What to Put in an Emergency Binder: A UK Checklist

Picture a hospital corridor at two in the morning. A woman in her fifties has just been told her father has had a stroke. The nurse is kind but needs answers quickly. What medication is he on? Is he allergic to anything? Who is his GP? Does he have a lasting power of attorney? She knows none of it. Somewhere in his house there is a drawer that probably holds the answers, but the house is forty minutes away and she has no key.

That is the situation an emergency binder is designed for. Not the slow, tidy business of a will being read, but the sudden moment when someone you love cannot speak for themselves and the people around them have to act. Roughly 1,800 people die in the UK every day, part of the 170,000 or so deaths a day you can watch on our live counter, and many more are taken into hospital unexpectedly. In every one of those cases, somebody ends up searching for information.

This guide explains what an emergency binder is, exactly what to put in it, how to organise it so a stranger could use it, and where to keep it. It is written for the UK, but most of it applies anywhere.

What an emergency binder actually is

An emergency binder (sometimes called an "in case of emergency" file, a grab file or a family emergency folder) is a single place that holds the information someone else would need if you were suddenly ill, injured or died. It is usually a ring binder or folder with dividers, sometimes backed up digitally.

It is not the same thing as a will, and it does not replace one. A will says who inherits. An emergency binder says where everything is, who to call and what you would want. We cover the wider problem of scattered information in what your family needs to know when you're gone. This article is the practical checklist.

Document	What it does	Legally binding?
Will	Says who inherits your estate and who your executors are	Yes, if properly signed and witnessed
Lasting power of attorney	Lets chosen people make decisions if you lose capacity	Yes, once registered with the Office of the Public Guardian
Advance decision	Records treatments you refuse in future	Yes, if it meets legal requirements
Emergency binder	Tells people where things are, who to contact and what you want	No, it is a guide and a store of information

The binder is the glue between all of these. It is where your family finds out that the will exists, which solicitor holds it, and that there is a registered LPA in the filing cabinet.

The two jobs the binder has to do

A good binder does two different jobs, and it helps to organise it that way.

Job one: the first 48 hours. Someone is in hospital, or has just died. The people around them need medical details, contacts, keys and immediate practical information: who feeds the dog, what is in the diary, who needs to be told.

Job two: the weeks and months after. If someone dies or loses capacity long term, family or executors need to deal with money, property, accounts and paperwork. This is slower, but it is where most of the hours go. Our guide on what to do when someone dies in the UK shows how long that list gets.

Put job one at the front of the binder. If someone only reads the first three pages, they should be able to handle an emergency.

Section 1: The front page (one sheet that matters most)

The first page should fit on one side of A4 and be readable in under a minute.

Item	Example of what to write
Full name and date of birth	As on your passport
Address and who has spare keys	"Neighbour at number 14 has a key"
NHS number	Found on NHS app or letters from your GP
GP practice and phone number	Practice name, not just the doctor
Key medical conditions	Diabetes type 2, atrial fibrillation
Allergies	Penicillin, nuts
Next of kin and two emergency contacts	Name, relationship, mobile
Legal documents that exist	"Will with solicitor (name). Health LPA registered, copy in section 3"
Dependants and pets	Children, someone you care for, animals and who can take them
Anything urgent	"Collect grandchildren from school on Tuesdays"

That last line is the one people forget. An emergency does not pause your responsibilities to others, and a single line can stop a child waiting at a school gate.

Section 2: Medical information

When someone arrives at hospital confused or unconscious, staff can usually see their GP record, but not always quickly, and not always everything. A clear medical sheet helps.

A current medication list: name, dose and time of day. Update it every time a prescription changes.
Long-term conditions and past operations.
Allergies and bad reactions to medicines.
Blood group, if known.
Hospital consultants you see, with clinic names.
Any implant, pacemaker or device.
Copies of an advance decision, a ReSPECT form or DNACPR form if you have one. We explain these in advance decisions and living wills.
Organ donation wishes. In England, Scotland and Wales an opt-out system applies, but families are still consulted, so writing your wish down helps them.

If you have a condition that can cause sudden collapse, such as epilepsy or a serious allergy, the binder is not enough. You also want a medical ID or the emergency information on your phone's lock screen. Our article on deaths from allergies explains why minutes matter there.

Section 3: Legal documents

Never put your only original will in a binder kept at home. Originals are best stored with a solicitor, at a will storage service or with the Probate Service. The binder should say where the original is and hold a copy.

Document	Keep the original	Keep in binder
Will	Solicitor, will storage service or the Probate Service	A copy and a note of where the original is
Lasting power of attorney (health and financial)	Safe place at home or with attorney	Copy, plus the LPA's online access code if you have one
Advance decision	Copy to GP and family	A copy at the front of the medical section
Birth and marriage or civil partnership certificates	Safe place at home	A note of where they are
Deeds, or proof of property ownership	Solicitor, lender or HM Land Registry record	Title number and where the paperwork is
Funeral plan	With the plan provider	Plan number and provider phone number

If you have not made a will or LPA yet, the binder is a good reason to start. See how to write a will in the UK and lasting power of attorney explained. If you are unsure why the will matters so much, what happens if you die without a will sets out the rules that apply instead.

Section 4: Money

This section is for whoever has to manage your finances if you cannot, or deal with your estate if you die. It should list what exists, not passwords.

Bank and building society accounts: provider, account type, last four digits of the account number.
Savings and investments: ISAs, Premium Bonds, shares, crypto (and where the recovery information is kept).
Pensions: every workplace and personal pension, including old ones. The Pensions Policy Institute estimated in 2024 that there were about 3.3 million lost pension pots in the UK worth around £31.1 billion. The free GOV.UK Pension Tracing Service can help you find old ones before you list them.
Life insurance and death-in-service benefits.
Debts: mortgage, loans, credit cards, car finance. We explain what happens to your debts when you die.
Regular bills and direct debits, so someone can stop or keep them running.
Income: salary, state pension, benefits, rent you receive.

