Instructions for Storage

(Required Reading)

After you have signed your documents and have had them witnessed, you must store them properly.

1. Store your Original Documents safely.

   They should be stored somewhere private and secure, ideally waterproof and fireproof.

   A filing cabinet or a safe in your home are good ideas.

2. Let your Executors know where your Will is.

   After you have stored your Will away, you must let your Executors know where it is, so that they may retrieve it after you've died.

   Therefore it must be stored somewhere private and secure, but it should not be somewhere completely secret and locked off. Your Executors must be able to access it when it is time.

   Similarly, your Power of Attorney documents should be stored somewhere private and secure. They should only be able to be retrieved and released for use when they are needed - when an incapacity scenario arises.

3. Preserve the Originals.

   Just to make it completely clear, it is the originals that must be preserved, and not copies.

   In most jurisdictions it is only the originals that are legally valid. Scans and photocopies are not.

   Overall, it is your responsibility to preserve your original Will throughout the remainder of your entire life and up to your death, after which it must be found by your Executors and submitted to Court.

   Similarly, you must preserve your Power of Attorney documents throughout the remainder of your entire life, in case a scenario of diminished capacity ever arises, upon which they must be released to your Attorneys for use on your behalf.

4. Update your Documents Periodically.

   It is recommended that you replace your Will, Power of Attorneys, etc. every five years in order to reflect new relationships and family members in your life.

   Never make handwritten changes to a current Will or Power of Attorney. This might cancel the Will or Power of Attorney. If you want an update, make new documents through us, or through any other service.

   If an existing Will or Power of Attorney is lost, destroyed, or damaged, you should make a new one to replace it.

   Any new Will or Power of Attorney you have made will cancel and take the place of an older Will or Power of Attorney.

   If you have an immediate, pressing need to a cancel a Will or Power of Attorney before you have time to go make a new, replacement one, then you may cancel the Will or Power of Attorney by destroying it.

   It is for this reason that when you sign and witness your documents, you should only sign and witness one original of each. If one day you needed to cancel your Will or Power of Attorney, it would be in your power to physically destroy it. If there were multiple originals floating around in different hands, you would not have this power.

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