When someone passes away, 'where's the paperwork?' shouldn't be the hardest question
The filing cabinet
My grandmother kept a four-drawer filing cabinet in the basement. Manila folders, colour-coded labels, decades of a family's financial life sorted into categories only she fully understood. When she passed, that cabinet became the centre of everything. Not because of what was in it, but because nobody else knew where anything was.
Her will was in there. So was the life insurance policy. The property deed. The pension paperwork. But finding each one took hours, and some of the most important documents turned up in the wrong folder, or tucked behind something else entirely.
This is not a rare story. Nearly every family I have spoken to has a version of it.
The real cost of disorganised documents
When someone passes away, the grief is hard enough. The paperwork makes it worse. A missing will means probate delays. An unfound insurance policy means missed claim windows. A forgotten bank account means money sitting uncollected while legal fees pile up.
The cost is not just financial. It is emotional. Imagine going through a parent's belongings, not to grieve, but to hunt for a policy number. Imagine the arguments that start when siblings disagree about what exists and where it might be.
These are solvable problems. They just need to be solved before the crisis, not during it.
The 8 document categories every Canadian family needs accessible
Wills and powers of attorney. Your will, your spouse's will, powers of attorney for property and personal care. If you have a trust, the trust documents too. Everyone named in these documents should know where they are.
Insurance policies. Life, home, auto, disability, critical illness. Not just the card in your wallet -- the actual policy documents with coverage limits, beneficiaries, and policy numbers.
Property deeds and mortgage documents. Title documents, mortgage agreements, property tax assessments. If you own a cottage or rental property, those too.
Pension and RRSP statements. Employer pension details, RRSP and RRIF statements, TFSA records. Your family needs to know what exists and where it is held.
Tax returns and notices of assessment. CRA requires you to keep records for six years. Your executor will need at least the most recent notice of assessment to file a final return.
Bank and investment accounts. Every account at every institution. Include account numbers, branch information, and any joint account holders.
Medical directives. Your advance care directive, any do-not-resuscitate orders, organ donation wishes, and the contact information for your family doctor.
Digital accounts. Email, cloud storage, social media, subscription services, cryptocurrency wallets. Include how to access them or at minimum, that they exist.
Why a shared Drive folder is not enough
The first instinct most people have is to create a shared Google Drive or Dropbox folder. It feels like the modern solution. But shared folders have real limitations when it comes to estate planning.
Permissions die with the account holder. If the person who shared the folder loses access to their Google account, the sharing breaks. And getting into a deceased person's Google account is a legal process that takes months.
No intelligent search. A shared folder lets you browse files, but it cannot answer questions. You still have to open each document and read through it to find what you need.
No expiry alerts. Insurance policies renew. Wills get updated. Tax deadlines pass. A folder does not tell you when something is out of date.
No privacy controls. Sharing a folder means sharing everything in it. You cannot selectively share the insurance policy without also exposing the bank statements.
One Sunday afternoon
Here is the honest truth: organising your family's documents does not take as long as you think. Most families can upload their essential documents in a single afternoon.
Gather the 8 categories above from wherever they currently live -- filing cabinet, desk drawer, email attachments, bank portals
Upload them to Archevi (drag and drop, or forward email attachments to your Archevi inbox)
Let the AI extract dates, amounts, and key details automatically
Test it: ask a question like "what is my home insurance policy number?" and see if you get the right answer
Share access with your spouse, adult children, or executor
You do not need to organise everything perfectly. Upload the documents and let Archevi do the sorting. The AI reads and categorises them for you.
What Archevi does not replace
Archevi does not replace a lawyer, an estate planner, or a financial advisor. It makes their job easier. When your estate lawyer asks for the insurance policy, you can find it in seconds instead of hours. When your accountant needs the notice of assessment, it is one question away.
Think of it as the organisational layer your family has always needed but never had time to build. The filing cabinet in the basement, made searchable and shareable, with an AI that actually reads every page.
The people who matter to you should never have to wonder where the paperwork is. That is a problem you can solve today.
Start organising your family's documents. Upload your first folder to Archevi and ask it a question. If the answer is right, you are already ahead of most families.
