Emergency Preparedness for Estate Planning
Have you ever had to evacuate when wildfire threatened your home and community? Recently in August of 2025 Pioneer residents received evacuation orders due to a fire by Tiger Creek. I've lived in California all my life, so I've been evacuated before but this time I wasn't ready, and I didn't feel ready. I was at the office with a full schedule Friday afternoon when we received notification there was wildfire close to my home. My daughter and my husband rushed home to secure the animals and our valuables. I didn't get to walk through the rooms one more time to see what I was leaving behind. The next day I was blessed when I unpacked a suitcase my daughter had packed for me without a list and without instructions. In my own haste I am not sure I would have remembered everything I needed or wanted. I would have been distracted with fear and panic even though most of my possessions are replaceable. She lovingly and carefully packed my favorite suit. Yes, suits can be replaced but this was the one that always fit right and was the right color. She knew it was my favorite; she had sat with me at a recent trial for support and curiosity. Even though it is inevitable, we never feel ready for death, just as I didn't feel ready for the fire evacuation. But legacy planning provides peace of mind.
In case of an emergency evacuation, my expert advice would be to grab your legal documents and important paperwork. When the Butte Fire hit our community a few years ago, I had more than one client that was able to grab their legal documents before their house burned down. I did have one client who was lucky to escape their burning home, but not lucky enough to rescue their legal documents from the flames. Fortunately for them, they were one of my clients. I was able to print the documents that I had created for them a few years prior and notarize them with a new date at no additional cost to them. In this case they were fortunate that the husband and wife were both still living, and both still had full capacity to execute the legal documents again. If either of them had not been able to sign the legal documents again, a procedure could have been utilized in the probate court. The estate representative would have been able to file a copy of the will and then sign a declaration that the will had never been revoked but was destroyed by the fire.
What paperwork is important? Your estate plan is important so take it with you. If you have completed your estate planning, you will need to make sure that you have your Trust, Last Will and Testament, Power of Attorney, and a Healthcare Directive. If you have read any of my past articles you may have already taken extra steps which included: writing Legacy Love Letters to your loved ones and completing a Specific Gift List. You may have even written your own obituary and preplanned and/or prepaid your cremation or burial arrangements.
The question to ask when determining what legal documents are important, especially in a life and death situation should be “Can I replace this document?” In my Butte Fire example, my clients were protected because their attorney maintained their documents. This would not have been true if they had prepared the documents themselves or had utilized an online service. If you are concerned about adoption papers and divorce decrees, the courthouse does maintain the file, you would be able to obtain a copy for a nominal fee. If you are concerned about birth and death certificates, you would be able to obtain a copy from the recorder’s office for a nominal fee. Deeds to your real property and Deeds of Trusts evidencing your current property holdings and mortgage obligations could also be obtained from the county recorder’s office. Bank records can be obtained from your financial institution or viewed online. Any paperwork that would be difficult to reproduce should be set aside for immediate retrieval from the premises in case of a fire or flood or any other natural disaster.
