When someone dies, their surviving loved ones have enough pain to deal with: planning funeral services, contacting relatives and friends, wrapping up the decedent's affairs. What those loved ones do not need on top of all of that is to be scrambling to locate the estate planning documents.
If you have executed a valid Will,
you have taken a major step toward ensuring peace of mind, knowing that your loved
ones will be taken care of and your assets respected.
But that major step is
severely set back if your survivors cannot find your Will.
Fun fact: The probate
courts in Minnesota only recognize the validity of a Will if it is the original,
executed (signed) version.
If your original, signed Will cannot be located, or if only a copy is found, the court may make the assumption that you had intended to revoke your Will. The court can't be sure that there isn't another Will floating around out there.
That means the court may treat your estate as if you never had a Will in the first place and will have no choice but to apply the laws of intestacy to distribute your estate assets. Thus, your property may be given to persons you never intended to receive it. The court may also appoint as personal representative someone you never would have chosen.
The question is: where to store your Will in a manner that is secure, yet accessible to your loved ones after you have passed away?
One option is to store your Will
at home in a fire-resistant safe or file cabinet. It would be easily accessible
in the event you want to review the document, and your children or personal
representative can be given access to the safe with a key or combination.
However, there are some disadvantages to this. You may forget to return the documents to your safe after reviewing. Safes can be broken into or stolen, and keys can be lost. If your documents are easily accessible to you, they may be easily accessible to interloping family members as well. And and even the most robust home safe may not endure an extensive house fire or a flood.
Another option is to store your Will in a safe deposit box. Being located inside banks, safe deposit boxes are more secure than home storage. Another advantage is that only certain designated persons, such as a personal representative, may access the contents of a safe deposit box after the owner has died. Family members may be able to obtain copies of documents from a safe deposit box, but only the person designated to have access may obtain the originals located inside.
However, it is critical
that the person have knowledge of the safe deposit box so that they know where to
look when the time comes. If the box is only signed to the decedent and the keys cannot be found, the box will need to be drilled open and contents inventoried, adding expense and delays in probating the Will.
A third option is to store your Will at your attorney's office. Not all law firms do this (mine doesn't), but those that do have systems for long-term document storage. However, if the law firm closes up or the attorney retires before you die, it may be difficult for your personal representative to hunt down the original Will. Be sure to inquire up-front about the law firm's document retention policies and find out their contingency plans for custody of documents in the event of a firm closure or attorney retirement.
A fourth option--and the most secure--is to file the Will for storage in the probate division of the district court. There is a one-time storage filing fee of $27.