I couldn’t possibly give you a comprehensive list, at the very least because every person’s circumstances are different. I’d recommend starting with a book like Get It Together: Organize Your Records So Your Family Won’t Have To by Melanie Cullen and Shae Irving. I referred to this along with The Trustee’s Tegal Companion by Liza Hanks and Carol Elias Zolla when I was tasked with administering some family trusts and estates and I needed to sift through a rather haphazardly organized pile of banker’s boxes stuffed full of documents going back to the 1970s.
Examples of things that were missing: automobile titles (they later turned up in a safe deposit box with some jewelry), information regarding the formation of a partnership formed in connection with two living trusts for reasons no one could discern; information regarding whether IRA contributions had been made pre or post tax; and more. The point is, even smart people can hoard the wrong things.
Perfect, just what I was looking for. My original question was misleading - what I should have asked for was examples of unusual records, not those included in the typical generic “what to keep” lists.
Another example I just remembered:
For those in the U.S. with HSA accounts: records of unreimbursed medical expenses paid out-of-pocket over the years. These can document allowable tax-free withdrawals/distributions from tax-favored HSA accounts.
Another important one: cost basis information for securities and property with unrealized capital gains (or loses).
For animals
Registration papers for all registered livestock, cost basis and genetic value.
Location of any stored semen, oocytes, embryos or cloneable tissues of all livestock and any use restrictions official veterinary papers and proof of genetic characteristics the federal government requires.
For Sheep and Goats in the US who are part of the Scrapie Flock Certification program you must keep records of official tags and all data on the animals for 7 years after they are sold or died.
For imported livestock keep copies of all veterinary certificates and import permits for at least 7 years after the animal has been sold or died.
Copies of all federal flock or herd inspections esp. any related to any disease tracebacks you have bene involved in.
Copies of veterinary and laboratory reports for all state or federal diseases your livestock have been tested for.
Brand Inspection Documents for Cattle, Horses, Mules, Donkeys and in some states sheep and goats.
Proof of brand ownership and use data required to maintain a brand and which classes of livestock it’s used on.
General Business Stuff
Trademarks and the information and proof that all the use verifications have been done and renewals filed properly.
Patents and any licenses you gave regarding those patents including what rights each license holder has.
Copyright data on any books or manuscripts you have written or have rights to use.
Copies of required corporate minutes for all corporations
For houses
Well permits, Well drilling report from well driller, Well testing reports for potable water sources
Adjudicated Water rights or Ditch Company Stock Certificates
Septic System certification if you are not on a city sewer system
State Highway department permit for a highway entry if you have a driveway that leads into a state highway
You can get the cost basis on all securities from the broker who handles the accounts.
If you have stock certificates you will need to keep your own cost basis information.
US has many requirements on records you must keep as an individual. But I also know the UK has some significant requirements for livestock and farmers that make our rules seem simple. In general we don’t need to get a permit to keep livestock but in UK you have to get a permit for each species you want to keep. There used to be an allowance for some small number of chickens but even that has gone away in the UK now due to HPAI.
Partly true. You can keep up to 50 chickens at a residential property without any permit or licence but even pet chickens can be subject to restrictions and the owner is obliged to follow them. E.g. you can’t feed them anything that was prepared for human consumption (scraps) and orders to “lock down” (keep them indoors) are imposed quite often to try to restrict the spread of bird flu and other diseases. Local government can impose local rules (e.g. not allowing poultry to be kept in densely residential areas)
You also don’t need a permit to keep a small number of livestock (pigs do require permits), but you DO need to register them and there are very strict registration and reporting rules about transporting them. The example always given is that you can’t take a pet pig for a walk without reporting it beforehand. We’ve had a lot of serious animal epidemics in recent years, which is when regulations are tightened. No-one wants to see the catastrophe of something like foot and mouth or swine fever again.
Generally, the agencies responsible for enforcing regulations are very helpful. They prefer to give advice beforehand and offer sensible ways for working within the rules to having to enforce. It’s not hard to find out what you have to do and not too costly to do it, unless you are trying to cut corners and save costs on a industrial scale - it tends to be the vast agro-business owners that carp on about deregulation.
That used to be correct but according to the Farmers Guardian the rules have changed and effective October 1 all sizes of flocks will be registered. Registering Flocks due to HPAI
It might be a perception thing but that’s not what I hear from my farming friends in the UK that have small farms like ours. Everyone agrees that the government handled FMD badly. Here is the US we are implementing livestock documentation and reporting without central regulation. For example, here there is a Federal rule on Identification for sheep and goats, but each state and tribe can implement it differently. Similarly while most species that cross a state line in transport must have a certificate of vet inspection what testing and verification is required for that is decided by each state or tribe and can change often. There is no way with our style of governmental organization that there will ever be any complete federal control over animal movement in the same way the UK does it.
Generally true but brokers are not required to report, and usually do not have, basis information for “non-covered” shares - those acquired before Jan. 1, 2011.
Your list of livestock-related records required is fascinating!
Now I find that interesting. Our stock broker has the cost basis on every position we own and we have some we bought decades ago. Maybe that’s something that varies by who you have as a broker?
Yes, probably varies by broker and by certain situations. For example, brokerage companies acquired by other companies might transfer records incompletely, omitting non-covered shares basis information. In my case, I transferred broker-held securities to another broker, resulting in lost cost basis information.
Another example: share certificates transferred in to be held by a broker will result in a “non-covered” shares situation with no basis reported by the broker.
If you ever transfer your holdings from one broker to another, you should record and maintain basis information. Same applies to situations in which one broker is acquired by another. Does anyone remember Jack White brokerage? Or EF Hutton?
It’s interesting that the change has been lobbied for by the National Farmers Union (which represents farmers and is sometimes seen as less sympathetic to smallholders). Their aim is to prevent commercial poultry operations (many of which are conducted indoors in barns) from being affected by disease outbreaks on smallholdings and “backyard” flocks which are typically much more open air.
For horses, vaccination records, and dates of Coggins tests & results; you can’t transport horses across state lines without a recent (6 months or so) negative test result. This is important if you need to move horses in a fire / flood situation and need emergency boarding or pasturage.
Very good point. For bulls you will need a negative Trich test within the past year and for rams a negative b. ovis test within 30 days to move across state lines. Other testing may be required as well.