How to create an emergency document to prepare for the unexpected

You already know you need an emergency document. You've read the articles. You've thought about it at 11 p.m. after a news story about a house fire, or while filling out a form at the doctor's office that asked for information you couldn't remember. You've told yourself you'll get to it.

But you haven't. And the reason is simple: it feels like a big, vague project with no clear starting point.

This post is the starting point. I'm going to walk you through the actual process of creating an emergency preparedness document — not what to put in it (we already wrote that guide), but how to sit down and build one from scratch. What to gather beforehand, how to organize it, what format to use, where to put it when you're done, and how to keep it from going stale in a drawer.

Block off two hours this weekend. That's all it takes to go from "I should really do that" to having something real.

Before you start: gather your raw materials

The biggest reason people stall on creating an emergency document is that they sit down to write it and immediately realize they need to go find things. Account numbers. Policy details. Phone numbers. So they get up, rummage through a drawer, get distracted, and the project dies.

Don't let that happen. Spend 20 minutes gathering before you write anything.

Pull together these items:

Your most recent health insurance cards (for every family member)
A recent bank or credit card statement (just so you have account numbers handy)
Any insurance policy documents: homeowners, renters, auto, life
Your mortgage or lease agreement
Prescription bottles for current medications (yours and your family's)
Your phone — you'll need it for contact numbers
A login for your password manager, if you use one

You don't need originals. You just need the information. Pile it on the kitchen table, open your laptop, and you're ready to go.

If you have a partner, do this together. It goes twice as fast, and you'll catch things the other person wouldn't think of. If your partner won't sit down with you, do it yourself anyway. A document that covers 80% of what someone would need is infinitely better than a perfect plan that doesn't exist.

Pick a format and stop overthinking it

People get stuck here. Should it be a Google Doc? A spreadsheet? A binder? Should they use a template? Should they buy software?

Here's the honest answer: it doesn't matter much. What matters is that you'll actually use it and keep it updated.

Your main options:

A shared Google Doc or Word file. Free, easy to update, easy to share. If you and your partner both have access to the same Google account or a shared folder, this is the simplest path.
A printed binder. Some people prefer paper. A three-ring binder with tabbed dividers works well. The downside is that it's harder to update — you have to reprint pages — and it only exists in one place.
A dedicated app or platform. Tools like When I Die Files are built for exactly this purpose, with secure storage and the ability to share access with specific people. If you want something more structured than a blank document, this is worth considering.
A combination. The approach I recommend: a digital document as your primary version (easy to update) with a printed summary of the most time-sensitive information kept in a known location at home.

The worst choice is whichever one makes you keep putting this off. A messy Google Doc that exists beats a perfectly organized binder that doesn't.

A section-by-section structure you can follow

Here's a template. You don't have to use it exactly, but having a structure makes the writing part faster. Open your document and create these sections as headers. Then fill them in one at a time.

Section 1: Emergency contacts

Start here because it's the easiest and builds momentum.

Your name, date of birth, and phone number
Your partner's name, date of birth, and phone number
Each child's name, date of birth, and school
Two people to call if neither parent is reachable (a grandparent, sibling, or close friend)
Your family doctor or pediatrician
Your attorney and/or financial advisor, if you have one
Your employer's HR department (they'll need to know about extended absences)
A trusted neighbor who has a spare key

Section 2: Medical information

Do this for every member of your household.

Full legal name and date of birth
Blood type (if you know it)
Current medications, dosages, and the prescribing doctor
Allergies — medications, food, environmental
Chronic conditions
Past surgeries or hospitalizations worth noting
Primary care doctor, specialists, dentist
Health insurance company, policy number, group number, member ID
Preferred hospital
Whether you have an advance directive or healthcare power of attorney, and where the original is kept

This section alone has saved people real headaches. When your kid has an allergic reaction at a friend's house and you can't answer your phone, that friend's parent needs to tell the ER what your child is allergic to. It's in the document. Your partner sends a photo of the page. Done.

Section 3: Financial accounts

This is the section people resist most, because it means writing down sensitive numbers. I understand the hesitation. But the alternative is your family spending weeks trying to prove to a bank that they're authorized to access your accounts.

You don't need to write down every password. But you do need to create a clear path to the information.

Checking and savings accounts: bank name, account numbers, whether there's a linked debit card
Credit cards: which ones exist, which ones have autopay set up
Mortgage or rent: lender or landlord, account number, monthly amount, due date
Car loans or leases: same details
Student loans: servicer name
Retirement accounts: institution and account number
Life insurance: company, policy number, benefit amount, and how to file a claim
Where your passwords are stored: name of the password manager, or location of a written list

If you use a password manager like 1Password or Bitwarden, note the name of the app and how your partner can access the emergency kit or recovery codes. If you keep passwords on paper, note where the paper is.

Section 4: Insurance policies

Group all your insurance information in one place.

Health insurance (already covered above, but include it here too for completeness)
Homeowners or renters insurance: company, policy number, agent's phone number
Auto insurance: same details, for each vehicle
Umbrella policy, if you have one
Life insurance (already noted above, but cross-reference here)

The purpose of this section is speed. When a pipe bursts at 10 p.m. or someone rear-ends your partner in a parking lot, the person dealing with it shouldn't have to dig through email to find a policy number.

