Most people only go looking for their birth certificate when a form asks for it, and that's usually when they find out they don't know where it is. This checklist covers which documents are worth keeping, where each original belongs, how long tax records need to stay, and how to keep the digital copies safe. Print it, tick off what you have, and note where each item lives.
The One Rule for Where Things Go
Montana State University Extension's guide to household papers (revised December 2023) boils it down to one rule: keep papers at home unless they're legal documents that are hard to replace. Those go somewhere safer: a safe deposit box, your attorney's office, or a fireproof, waterproof home safe.
That gives you three places:
| Place | What goes there |
|---|---|
| Safe or safe deposit box | Originals that are hard to replace: certificates, passport, deeds, titles, citizenship papers |
| Home file | Papers you use: recent tax returns, statements, insurance policies, medical records, warranties |
| Encrypted digital copies | A scan of everything above, so a fire, flood or move doesn't leave you with nothing |
Add a fourth item: a list of what's where. Keep it in your home file and tell one trusted person it exists.
The Checklist
Identity
- Birth certificate (original in the safe, keep indefinitely)
- Passport (keep an expired passport until the new one arrives, then destroy it)
- Social Security card (keep in the safe, not in your wallet)
- Citizenship or naturalization papers
- Marriage certificate, divorce decree, adoption papers
- Military service records
- Death certificates of family members whose affairs you handle
Legal and estate
- Will (original with your attorney or in a safe deposit box, an unsigned copy at home)
- Power of attorney for finances and for health care (keep until replaced)
- Living will or advance directive (original plus copies to the people who'll need them)
- Trust documents, if you have them
Property
- Deeds and mortgage papers (until you sell)
- Vehicle titles and bills of sale
- Records of home improvements (until you sell, since they can affect the tax on the sale)
- A household inventory, with a copy kept away from the house
Money and tax
- Filed tax returns
- Records that support each return: income statements, receipts for deductions
- Retirement and investment account records
- A list of bank and card accounts, with each company's contact number
- Insurance policies, plus a list of policy numbers, beneficiaries and agents
Medical
- Immunization records
- Copies of health insurance cards
- A current list of medications and doctors' contact details
Ready.gov's financial preparedness checklist groups documents the same way: household identification, financial and legal papers, medical information, insurance, and a list of household contacts.
How Long to Keep Tax Records (US)
The IRS ties this to the period it has to review a return. From its "How long should I keep records?" page:
| Situation | Keep the records for |
|---|---|
| Most returns | 3 years |
| You file a claim for a credit or refund | 3 years from filing, or 2 years from paying the tax, whichever is later |
| You left out income worth more than 25% of the gross income on the return | 6 years |
| You claimed a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction | 7 years |
| You didn't file, or filed a fraudulent return | Indefinitely |
| Property records | Until the period runs out for the year you sell or dispose of the property |
Keep copies of the returns themselves, too. And before you throw anything out, check whether an insurer or lender needs it longer than the IRS does. Outside the US, your own tax authority sets these periods.
Digital Copies: Useful, and a Risk
A scan of every document above is the best insurance against losing the paper. Ready.gov suggests keeping important documents on an external drive or in the cloud as well, so you can reach them after a disaster.
The catch is that the same scans are an identity thief's starter kit. A passport, a Social Security card and a birth certificate in one unprotected folder is everything someone needs to pretend to be you. So:
- Don't leave scans in your camera roll, email or downloads folder. Those are the first places anyone looks, and they often sync to other devices without you thinking about it.
- Encrypt them. Any encrypted option is fine: an encrypted disk image, a password manager that stores file attachments, or a vault app. What matters is that the files need a key to open. (Here's which kinds of files most need it.)
- Keep a second copy somewhere else. An encrypted copy on an external drive kept away from home covers you if the house and the laptop are lost together.
- Check a photo before you send it. A document photographed on a phone can carry the location where it was taken. Our free EXIF remover shows and strips that data before you share the image.
Shred What You Don't Need
When a document's time is up, shred it if it shows your name and address, Social Security number or card numbers. Tossing it whole gives away exactly what you were protecting.
Go through the list once a year. Swap out expired IDs, add the new tax year, and update the list of what's where.
Keep the Scans in a Vault
If you'd like an app to hold the encrypted copies, Vaultine keeps them in a vault with its own PIN or pattern, encrypted on your device, on Mac, iPhone, Android and Windows. The free version holds 10 files, enough for the identity documents on this list.
