5 Things That Should Be in Every 'In Case of Emergency' Document

An In Case of Emergency document, sometimes called an ICE document, is the one-page version of your plan that your family or executor would need first. It is not the will. It is not the trust. It is the document that tells the people in charge what to do in the first week, and where to find everything they will need to keep handling things on your behalf.

Most ICE documents miss the mark in the same way. They are either too short to be useful, or so detailed that nobody finishes them. A good ICE document covers five categories, in plain language, and fits on two or three pages.

1. Contacts

Start with people, not paperwork. The first thing an executor needs is a short list of who to call. That includes immediate family, your attorney if you have one, your financial advisor or accountant, your doctor, and any close friend or neighbor who handles a piece of your life. Five to ten names is plenty. Include their phone number, a backup contact method, and one short sentence describing what they help with.

Add a note at the top that says who has the authority to make decisions, and in what order. That single line saves more confusion than any other element of the document.

2. Account access

This is the section most people overcomplicate. You do not need to list every password. You need to point your executor toward the small handful of accounts that everything else flows from: your primary email, the bank account that pays your bills, and any service that holds important documents. Note where the credentials live, whether that is a password manager, a sealed envelope at home, or with your attorney.

If you use a password manager, write down the name of the manager and how to recover access. If you do not, that is fine. Just say where the list of accounts lives and how to retrieve it.

3. Medical information

Include your current doctors, your primary clinic, medications and dosages, any allergies, and whether you have an advance directive on file. If you carry a chronic condition, note where the most recent records are stored.

This section helps in two situations: when something happens to you and you cannot speak, and when an executor needs to close out medical accounts after the fact.

4. Legal and financial documents

Name the documents and tell people where they are. Avoid summarizing what they say.

•       Will, trust, and powers of attorney, with the attorney's name and the date of the most recent version.

•       Insurance policies: life, home, auto, long-term care, and anything bought through an employer.

•       Property records: deeds, vehicle titles, safe deposit box and key location.

•       Recent tax returns and any retirement account statements.

5. Final wishes

Keep this section short and personal. Your preferences for services, burial or cremation, music, charitable gifts in lieu of flowers, and any specific people you want notified directly. If there are things you do not want, name them. Your executor will be grateful for the clarity, and your family will be grateful that they did not have to guess.

How to keep it current

The most useful ICE document is one that is updated once a year. Pick a date that already exists in your calendar, like a tax season weekend, and put a recurring reminder on it. Twenty minutes is usually enough. The document does not need to be perfect. It needs to be current and findable.

Call to action: 

Start your plan with One Final Message. Your ICE document is exactly the kind of thing it was built to hold, route, and update easily.