How to do it
The Hour That Protects Everything Else
Whether or not you ever use a vault, this is worth doing — and almost nobody has.
Come and see it before you commit anything. Bring your insurance broker or your appraiser if that helps you decide.
What a usable record contains
Per item, and it takes a few minutes each.
- A clear photograph, plus a close-up of any marks or serials.
- A description that identifies the item unambiguously.
- Reference and serial numbers where they exist.
- Any certificate or appraisal, recorded against that item.
- Where the box and papers are, if they are separate.
Why
An underwriter cannot schedule a category and a beneficiary cannot inherit one. At claim, an unscheduled item is frequently an unpaid item, and at probate an undocumented collection is a family argument about memory.
The list is what turns a pile of objects into something that can be insured, divided and passed on.
Do it before you need it
Every reason to document a collection — a claim, a death, a divorce, a sale — arrives without warning, and the documentation cannot be created afterwards.
If you do nothing else on this page, photograph everything this weekend and put the file somewhere your family can find it.
Common questions
- Can we do this ourselves?
- Yes, entirely, and you should whether or not you ever use a vault.
- Is a photograph enough?
- A photograph plus an unambiguous description and any serial numbers. A category is not a schedule.
- Where should the record live?
- Somewhere your family can find it, and with your attorney.
- How often should it be updated?
- Whenever something is added, sold or re-appraized.
Tell us what needs to move.
What, from where, and roughly when. You do not need an inventory to start the conversation, and if the job belongs with an armored carrier we will say so on the call.