The 72-hour folder: what your family needs to find

The 72-hour folder is the simplest tool for shielding the people you love from that scramble. One folder, one place, one person who knows where it is. This guide is the list.

What the folder actually is

It is a physical folder, kept somewhere your nabestaanden (next of kin) can reach without a key, ideally backed by a digital copy. Not a safe. Not a safety deposit box at the bank, which can be inaccessible for weeks after death. A drawer, a shelf, a marked binder.

The folder does not need to be elegant. It needs to be findable, current, and known. Tell at least two people where it is.

What goes inside

Use the sections below as a checklist. Tick what you have, mark what is missing, fill it in over a few evenings rather than one weekend.

1. Contacts that get called first

• Huisarts (general practitioner): name, practice, phone, hours.
• Huisartsenpost (out-of-hours GP service): regional phone number.
• Uitvaartondernemer (funeral director): if you have a chosen one, name and phone. If you have only an uitvaartverzekering (funeral insurance), the policy number and the insurer's claims line.
• Notaris: if there is a testament or levenstestament, the notaris's name and office.
• Two or three key relatives: full names and phone numbers, including one person outside the immediate household.
• Werkgever (employer) of the person who died: HR or direct manager, phone or email.
• VPTZ (volunteer palliative care, vptz.nl) or the local hospice, if relevant.

2. Personal and legal documents — and where they live

• Paspoort or ID-kaart.
• BSN (citizen service number).
• Trouwboekje (marriage booklet) or partnership registration.
• Birth certificates of children, if relevant for inheritance.
• Testament: a copy if you have one, plus a note that it is registered with the Centraal Testamentenregister (CTR) via the notaris. The notaris confirms within days whether a will exists.
• Levenstestament (continuing power of attorney): a copy and the registration in the Centraal Levenstestamentenregister (CLTR).
• Wilsverklaring (advance directive): a copy in the folder, and confirmation that the huisarts has the same copy in the medical file.
• Donor registration status (Donorregister). Since 2020, every adult in the Netherlands is on the register in some form; note your choice so the family does not have to look it up under stress.

3. Insurance and money

• Uitvaartverzekering: policy number, type (natura covers services, kapitaal pays a sum), insurer phone.
• Levensverzekering (life insurance): policy, insurer, named beneficiary.
• Overlijdensrisicoverzekering linked to the mortgage, if any.
• Bank accounts: which bank, which type, and whether it is an en/of-rekening (joint account that survives the death of one holder) or a sole account that will be frozen.
• Pension fund: name and contact, plus partner pension status if applicable.
• Mortgage or rental contract: location of the document, key clauses about death.

4. Wishes for the funeral

• A completed wensenboek (wishes booklet) or a written record of preferences: burial or cremation, ceremony, music, who speaks, opbaring at home or in an uitvaartcentrum.
• Vigil plan, if one has been drafted.
• Codicil for personal items (handwritten, signed, dated): jewellery, books, furniture.
• Notes on cultural or religious practices the family should honour.

5. Digital life

• A password manager export, or a sealed envelope with the master password.
• A list of important accounts: email, banking, government (DigiD, MijnOverheid), photo storage, social media.
• Instructions for digital legacy: which accounts to memorialise, which to close, who keeps the photo archive.

6. For the first conversation with the funeral director

The uitvaartondernemer will ask within hours. Have these ready in the folder:

• Clothing for the deceased.
• Glasses or dentures, if needed for appearance.
• Jewellery to be worn during opbaring (it is removed before the coffin is closed, unless explicitly stated otherwise).
• A photograph for the rouwkamer.
• The wensenboek or wishes document, so the conversation starts from your answers, not theirs.

7. A short checklist of first actions

• A one-page sheet at the top of the folder with: who to call first, who calls the wider family, who collects the children, who handles the workplace.
• Names and phone numbers of people to notify.
• Who is responsible for what within the family.
• A note of the chosen uitvaartondernemer or insurer, so no one has to search in panic.

Where to keep it, and who knows

A folder no one can find is the same as no folder. Three rules:

• Store the physical folder somewhere accessible without a code or key. A bookshelf, a known drawer, a labelled box.
• Keep a copy with one trusted person outside the household, in case the home is unreachable.
• Tell at least two people, by name, where it is and what is in it. Update them when you update the folder.

A digital copy in a shared cloud folder is a useful backup, with one caveat: the person who needs it must already have access. Files locked behind your single login are not a backup.

When to update it

Most folders go out of date within a year. Three light prompts work better than one big revision:

• After any life event: marriage, divorce, a new child, a house move, a new job, a major illness.
• Once a year, on a fixed date you already remember (your birthday, New Year).
• Whenever a key contact changes, especially the huisarts or the notaris.

Plan it

• ☐ Tonight: write down the three people who should be called first.
• ☐ This week: note where each key document actually lives.
• ☐ This week: tell the person who would be called first that this folder exists.

When the folder is ready, I will tell the one person who needs it where it is — a folder no one knows about helps no one.

In the app

The Personal Portal builds this folder across two stages. Stage 5 "Guide for Your Family" gathers the contacts, the location of important documents, and the priority actions for the first 72 hours. Stage 12 "The Handover" is where you mark the folder ready, name the trusted person, and tell them where everything lives. The PDF Export turns it into one document the family can carry on the day they need it.

Join the beta →

Closed beta — access by invitation.

Sources

1. Rijksoverheid — overlijden information and the official "Wat te doen bij overlijden" guidance for nabestaanden. https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/overlijden
2. KNB — Koninklijke Notariële Beroepsorganisatie, on the Centraal Testamentenregister and Centraal Levenstestamentenregister. https://www.notaris.nl/
3. BGNU — Branchevereniging Gecertificeerde Nederlandse Uitvaartondernemingen, professional standards for uitvaartondernemers and the first-conversation checklist. https://www.bgnu.nl/