The days of having a family filing cabinet for all your important documents are long gone. Today, you're more likely to have multiple logins, passcodes, and digital documents that need safe storage. It's really difficult to store this type of digital information in a filing cabinet. Even if you could, having  all your physical items in one place is risky. All it takes is one bad storm, fire, or another disaster for you to lose all your important documents.

If you manage your important family documents in the cloud, you don't have to worry about losing it all in a disaster. No matter where you are, you can have instant access to the important documents in your life. This can come in handy if you're in another country and you lose your passport or if you're at the doctor and you forget to bring your medical insurance card.

Furthermore, if you have any sort of emergency, you're never more than a few clicks from all of your important documentation —even if you have everything nicely filed away at home. Better yet, digitizing your documents allows you to efficiently search your cloud-based filing cabinet. 

Which Documents Should Be Digitized?

The good thing about legal document management systems is that they give you a framework for managing the important documents in your life. Instead of mindlessly saving each bill or credit card statement, a legal document management system guides you and your family to save the most important documents — ones that you may not be able to easily look up online. 

Documents that signal major life changes are important — such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce paperwork, adoption papers, partnership certifications, and immigration credentials. These documents are all difficult and burdensome to replace.  

Other important documents include passports, drivers licenses, identification cards, health reports, as well as vaccine and immunization records. Education transcripts and diplomas are also essential, as are titles and property deeds, lease and loan agreements, and tax returns.

Where Should You Store Your Documents?

While you could always take tons of photos yourself and upload them all to a Google Drive, iCloud or Box account, the important piece isn't in making those backups and storing them somewhere off-site — though that is hugely important — the secret of a legal document management system is to provide an interface in which to interact with your docs.

If you're out and about and need something, you don't want to start searching through hundreds of documents with names like IMG_045.JPG and A32598.PDF. It'll take your forever, and you'll probably be tempted to just wait until you get home to take a look. 

With a cloud-based document management system, the secret is the management layer. Stay in the know and up to date on all your important documents, accounts and information with just a quick glance. If anything needs your attention, you'll know long before something becomes an issue. 

Additionally, the best legal document management systems will allow you to collaborate with other members of your family so that all your documents and information are safe and secure in one place. Things like to-do lists and tasks can help you stay on top of it all, and familiar categories make it easy to find anything.

Welcome to The Family Operating System®

At Trustworthy, we help families organize their important documents. It's not like the pre-digital era when you could keep all of your documents all in a small folder somewhere and always obtain a new copy if you misplaced it. 

Today, it could take you months to replace an important document, which could spell disaster if you're trying to buy a home or qualify for a car loan. If you can't procure the right documents at the right time, you may miss out or be unprepared for life's big events, all because you couldn't track down that important paperwork. 

Furthermore, if you miss out on renewing an important document it can take you more time and money, in the form or late or rush fees to renew them and keep them current.

With Trustworthy, you and your family get an online legal document management system that makes it easy to keep your personal, financial, and legal documents prepared for the unknown. Intelligent automation will alert you whenever any of your important documents need to be renewed. Trustworthy’s family collaboration feature allows everyone in the family to store their docs in one secure, central location. 

We've worked hard to make Trustworthy intuitive and guiding, which means that digitizing, saving, and organizing your important documents has never been easier. Our guiding templates make it a cinch to add new information in just a minute or two. It's all beautifully organized and more secure than a bank. What are you waiting for? Get started with Trustworthy today!