Important documents list: what your family needs to be able to find

Anuxis · Reviewed by David Merinas, founder · 7 October 2026

The important documents worth keeping where they can be found are those for identity and family, home and car, money and insurance, health, work and official paperwork, plus whatever someone would need to get into your phone and your email. Having them is not enough: what really matters is that someone you trust knows where they are.

This list is meant for something more common than it seems: an operation, an accident, a long sick leave or a trip that goes wrong. Three weeks in which life goes on, the bills keep arriving and you cannot pick up the phone.

The important documents list

Identity and family

Identity card and passport.
In Spain, the libro de familia (family book) if you have one, and your birth and marriage certificates.
Academic and professional qualifications.
Vaccination records, yours and the children's.

Home and car

The deeds to your home or your rental contract.
Mortgage and loans, with the lender and the contract number.
Your electricity, water, gas, phone and internet companies, and which account pays each one.
Your car documents (in Spain, the permiso de circulación, or registration certificate, and the ficha técnica, or technical inspection card).

Money and insurance

Which banks you have accounts with and which bills are paid from each one. Your family does not need the passwords: what they need to know is which payment cannot bounce and where it can be covered from.
Insurance policies (home, car, health, life, funeral plan): the company, the policy number and the assistance phone line.
Your latest tax returns (in Spain, the income tax return, the declaración de la renta).
Contracts with a minimum term or automatic renewal: phone, alarm, gym.

Health

Your health card and, if you have it, your private medical insurance.
Medication with doses, allergies and serious illnesses.
The name and phone number of your GP.
If you have written down your advance directives about the care you want if one day you cannot say so yourself, where that document is. In Spain they can be entered in the Registro Nacional de Instrucciones Previas (the national register of advance directives), so that the medical team can look them up.

Work

Your employment contract and latest payslips, or your record of social security contributions (in Spain, the informe de vida laboral).
If you are self-employed: who can invoice, collect payments or let your clients know, where the logins for your invoicing and business banking are, and your accountant's phone number.

Paperwork and wishes

If you use a digital certificate or, in Spain, Cl@ve (the government's online ID system) to deal with public authorities, make sure someone knows they exist. They are personal: they cannot be lent.
If you have made a will, which notary's office holds it.
If someone can sign for you, the document that allows it. In Spain this is the poder preventivo (a preventive power of attorney); if there is none, we explain what can be done without your signature.

Beyond the papers: what your family needs to get in

Your phone passcode. That is where your banks' codes and alerts arrive. Neither Apple nor Google can unlock a phone without erasing it, so if nobody knows your passcode, much of this list stays locked.
Your email. That is where the bills, the contracts and the renewal notices are. Some services let you name someone you trust: we explain it in what Google, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook offer.
Who to tell. Your employer or your clients, your accountant, the children's school, whoever looks after your mother.
A few lines from you. What is urgent and what can wait, who to call first, what you do not want touched. It is what the person left in charge appreciates most.

Important documents in an emergency: the minimum

If you are only going to prepare five things, make it these, because they are the ones asked for in the first few hours:

Identity card and health card.
Medication, allergies and your GP.
The assistance phone line of your insurance policies.
The names and phone numbers of the people who need to be told.
Where your phone passcode is written down.

How long to keep each document in Spain

Document	How long to keep it	Why
Deeds and property titles	Always	They prove that something is yours
Contracts (rental, loans, utilities)	While they are in force, and afterwards until nothing is left outstanding	They are the proof of what was agreed
Income tax return and its supporting documents	Four years from the end of the filing period: the 2025 return is filed in 2026 and kept until mid-2030	That is how long Spain's tax authorities (Hacienda) have to review it (art. 66 LGT, the General Tax Act)
Proof of deductions or losses carried over to later years	Ten years from the return for the year in which they arose. For example, the purchase of a home you are still claiming tax relief on	The tax authorities can check them during that time (art. 66 bis LGT)
Rent receipts and receipts for regular payments	Five years	That is how long those payments can be claimed (art. 1966 of the Civil Code)
Receipts for goods	Three years, and for valuable things (furniture, appliances, jewellery, home improvements) for as long as you own them	Three years is the legal guarantee on goods bought since 2022 (art. 120 of the consumer protection law)
Old insurance policies	Two years for property insurance (home, car) and five for personal insurance (life, accident)	That is how long claims can be made under them (art. 23 of the Insurance Contract Act)

How to organise your important documents

The originals, together and in a fixed place at home: a folder or a binder with dividers for each section, ideally inside a box that can withstand water and fire.
A digital copy, encrypted, that can be reached from outside your home. That way it does not depend on someone going to open a drawer.
Passwords, kept separately. Never on the same sheet or in the same folder as everything else.
One person who knows where everything is, and better still two, who do not both live with you.

How to set it up step by step, on paper or digitally, who should know about it and how often to review it, we explain in the family emergency folder.

Frequently asked questions

Should I keep the originals, or are copies enough?

The originals, always: many procedures ask for them. Copies help your family know what you have and look it up from anywhere, but they do not replace the originals.

A safe at home or a safe deposit box at the bank?

A safe deposit box protects well, but only its holders or authorised people can open it. If nobody else has access, in an emergency it is as if it did not exist. At home, a box that withstands water and fire, and that someone knows how to open, is usually more practical.

Where should I keep my passwords?

Always separately from the documents. The options, and how to make sure someone you trust can reach them, are explained in how to organise important papers at home.

Where to start today

Go through this list and tick what you already know the location of. Choose a place for everything else and tell someone you trust where it is. With that, the most important part is done.

If you would rather that place were digital, and that it reached only the people you choose if one day you stop showing signs of activity, that is what Anuxis does. You can try it for 30 days without a card.