

That link that factor30 posted , shows the person advertising them selves , as follows -

[factor-fiction]

We had something similar with some queries about Indian tax forms- there were no spam links but when we googled the user names we found some top/topless models. I think they rely on plonkers like me looking further. Still, I can't see any business coming their way from AB members. Maybe it's just to increase their profile so their name crops up on SEO/Google searches as helpful advisers

[Whoever]

I'm surprised anybody suggested keeping a Will or other valuable documents in a waterproof bag in the bottom of a freezer. Do they not know that freezers can break down, or defrose during power cuts. I doubt even a waterproof bag would protect documents from the horrible smelly mess that ensues when a freezer defrosts.