Account type	What to write	What NOT to write
Current account	Bank, sort code, last 4 digits	PIN or online banking password
Savings or ISA	Provider and approximate balance	Full login details
Pension	Provider, policy number, employer it came from	Any security answers
Life insurance	Insurer, policy number, beneficiaries
Credit card	Provider, last 4 digits	Card number and CVV

Banks treat shared passwords as a breach of their terms, and using someone's login after they die can cause real problems for the family. The binder lets executors contact the bank properly. Our guide on what happens to your bank account when you die explains how that process works.

Section 5: The home

Someone has to keep the house safe and running, often while dealing with grief.

Where the stopcock, fuse box and gas meter are.
Boiler make, service company and any cover.
Home insurance provider and policy number. Many policies need to be told if a property becomes empty.
Council tax account.
Alarm codes and who else knows them (this one is better kept separately and handed over, see below).
Who cleans, gardens or does repairs.
Pets: vet, food, insurance, and who has agreed to take them.
Car: where the V5C logbook is, insurer, breakdown cover.

If your home is full of decades of belongings, the binder will not fix that, but it can say what matters most. Swedish death cleaning is a gentle way to reduce what your family will have to sort.

Section 6: Digital life

Most people now have dozens of online accounts, and many have photos and messages that exist nowhere else. You do not need to list passwords in the binder, but you do need a plan.

Digital item	Good option	What to note in binder
Phone	Set up Legacy Contact (Apple) or Inactive Account Manager (Google)	That it is set up, and who the contact is
Password manager	Use its emergency access feature	Which manager you use and who has emergency access
Email	Decide whether it should be closed or kept	Main email addresses
Social media	Choose memorialise or delete	Your wishes for each account
Photos	Shared album or a backup on a drive	Where the best copies are
Subscriptions	List them so they can be cancelled	Service names, not logins

We go through Facebook, Instagram and other platforms in detail in what happens to your social media when you die.

Section 7: Wishes, people and messages

This section is where the binder becomes personal.

Funeral wishes: burial or cremation, religious or not, music, readings, and how much you want spent. Our guides to planning your own funeral and funeral costs help here.
A list of people to tell: friends, old colleagues, clubs, the people who would be hurt to find out late.
Who you would like to speak at a funeral, if anyone.
Letters or messages to family, if you want to leave them.

Many people find this the hardest part, which is why it often stays blank. It is also the part families say they treasure most.

How to organise it so it actually gets used

A binder that is accurate but confusing is little better than none. A few habits help.

Use numbered dividers that match the sections above, and put a contents page at the front.
Date every page. A medication list from 2021 can be dangerous.
Write for a stranger. Assume the reader does not know your bank, your habits or your shorthand.
Keep it to what matters. It does not need every utility bill. It needs enough to find the rest.
Tell people it exists. A binder nobody knows about is a drawer full of paper.

If you would rather not design all of this from scratch, the When I'm Gone planner is a fill-in PDF that follows this same structure, with sections for documents, money, the home, funeral wishes and messages. You can print it as the core of your binder.

Where to keep it

Option	Pros	Cons
Home, in a known drawer or cupboard	Easy to update, family can find it	Lost in a fire or flood, not reachable from hospital
Fireproof box or safe at home	Protects against fire	Someone needs the key or code
Copy with a trusted relative or executor	Reachable if you are away from home	Must remember to update their copy
Digital copy (encrypted, shared folder)	Accessible from anywhere	Needs a login someone else can use
With your solicitor	Safe and professional	Slower to access in an emergency

The strongest setup for most people is a paper binder at home in a known place, plus a copy with the person most likely to deal with an emergency. Sensitive items such as alarm codes and safe combinations can go in a separate sealed envelope that only one trusted person knows about.

When to update it

Trigger	What to check
Every 12 months (pick a date, such as your birthday)	Whole binder, quick read through
New prescription or diagnosis	Medical section
New job, pension, bank or insurance	Money section
Marriage, divorce, new child or grandchild	Will, contacts and wishes
Moving house	Home section and front page
Someone named in the binder dies or moves away	Contacts and attorneys

If you want a nudge to take this seriously, our Death Clock gives a statistical estimate of how much time you might have. Most people get decades, which is plenty of time to do this properly, and also a reminder that none of it happens on its own.

Making one for a parent

Many people start an emergency binder for an ageing parent rather than for themselves. If you do, sit down together rather than doing it for them. It keeps them in control, and they are the only person who knows half of the answers. Start with the front page and medical section, which feel least intrusive, and come back to money another day. The When I'm Gone planner works as a shared starting point: print a copy, work through one section at a time, and let them fill it in in their own words.

While you were reading

In the twelve or so minutes it took to read this, around 1,400 people died around the world, and roughly 15 of them in the UK. Some had their affairs in order. Most did not, and somewhere tonight a family is going through drawers trying to work out where the pension is, what the passwords are and what their person would have wanted. You can see the count rising in real time on our live death counter.

An emergency binder takes an afternoon to start. Begin with one sheet: the front page. It is the kindest piece of paperwork you will ever write.

Sources: GOV.UK guidance on making a will, lasting power of attorney and the Pension Tracing Service; NHS guidance on organ donation and advance decisions; Pensions Policy Institute, Lost Pensions 2024 (Briefing Note 138); Office for National Statistics death registrations. This article is general information, not legal or financial advice. For decisions about wills, powers of attorney or tax, speak to a qualified professional.