Most documents that need notarization are important and many should be stored securely after they have been executed.

I once received a call from a man in an absolute panic.  He was in the middle of a messy domestic dispute and his former girlfriend had left with his power of attorney document.  He was desperately calling every notary in the area that might have notarized it the previous summer. He was hoping the notary had retained a copy.  Unfortunately for him, notaries do not retain copies of the documents they execute.  We do maintain detailed records related to the notarization, but that wouldn’t have been much help in this case.

According to financial experts, important documents like wills, trusts and powers of attorney should be stored in a secure location, like a safe-deposit box.  A copy should be given to the attorney or executor of the estate and an extra copy should be kept at home for ease of reference.

For more information on how long to keep specific documents or where to store them, click here.

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