What My Malaysia Trip Made Me Realise About Estate Planning
I’m writing this from Malaysia, where I’m spending the month of March exploring everything from the bustling streets of Kuala Lumpur to the peaceful beaches of Penang. Preparing for this trip made me realise something crucial about estate planning document accessibility—having legal documents isn’t enough if your family can’t find them when needed. It’s a trip I’ve been looking forward to for months, and now that I’m here, it’s living up to every expectation.
Something unexpected happened in the weeks before I left England. The simple act of preparing for a month away from home made me think differently about estate planning document accessibility. I don’t just mean the legal documents themselves, but the practical side that so many people overlook.
As I helped clients organise their affairs before my departure and considered my own travel preparations, one question kept coming up. If something unexpected happened whilst someone was away from home, would their family actually know where to find everything they needed?
For many people, the honest answer is probably not.
The Drawer Test
There’s a simple test that reveals whether your estate planning is truly organised. Call it the “drawer test,” though it could just as easily be the filing cabinet test, the safe test, or the “important documents folder on the computer” test. The principle is straightforward: if you weren’t here tomorrow, could someone you trust step into your life and find what they needed to manage your affairs?
Most people have done at least some of the legal work. They’ve written a Will and perhaps set up Lasting Powers of Attorney. They’ve organised their finances to some degree. But when you ask whether their family knows where these documents live, the picture often becomes less clear. Do they have the relevant contact details? Could they quickly access important information in an emergency?
This isn’t about being disorganised or careless. Life is busy. Most of us don’t spend our days thinking about worst-case scenarios. However, the gap between having proper estate planning documents and making those documents truly accessible can create significant problems. These problems arrive at exactly the moment when families need clarity most.
Why Travel Brings These Questions Into Focus
Preparing for extended travel makes people think differently about contingency planning. This is particularly true when travelling somewhere far from home. When you’re checking travel insurance, updating emergency contact details, and making sure everything at home is sorted before you leave, your mind naturally considers the “what ifs.”
What if there’s a medical emergency? What if something happens whilst you’re away? What if your family back home needs to access important documents or make decisions on your behalf?
These aren’t pleasant thoughts, but they’re important ones. The vast majority of people travel safely and return home without incident. However, the preparation process itself serves as a valuable prompt. It creates an opportunity to make sure your affairs are properly organised—not just legally sound, but practically accessible.
Estate Planning Document Accessibility: Why It Matters
Over the years, I’ve worked with countless families who have experienced bereavement or dealt with a loved one losing capacity. One pattern emerges time and time again. Even when someone has done everything right legally, the family still faces unnecessary stress. They’ve written a Will, set up Lasting Powers of Attorney, and organised their finances. Yet they simply cannot locate the documents or information they need.
Executors sometimes know their late parent had a Will. However, they have no idea which Will writer or solicitor holds it. Attorneys appointed under a Lasting Power of Attorney occasionally cannot find the registered document when they urgently need to use it. Grieving spouses often don’t know which insurance policies their partner held. Sometimes they don’t even know which bank accounts exist.
Having a legally valid Will is essential. A Will that no-one can find, however, creates almost as many problems as not having one at all. Your family won’t know it exists, which defeats the purpose entirely. The same applies to Lasting Powers of Attorney, property deeds, insurance policies, pension information, and all the other important documents that make up our financial lives.
What Travel Preparation Reveals
When people prepare for significant travel, they often create information sheets for family members. These include contact details for where they’re staying, their travel insurance policy number, and what to do in an emergency. It’s sensible, practical planning that gives everyone peace of mind.
How many people, though, extend that same practical thinking to their broader estate planning? Creating a simple guide to where important documents live isn’t morbid—it’s considerate. It shows who to contact if something happens and what immediate steps might be needed. Your family will find it enormously helpful.
Common Gaps in Document Accessibility
The process of creating such a document often reveals gaps that people hadn’t noticed. Perhaps you’ve stored the Will safely, but no-one has actually been told where to find it. Your Lasting Powers of Attorney might be registered and perfectly valid, yet the appointed attorneys don’t have copies and wouldn’t know how to access them quickly.
Insurance policies might spread across different providers with no central list. Online accounts for banking, utilities, and subscriptions might use different passwords that live somewhere only you can access. Property deeds might sit safely stored, but you’ve never confirmed the exact location with anyone else.
None of these oversights invalidate your estate planning. Your Will remains perfectly legal and Powers of Attorney stay valid. However, family members will face hours, possibly days, of stress and searching at an already difficult time. Better organisation could easily avoid this stress.
The Five Questions Everyone Should Be Able to Answer
When thinking about whether your estate planning document accessibility is adequate, five key questions emerge. Consider these carefully as recommended by government guidance on estate planning:
Question One: Where Is Your Will?
Does at least one trusted person know where you’ve stored your Will? Having mentioned it once several years ago isn’t enough. People forget, documents get moved, and circumstances change. Your executors need to know exactly where to find your Will when the time comes, and they also need contact details for whoever stores it.
Question Two: Can Your Attorneys Access Their Documents?
Do your attorneys know you’ve appointed them? Can they access your Lasting Powers of Attorney documents? If you lose mental capacity, your attorneys need to act quickly and will require the registered LPA documents to prove their authority. If these sit locked away somewhere your attorneys don’t know about, they cannot help you when you need them most.
Question Three: Does Anyone Know What You Own?
Does anyone have a clear picture of your assets and liabilities? Family members don’t need to know every detail of your finances whilst you’re alive. However, someone should know roughly what you own and where records live. Which banks do you use? Do you have investment accounts, insurance policies, or pension schemes? Where do your property deeds sit, and are there any outstanding debts or financial obligations?
Question Four: Who Should Your Family Contact?
