Creating Your Family Documents Files
Family Permanent File
Do you know where all of your important documents are?
A Family Permanent File is a record of all of your important documents. Having all your important documents in one file not only saves you time when you need to locate one of these items, but it also helps any family members trying to assist you or trying to settle your affairs.
The problem with keeping all these paper documents in one file is that you use these documents to carry on your personal affairs and they may not always make it back into the Family Permanent File.
How to Start
Start by collecting all of your important documents. Refer to our list of documents below, but keep in mind that our list is not all-inclusive. Include any special documents you feel should be archived. Be sure to include pictures of valuable items and property which cannot be adequately documented in writing. If you have the appropriate equipment, you should scan your documents into Adobe format, and copy to a CD-ROM.
If you do not have access to the appropriate equipment, you may deliver your documents to our office for our processing. For a nominal fee of $100, we will create your Family Permanent File on CD-ROM for you.
The CD will keep all of your important documents in one place . Your complete inventory can be easily located whenever needed. We can also provide an additional copy to give to your designee to assist you in the event of your incapacity or death.
Although this CD will not serve as a replacement for the original legal documents, it will tell your designee what documents and information actually exist and where to locate them. This will make your designee's job easier.
Your CD should be stored in a safe place. We recommend that you keep one copy at home and one copy off site (for example: with a designee or in a safe deposit box).
CPS has implemented a new service to store client records called ShareFile. With ShareFile you can exchange confidential QuickBooks, PDF, Excel or any other types of business files and make them available for encrypted, password-protected download by the clients. The key features of this service are password protection, send and receive client files, audit trails of user activity, email notifications of the file transfers and Microsoft Outlook Plug-in. With ShareFile, you can rest assured that your data is sent securely and in compliance with legal regulations regarding the privacy and security of confidential information. All communication between ShareFile and end users are encrypted using the Secure Socket Layer (SSL). This is the same functionality used by banks and popular e-commerce services such as Amazon.com for secure communication.
If you are interested in learning more about ShareFile, please contact us at 863-688-1725.