Finding the Document When You Need It
I’m a lawyer. I deal in documents. In fact, this is the main record my clients have of the progress they make in restructuring their lives. I can’t tell you how many times clients come to me to pursue a divorce, but they can’t find the one document they need to start the process – their marriage certificate.
In Pennsylvania, some counties allow you to purchase copies of birth, death and marriage certificates online, but many can only be obtained in person or via U. S. mail.
Recently, I became aware of an online service that helps clients organize their documents, safeguard them, and give them instant access anywhere. Safelyfiled.com is a relatively new company that takes your scanned documents and superlocks them electronically, for a modest annual fee. Key family documents – wills, financial records and important public documents like birth certificates – go into their cyber-vault, only to be seen again at your command. Or, you can opt to share all or some documents, perhaps with an executor or attorney, while keeping the others from prying eyes.
“We don’t always need original documents, either,” says Safelyfiled’s Terri J. Caldwell. “Plus, you can note on your file where the physical document is stored in your home or office.”
This is different from simply scanning and storing items on your computer because: a) the product is encrypted in transit as well as in storage, b) you can’t absolutely protect your home computer from viruses cyber attacks, even with a good anti-virus program; and c) you can access Safelyfiled documents from any mobile device you register.
There is also the advantage of organization. Who hasn’t spent minutes or hours scrambling through piles of paper at home looking for a single document?
When I find services that help clients with issues that slow down the legal process, I like to help make their lives easier. This Columbus, Indiana- based company can be your off-location repository.
In any case, when you come to my office in Doylestown and your adoption papers are final, your divorce decreed, your Will completed, find someplace OTHER than your house or your computer to cyberstore and safeguard it.
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