What goes in an emergency binder? The complete checklist

An emergency binder holds everything your loved ones need if something suddenly happens to you: the most important contacts, personal documents, your advance directive and power of attorney, an overview of accounts, insurance policies, contracts and digital access, and your wishes for an emergency. The point is not to file every piece of paper. The point is that someone else can carry on your affairs without searching and guessing. This article walks you through the ten areas of a complete emergency binder, with a checklist to tick off.

Why an emergency binder takes pressure off your loved ones

An emergency rarely announces itself. After an accident, a sudden illness or a death, relatives face very practical questions within hours. Who do we need to inform? Is there an advance directive? Which bills keep running, which contracts need to be cancelled?

Without an emergency binder, sometimes also called an in case of death binder or legacy binder, a search begins at the worst possible time. Relatives dig through drawers, guess who is responsible for what, and in the worst case miss deadlines, for example for insurance claims or contract cancellations. A binder replaces that searching with looking things up: one place where everything important is written down.

The second benefit concerns you. Anyone who puts together an emergency binder quickly notices the gaps: a missing advance directive, a power of attorney that was never set up, an account nobody knows about. Our guide to the emergency planning binder for Switzerland shows you how to close those gaps step by step.

What goes in an emergency binder? The 10 areas

A complete emergency binder covers ten areas of life. The table shows what belongs in each one. Not every item will apply to you: if you rent, you do not need a land register extract.

Two documents in this binder come with formal requirements. The advance directive must be in writing, dated and signed. You will find the details on ch.ch. The power of attorney must be entirely handwritten, dated and signed, or publicly notarized, otherwise it is invalid. Pro Senectute explains the requirements. Without a power of attorney, the adult protection authority (KESB) may end up deciding who represents you if you lose the capacity to decide for yourself. An emergency binder is no substitute for advice from a notary. It does make sure these documents are found when it matters.

The ten areas mirror the guided interview in beizeiten: you answer questions area by area and end up with a printable dossier for your loved ones.

The checklist to tick off

If you can tick off these items, your emergency binder is complete:

• Emergency contacts with phone numbers
• Copies of your identity card or passport, your AHV number
• Advance directive, dated and signed
• Power of attorney, handwritten or notarized
• List of medications and allergies
• List of all bank accounts and cards
• Overview of your pension fund and pillar 3a
• Insurance policies with policy numbers
• Rental or property documents
• List of active contracts and subscriptions with notice periods
• Overview of your most important online accounts
• A note on how your relatives can reach your digital accounts
• Funeral wishes and personal messages
• A note on where your will is kept
• An emergency card in your wallet with the essentials

Important: Passwords and PIN codes do not belong in plain text in a binder sitting on a shelf at home. Instead, record where your access is managed. The guide on setting up emergency access to your passwords shows how that works in practice. What else belongs to your digital legacy is covered in the guide to your digital estate in Switzerland.

Paper, PDF or digital: an honest comparison of the three options

There are three ways to keep your emergency binder. Each has real drawbacks you should know about.

In practice, the combination works best: maintain it digitally, file it on paper. The content stays current, and in an emergency a paper dossier is still ready. That is exactly how beizeiten works: your entries stay locally in the browser on your device, no server sees your data, and at the end you print the dossier. Whether you would rather put everything together yourself or rely on a guided solution is weighed up in our comparison build your own emergency binder or go digital.

Storage and the yearly update

Where the binder should live

An emergency binder only helps if it can be found. Keep it at home in a fixed place and tell at least two people where it is. A bank safe deposit box is a poor choice, because relatives often cannot get to it fast enough in an emergency. Sensitive originals do not have to go in the binder. Your will, for example, can be deposited with an official body. Which office is responsible depends on the canton. In the binder, a note on where it is kept is enough. A copy of your advance directive also belongs with your family doctor, plus a note about it in your wallet.

Update it once a year

An outdated binder can confuse more than it helps: old phone numbers, closed accounts, cancelled policies. Set yourself a fixed date once a year, for example your birthday or the turn of the year, and go through all the areas. It usually takes less than an hour.

It is also worth a look into the binder after major life events:

• Marriage, divorce or moving in with a new partner
• Birth of a child
• Moving house, buying or selling a home
• Changing jobs or retiring
• Switching your bank, health insurer or another insurance provider

That way your emergency binder stays what it is meant to be: a reliable answer for the day your loved ones need it.