What Should I Keep In A Safe Deposit Box?

what should i keep in a safe deposit box

Have you included a safe deposit box reservation in your estate planning process? Safe deposits are an undervalued tool in the estate planning toolkit. 

In addition to housing valuable and often irreplaceable assets or documents in one place, safe deposits offer far more secure and indestructible benefits than home safes.

Make a Safe Deposit Box Part of Your Estate Plan

This is especially true for Californians, who have experienced record numbers of devastating fires over the past decade. Unfortunately, many of our Northern California clients learned that their home safes were not as fire-safe or resilient as expected, which meant the loss of irreplaceable or hard-to-replace valuables and documents.

What is a safe deposit box?

Safe deposit boxes are locked containers stored in bank and credit union vaults. Clients pay a monthly or annual fee for their use and can choose varying levels of insurance based on the box’s contents. 

There are several benefits to storing relevant assets, possessions, or documents in a safe deposit:

  • More secure. Because they are located in a bank vault, they are extremely secure. In order to access your box, authorized users must show legal identification to a bank teller, after which you are escorted to the bank vault, which has a dedicated area for safe deposit boxes. Even most bank tellers do not have clearance to access the vault or safe deposit area. 
  • Relative indestructibility. Nothing is 100% indestructible. However, bank vaults are exponentially stronger and more fire/water resistant than the vast majority of home safes. They are also far less affected by seismic activity due to their construction. Even when the bank burns down or a major earthquake strikes, the vault’s contents are protected.
  • Burglar-resistant. While a home safe is at risk from burglars, who can be very sophisticated at cracking safes, safe deposit boxes in banks are rarely targets of theft or robbery. According to SQN Banking Systems, home safes are 250 times more likely to be robbed than safe deposit boxes.
  • It is customizable to your needs and budget. Small safe deposit boxes, usually around 3 x 5 inches, can cost anywhere from $10 to $60 per year, depending on the bank and the vault security. The sizes and costs go up from there. But this is a very modest fee to pay for the level of protection you gain. 

Items worth storing in a safe deposit box

Here are some of the most essential items we recommend storing in a safe deposit box rather than in your home.

Documents that are hard to replace

Nowadays, you can request new copies of certain legal documents, but many take six weeks or more to replace. This can be a tremendous hassle in an emergency, such as a fire or flood.

We recommend making copies of important, original documents and storing them in your home safe. Then, the originals can be stored in the safe deposit box.

Certain valuable assets

You may also have small assets that are valuable but that you don’t access often. These can include things like:

  • Paper bonds and stock certificates (much of this is available digitally now, but companies that issued paper stocks in the past will want those back when you or your beneficiaries cash in). 
  • Jewelry or small heirloom pieces.
  • Gold or silver bullion.
  • Keys to a home safe, if you want a double layer of protection.
  • Rare or valuable small collectibles.

What NOT to store in a safe deposit box

Because safe deposits must be accessed through the bank, the contents are only accessible during regular banking hours. For this reason, you should never store anything you access regularly or may need at a moment’s notice.

For example, a safe deposit should never be used to store:

It can seem like a safe deposit box is the safest place for some of these. However, there are times when these documents are needed ASAP, especially in an emergency. If the need arises outside of banking hours or in the midst of a natural disaster, you want to have immediate access to the items listed above.

Be very mindful of who has access to your safe deposit box

Just as you should be mindful of who has control of your medical choices, who you name as the trustee/executor of your estate, or trust as a POA, your safe deposit box should be equally protected. 

If you’ve granted access to all of your adult children and given them keys, but one is known for having a troubled past or is prone to addiction-fueled theft or irresponsible spending, the contents are at risk. While your safe deposit insurance policy covers the box’s contents in the case of a natural disaster or bank-related incident, it will not cover any contents stolen or misused by someone who had legitimate access.

  • Keep safe deposit information and keys in a secure home safe.
  • Always maintain safe deposit box insurance (this may or may not be offered by your bank, although they’ll have referrals). 
  • Let key people know you have a safe deposit box and where, so heirs/beneficiaries know to pursue that if it was left out of your estate planning documents.

Discuss safe deposit boxes & estate plan strategies with Tseng Law

Tseng Law Firm can help you determine whether a safety deposit box should be part of your estate planning toolkit. Schedule a consultation to begin creating – or modifying – a comprehensive estate plan personalized to your present and long-term goals. Contact us to schedule a consultation.