Helping Elderly Parents Organize Must-Have Financial Paperwork
by Andrea Norris-McKnight
Having proper legal documents available can become critical if your parents or an elderly relative become incapacitated. We get expert advice on the types of legal documents they should have and how to best organize them.
If you are in charge of organizing your elderly parents’ paperwork, then you know it can sometimes be challenging to keep it all neat and easy to find. To give us some additional tips on ways to organize these important papers and documents, we reached out to Kimberly Howard. Ms. Howard is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) with offices in Newton, MA and Denver, CO. She blogs at KJHFinancialServices.com.
Q: What is the must-have financial paperwork that you should make sure an elderly parent has?
Ms. Howard: They include Wills, Durable Power of Attorney, and Health Care Power of Attorney.
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Q: When is the best time to organize the paperwork?
Ms. Howard: Any time is a good time. The earlier the better because you never know when you might need them.
Q: What are some good organizational strategies for helping elderly parents keep the documents organized?
Ms. Howard: The main thing is to have all the papers together where others can locate the documents if the need arises.
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Q: Are there specific ways to discuss organizing documents and information with a parent that works better than others?
Ms. Howard: Be concise and straightforward. Remember this is about their life and allow them to help make some of the decisions.
Q: What do most people forget to do when they are working to organize this important information?
Ms. Howard: It’s important to keep the documents in a place that others will be able to locate. Always let someone know where your papers are located.
Having proper legal documents available can become critical if your parents or an elderly relative become incapacitated. That’s why it’s essential to prepare before an event occurs.
Reviewed October 2023
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