Legal documents are among the most important papers in your home. Such documents include your birth certificate, lease, deed, marriage certificate and every other official piece of paperwork issued by the government. Theft of such documents can result in stolen identities, and loss of documents in a fire or disaster can make proving your identity extremely difficult. Managing legal documents electronically makes it easier to create backups. A scanner is needed for all electronic methods.

Homemade System

To make your electronic document management system as effective as possible, start scanning all legal documents as soon as they are received. Save the image files as portable document files (PDFs) on your hard drive and keep the physical copies secure in another location, such as a safe deposit box. This will create a primary backup if the hard drive crashes or if the safe deposit box is compromised. If managing the documents yourself without specialized software, name each document according to the type of record it contains. For instance, if you have a marriage certificate from a previous relationship, label it in such a way that you'll be able to find it again without confusing it with a different marriage certificate. Include names in the labels. Password-protect the individual documents for added security. List all of the names and descriptions in a password-protected spreadsheet for easy archiving and document retrieval. Save the documents and spreadsheet to a CD-ROM or portable hard drive in addition to your personal computer and store it in a secure location outside of your home.

Online Options

The primary benefit of using an online electronic document storage solution is the system's accessibility. If your home computer is damaged in a fire or flood, you will still have full access to the documents through another computer. This also leads to a drawback. If your online legal document storage is breached by a hacker, he will have total access to all of your personal information. Look for an online legal document management system that offers multiple levels of password-protected security and document encryption. Another benefit to online systems is the ability to remotely view a document at any time even if a spouse, attorney or other privileged party is also viewing the same document. Make sure your online document management provider offers HTTPS or another secure communication channel. This prevents file interception during uploads and downloads.

Hard Drive

Management software for personal computers is available. These systems provide a dashboard and archival system for locally stored documents. While the risk of identity theft is lowered--especially if the system is used exclusively offline--there is a chance of total data loss if the system is damaged or destroyed. Look for a system that automatically catalogs, indexes and stores documents based on their content. Apart from scanning and retrieval, the entire system should be automated. Make sure your electronic management system has a backup system in place, and only select a product with a reputable customer service department. If you have difficulties accessing a document, it's important that you can receive assistance when you need it.

Source:

Intelex: Electronic Document Control Systems

eBridge Soulutions: Web-Based Document Imaging

Speedy Scan: Desktop Records Management Software