Section 5: Legal documents and where they live

You're not putting the full text of your will here. You're creating a map so someone can find it.

Will: where is it, who drafted it, who is the executor
Trust documents, if applicable
Power of attorney: who has it, where the document is
Healthcare directive or living will: same details
Birth certificates, marriage certificate, Social Security cards: where they're stored
Passports: where they are and when they expire
Vehicle titles and property deeds: location
Name and contact information for your attorney
Name and contact information for your accountant or tax preparer

If anything is in a safe deposit box, note the bank, box number, where the key is, and who is listed as authorized to access it. If anything is in a fireproof safe at home, write down the combination or where the key is kept.

For a deeper look at which documents your family would actually need in a crisis, this article on documents required after a loss covers it thoroughly — and most of those same documents come up in any emergency, not just a death.

Section 6: Household operations

This section is easy to skip, and it's the one that gets the most gratitude from the person who ends up needing it.

WiFi network name and password
Alarm system code and the monitoring company's number
Where the water shutoff valve is
Where the circuit breaker panel is
Which neighbor has a spare key
Trash and recycling pickup day
Lawn service, cleaning service, or other recurring vendors and their schedules
How to operate the thermostat, the sprinkler system, the garage door if it jams
Pet care: vet name and number, feeding schedule, medications, who to call if someone needs to take the animals temporarily

This is the stuff that lives in one person's head. When that person is suddenly in the hospital for a week, everything on this list becomes someone else's problem. Writing it down is an act of kindness.

Section 7: Digital life

This one is getting more relevant every year.

Email accounts: which ones exist and which one is the "main" one used for account recovery
Social media accounts: at minimum, note which platforms you're on
Cloud storage: Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox — where your files live
Subscriptions: the ones that actually matter (streaming services the kids use, software for work)
Any online business or freelance accounts, if applicable
What you'd want done with your digital accounts if you were gone for good

You don't have to solve every digital question here. Just leave enough breadcrumbs that someone could find their way. For a longer discussion on secure storage for this kind of information, we wrote about why your important information should be securely stored.

Where to store it when you're done

The emergency document that lives on your laptop, behind a password nobody else knows, will help exactly no one.

Here's the storage plan that actually works:

Digital copy (primary): Store the document somewhere your partner can access independently. A shared Google Drive folder. A shared note in a password manager. A secure platform designed for this. The key word is "independently" — if your partner needs your phone to unlock the file, it defeats the purpose.

Printed copy (backup): Print the most time-sensitive sections — emergency contacts, medical information, insurance policy numbers — and keep them in a specific, known place. A labeled folder in the top drawer of the filing cabinet. A binder on the bookshelf. Wherever it is, at least two people need to know where it is.

Offsite awareness: Tell one person outside your household that the document exists and where to find it. They don't need a copy of everything — just enough to know: "If something happens to both of us, there's a binder in the filing cabinet and a digital copy in our shared Google Drive."

For more on the storage side specifically, this piece on safely storing documents for emergency access goes deep.

Who needs to know about it

Creating the document is step one. Making sure the right people know it exists is step two, and people forget this part constantly.

Your partner or spouse. Sit down with them and walk through it. Not as a morbid exercise — as a practical one. "Here's where our stuff is. Here's how to find what you'd need."

One backup person outside your household. If both you and your partner are in the same car accident, someone else needs to know this document exists.

Your executor or trustee, if you've named one. They should know where the legal and financial sections are.

You don't need to share everything with everyone. Your sister doesn't need your bank account numbers. Share the existence and location broadly, and the contents selectively.

How to keep it from going stale

An emergency document with your old address, your previous insurance plan, and a phone number for a doctor you stopped seeing three years ago is almost worse than no document at all — because it creates false confidence.

Set a recurring reminder. Once a year is enough for most people. Pick a date you'll remember: the start of the school year, your birthday, New Year's Day, tax day. Put it on your calendar with a note: "Review emergency document."

What to check during your annual review:

Has anyone's insurance changed?
Have you changed banks or opened new accounts?
Are all medications and dosages current?
Have any contact numbers changed?
Have you moved, bought property, or changed vehicles?
Are there new family members to add?
Have any passwords or storage locations changed?

Also update after major life events. Within a month of a move, a new baby, a job change, or a death in the family, sit down and update the document. These are the moments when the information shifts most.

The two-hour version

If you're still feeling overwhelmed, here's the minimum viable emergency document. This is what you can realistically finish in one sitting.

Hour one:

Write down emergency contacts for your family
Document each family member's medications, allergies, and doctors
List all insurance policies with policy numbers and phone numbers

Hour two:

List bank accounts, credit cards, and where passwords are stored
Note where legal documents are kept (will, power of attorney, birth certificates)
Write down household basics: WiFi password, alarm code, water shutoff location

That's it. Six sections. Two hours. You can add the rest later — digital accounts, pet care, subscriptions, all the smaller details. But if you get through those six sections, you've covered the information that causes the most chaos when it's missing.

Print a copy. Tell your partner where it is. You're done for now.

The thing about emergency preparedness documents is that they feel unnecessary right up until the moment they're not. Nobody regrets having made one. Plenty of people regret not getting around to it.

Start this weekend. Two hours. You already know everything that needs to go in it — you just haven't written it down yet.

When I Die Files gives you a secure, private space to store the information and letters that matter most — and make sure they reach the right people at the right time.