A death binder is one of those things with a terrible name and a lovely purpose. It's a folder, paper or digital, that tells the people you love what exists, where it lives and who to call. You write it so that on a hard week, nobody has to guess.
Plenty of people call it something gentler: a just-in-case file, a family emergency binder, a legacy binder. Call it whatever you like. The contents are what matter, and they're much less grim than the name suggests. Most of it is phone numbers, account names and the location of the stopcock.
This checklist walks through what to include, section by section, and finishes with the things you should never put in one.
Because most families run on one person's memory. One person knows which bank pays the council tax, when the car insurance renews and where the passports actually are. That works brilliantly right up until that person is in hospital, away, or simply not around to ask.
A death binder hands that knowledge over in advance. It's useful on ordinary bad days too: a burst pipe while you're on holiday, a fortnight when you're poorly and someone else has to run the house.
Start here, because it's the easiest section and the one your family will reach for first.
A single page is plenty. If you only do one page this month, make it this one.
The aim here is a map, not a vault. Your family needs to know what exists and where the paperwork lives. They don't need the keys to everything.
This is the part people forget, and it's often the most immediately useful.
List where each one is kept. The originals stay somewhere safe; the binder simply says where.
This is the section that turns a file into something more personal. No legal language needed.
If anything here needs to be legally binding, it belongs in your will. The binder can point to it.
A binder that's useful to your family is also useful to anyone else who finds it. So keep it a map, not the treasure.
Don't try to do it in one go. Pick the people section, give it twenty minutes with a cup of tea, and stop. Next week, do the house. In a month you'll have most of a binder and you won't have hated a minute of it.
Then tell one person where it is. A binder nobody knows about is just a very tidy secret.
No. A will is a legal document that says who inherits what. A death binder is a practical guide that helps your family find things and get on with the admin. The binder can tell them where your will is kept.
Either works. Paper has no login and anyone can open it, which matters on a stressful day. Digital is easier to update. Many people keep a printed copy and update it once a year.
Once a year is usually enough, plus whenever something big changes: a new bank, a house move, a new policy.
Somewhere safe but findable, and tell at least one trusted person where it is.
Start with page one. The free LegacyKin Starter Kit includes the Family Legacy Checklist, a gentle way to begin.
Want every page ready to fill in? The Family Legacy Organiser has all of these sections laid out, as a fillable PDF or print-and-write.
Explore the Family Legacy Organiser →
Related: 25 questions to ask your parents · Create the Map: a safer way to organise family information
Organise what matters. Preserve what matters.