How to plan for the worst so your family doesn't have to

What you probably already know: Yesterday, we heard from Chanel Reynolds, founder of Get Your Shit Together, an organization aimed at helping people take steps to get their estate plan set up. After her husband died, Reynolds was left scrambling to deal with their shared estate. She doesn’t want others to have the same experience. So here are a few tips she has on how to be better prepared should the worst happen:

If aliens were descending on your city in an hour, what would you grab? It sounds like a silly question, but it is something Reynolds has found helps people distill what is really important and what is secondary. Of course, you might grab your passport, but you might also grab the family photo album, cat carrier (and cat), and your great-grandmother’s ring. Know where these important items are and make sure they’re easy to find if you only had an hour.

Have emergency contacts handy: Have a list of emergency contacts on your cell phone in your “Favorites” list and make sure you’ve set up the “In Case of Emergency” information on your phone, which, for most devices, is available even when the phone is locked.

Share and store data in a place trusted family can access: Does your partner or emergency contact have your social security number? How about your cell phone passcode? Do they know what insurance you have? How about life insurance and who the beneficiaries are? “I have a box with all this stuff in it,” Reynolds says, “and I send out what I think is a very enjoyable and adorable annual newsletter reminding (her adult children) where the wills are and here’s the password manager.”

Not everything requires a lawyer: While Reynolds highly suggests hiring an attorney to assist with some of the more formal — and confusing — estate documents, there are steps everyone can take that don’t cost anything. “I have a folder in my phone where I take pictures of important documents,” she says. When her father was ill, she had photos of the business cards for all his doctors, as well as all his prescriptions, so if someone called, she had those readily available.

Get a digital power of attorney: While a traditional power of attorney makes decisions when you’re incapacitated, a digital power of attorney can take control of your devices and social media pages. Many people store sensitive items digitally, as well, and it can be important to make sure that, for instance, your kids don’t end up having to go through anything “consenting adults might have,” Reynolds says. “Make sure the right person can find the things that you want to be found.” More people are choosing to set up a digital power of attorney and there are legal documents that formalize this that can be included in your estate plan, she says.

Just take some steps, even if they’re small: Reynolds has a checklist available on her website to help people get started. Some of the items are easy to check off: “I have listed my personal details out in case of emergency” is one of them, followed by a place to write where those details are located. It also suggests you pick three things to get started:

For Reynolds, it’s all about making sure her family doesn’t have to live through the same experience she did. For her, estate planning is something of a gift. “I think about what’s going to make it easier for other people,” she says.