Who should your family contact if something happens to you? This includes your Will writer or solicitor, your accountant if you have one, your financial adviser, and your insurance providers. Include any other professionals involved in your affairs. Having these contact details readily available saves enormous time and stress.
Question Five: What Are Your Immediate Wishes?
What are your wishes regarding immediate practical matters? This sits separate from your Will but carries equal importance. Burial or cremation? Any specific wishes for your funeral? What are your views about organ donation? Families often need to make these decisions quickly, and knowing your wishes helps them enormously.
Creating Your Estate Planning Document Accessibility Guide
You don’t need anything elaborate. A simple document that brings all this information together works perfectly. Many people create this as a straightforward Word document, print a copy, and store it with other important papers. Saving a digital version in a location that trusted family members can access provides additional security.
The document might include the location of your Will and the contact details for where you’ve stored it. List your Lasting Powers of Attorney and confirm where the registered documents sit. An overview of your bank accounts, insurance policies, and property should be provided, along with contact details for the relevant providers.
Include the names and contact information for professional advisers—solicitors, accountants, and financial advisers. Your family will know who to contact for guidance when they need it.
Sharing the Information
Creating the document but not telling anyone where it lives defeats the purpose. You need to share this information through a conversation with trusted family members or the people you’ve appointed as executors or attorneys. Show them where you’ve stored the information and explain how to access it if needed. This makes all the difference.
The conversation doesn’t need to be difficult. Most people find it practical rather than morbid and feel reassured knowing this information exists and they can access it when necessary.
The Password Problem
One area has become increasingly important in recent years: digital access. Most people now manage significant parts of their lives online—banking, utilities, insurance, subscriptions, and investments. Even photos and personal documents now live stored in the cloud.
This creates a genuine problem for estate planning document accessibility. If you’re the only person who knows how to access these accounts, what happens if you can’t? Password managers offer excellent security, but if you’re incapacitated or you pass away, how will your family or attorneys access what they need?
Nobody suggests you should share all your passwords with your family—that raises obvious security concerns. However, you should ensure that someone you trust knows how to access your password manager. At minimum, they should know where to find the information they’d need in an emergency.
Some people leave sealed instructions with their Will. Others use specific features in password managers that allow emergency access. The method matters less than making sure a method exists.
When Did You Last Review Your Arrangements?
Life changes constantly. We move house and change banks. We take out new insurance policies and acquire new assets. Our families change too—people we might have relied on to handle our affairs may no longer be the right choice, whilst new people come into our lives who we’d want to involve.
Professional advisers retire or move on. Companies merge or rebrand. House moves or office clear-outs can scatter documents. All of this means that estate planning isn’t something you can do once and forget about.
Your legal documents—your Will and Lasting Powers of Attorney—need periodic review. The practical organisation around those documents requires even more regular attention.
Using Travel as a Prompt
Travel can provide a useful prompt for this review. If you’re planning significant time away from home, check that everything is in order. Even without travel plans, an annual review makes sense—verify where you’ve stored documents and confirm that contact details remain current. Make sure the right people know what they need to know. This time is well spent.
It’s Not Just About International Travel
Preparing for a month in Malaysia prompted these reflections. However, none of us needs to be travelling internationally for these questions to matter. Something unexpected might happen when we’re away for the weekend, at work, or even at home.
The point isn’t really about travel—it’s about readiness. Making sure that if something unexpected happened, the people we care about wouldn’t be left searching is what matters. They won’t spend time phoning around different companies or trying to guess where you might have stored important documents.
Every family situation differs. Some people are naturally well-organised and have already sorted all of this. Others have done the important legal work but haven’t quite connected all the practical dots. Neither situation is shameful or unusual, but recognising where you stand and taking steps to improve things makes a real difference.
Taking the First Step
If you’ve read this far and recognised areas where your own arrangements could be clearer, the next step doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You don’t need to sort everything out at once—starting with just one thing makes a difference.
Perhaps you could write down where you’ve stored your Will and share that information with your executors. Alternatively, gather your insurance policy documents in one place and create a simple list. Another option is having a conversation with the people you’ve appointed as attorneys to confirm they know about their appointment and where to find the documents.
Each small step makes things easier for the people you care about. If you’re planning any travel of your own, use it as a prompt—whether it’s a fortnight in Spain or a month exploring Southeast Asia, make sure everything is in order before you leave.
How A.D.E Wills Can Help
At A.D.E Wills, we specialise in helping people across England and Wales create comprehensive, legally sound Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney. We also understand that good estate planning goes beyond the legal documents themselves—ensuring your wishes are clear, your documents are accessible, and your family knows what to do when the time comes forms the foundation of effective estate planning.
If you’ve been prompted to think about your own arrangements whilst reading this, we’d be happy to help. You might need to create a new Will or update an existing one. Perhaps you want to set up Lasting Powers of Attorney, or maybe you simply want advice on organising your affairs more effectively. Whatever your needs, we’re here to guide you through the process.
You can reach us by calling 01865 507174 or emailing info@adewills.co.uk. We offer straightforward, professional advice tailored to your individual circumstances and will work with you to create an estate plan that gives you and your family genuine peace of mind.
For more helpful information, explore our estate planning guide covering topics from Will writing to document maintenance.
Next week, I’ll be writing about Lasting Powers of Attorney from a slightly different angle. The article will explore what happens if you can’t get home and why these documents matter just as much whilst you’re alive as your Will does after you’ve gone.
Disclaimer
This article provides general information about estate planning under the law of England and Wales. You should not consider it as personalised legal or financial advice. A.D.E Wills are professional Will writers and estate planners, not solicitors or financial advisers. We recommend that clients seek appropriate professional advice for complex legal matters or financial planning questions. Individual circumstances vary. You should make estate planning decisions based on your specific situation with appropriate professional guidance.
