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katiekat2009 Asked October 2018

When can I legally destroy financial documents?

In April of 2019, it will be five years since my mom passed. I was her POA. When can I destroy all of her financial records? Is there anything I should keep?

JoAnn29 Oct 2018
Five years you can pretty much get rid of it all.

You might want to keep her last income tax paperwork. Last bank statement. Maybe the Probate paperwork a little longer. Her funeral papers. But I think you will be safe shredding it all. The IRS only goes back five years.

freqflyer Oct 2018
katiekat, excellent question. I have roamed around the Internet and found a variety of different answers for the same question. Seems like no experts are able to agree on how long to keep such items.

My parents kept copies of their income taxes since day one when the earth was discovered, so I went amuck with shredding keeping just the past few years. Chances of my parent's income taxes being audited is like less than 1%. But I did save the last couple of years.

I did keep all the Deeds to houses long since sold, and "paid" mortgage notes. I will need to check around and see if I really do need to keep these items.

My parents and grandparent's birth certificates, marriage license, etc. I have in the family tree binder.

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