A useful go-bag document packet gives you access to the records and contacts needed to identify household members, continue care, contact insurers, and start recovery. It does not carry the household filing cabinet.
This guide covers the document layer of the VIVAL 72-Hour Kit. Keep the portable set small, protect sensitive information, and maintain a separate backup so one lost bag does not take the only copy with it.
Quick Answer: Carry Access, Not a Filing Cabinet
Build the packet around tasks, not around every record you own. For each item, ask what another person may need to do with it during an evacuation or the first days after one:
- Confirm identity or a household relationship
- Reach an emergency contact, insurer, medical provider, pharmacy, employer, school, landlord, lender, or utility
- Continue medication, medical-device support, or accessibility arrangements
- Identify a policy, property, vehicle, or account well enough to contact the organization
- Begin a replacement, assistance, or claims process
Use protected paper copies or concise reference details when they solve the task. Carry an original only when a known situation requires it and the risk of leaving it behind is greater than the risk of loss or theft. A copy can be useful without having the same legal effect as an original or certified record.
Do not leave plaintext passwords, PINs, recovery codes, or an unnecessary list of full account credentials in an unattended bag. The best packet is useful to the household and incomplete to a thief.
Build the Packet Around Real Recovery Tasks
Ready.gov’s financial-preparedness guidance recommends gathering critical personal, household, medical, financial, insurance, and contact information. FEMA’s Emergency Financial First Aid Kit provides a detailed system for organizing that larger record set.
The go-bag packet should be the portable working layer, not a duplicate of the full archive. Start with the household’s likely evacuation, identification, care, and recovery tasks. Write down the organization, contact route, policy or reference number, and minimum supporting record needed for each task. Leave out data that does not change what someone can do.
Identification and Household Records
Build a small identification section for every person the packet supports. Depending on the household and situation, useful copies or reference details may include:
- Government-issued photo identification
- Birth, adoption, guardianship, marriage, naturalization, residency, or military-service records relevant to the household
- Passport identification-page copy for reference or replacement planning, where relevant
- Current address and proof-of-address information
- Recent household photographs that can help identify family members or pets
- Pet identification, registration, microchip, vaccination, and veterinarian contacts
Do not assume every bag needs every original. Identify which office or organization issued each record and how replacement works. If an original is required for a planned departure, assign who carries it and when it moves into the bag rather than storing it there indefinitely.
Medical, Prescription, and Accessibility Information
Emergency medical information should be short enough to find under pressure and accurate enough to use. Record each person’s name, date of birth, emergency contacts, healthcare providers, pharmacy, insurer, medications, allergies, relevant conditions, medical devices, communication needs, and essential accessibility support.
Include only information the household has verified through its normal care plan. Keep medication names, doses, schedules, prescribing contacts, refill information, and device specifications current. Do not use a generic emergency checklist to change treatment, medication, feeding, or device instructions.
Where appropriate, include copies of health-insurance cards, prescription information, advance-care documents, service-animal records, or disability documentation that supports continued access. Store the fuller medical record through the household’s established secure system; the portable packet is a working summary and access path.
Insurance, Property, and Vehicle Records
Record enough information to contact each insurer and identify the correct policy. That may include:
- Homeowners, renters, flood, health, life, and vehicle insurer names and claims contacts
- Policyholder names, policy numbers, and coverage contact information
- Landlord, property manager, mortgage servicer, or lender contacts
- Vehicle make, model, year, plate, registration, insurer, and roadside-assistance contact
- Property inventory location and the access method for protected photographs or receipts
The portable packet does not need the entire policy when a declarations page, card, concise summary, or reference number gives the household a workable starting point. Keep the full policy and detailed property inventory in the protected archive, separate from the bag.
Emergency Contacts and Account-Recovery Information
Phones can be damaged, locked, discharged, or unavailable to another household member. Keep a printed contact sheet with names, relationships, phone numbers, email addresses, and relevant account or policy contacts. Include an out-of-area contact and the places the household may go.
For banks, cards, utilities, employers, schools, and service providers, record the organization’s official contact route and only the minimum reference detail needed to locate the account. Avoid recording passwords, PINs, full card security codes, or authentication-recovery secrets. Use the household’s normal protected password manager or another established secure access method.
Add written instructions for anything another person would not know: who can speak for a child or dependent adult, where the full archive is stored, which person holds an original, who manages a medical device, and who should be contacted if the household separates.
Originals, Copies, or Reference Details?
| Portable form | Use it when | Main caution |
|---|---|---|
| Original | A known trip, crossing, transfer, or official process requires the original document. | High loss and replacement cost; assign custody and do not store it in the bag without a defined need. |
| Paper copy | A visible copy can identify the record, support a conversation, or begin recovery without power or connectivity. | It may not be legally accepted as the original and still exposes personal information if lost. |
| Reference details | An organization name, contact route, policy number, or partial account reference is enough to start. | Too little information can be useless; test the recovery process before relying on it. |
| Protected digital copy | The household needs a larger archive, remote access, or a backup separated from the paper set. | Access may depend on power, connectivity, authentication, and a secure device or service. |
When uncertain, check the requirements of the agency, insurer, medical provider, financial institution, school, landlord, or other organization before the record is needed. Write down what it accepts and how an authorized household member can obtain a replacement.
Protect the Paper Packet
Ready.gov’s emergency-kit guidance recommends saving important family documents electronically or in a waterproof portable container. Use a compact inner pouch, keep pages legible, and separate the document packet from liquids, food, fuel, and loose tools.
A pouch reduces ordinary water and handling exposure; it does not make records theft-proof, fireproof, or safe under every condition. Label the packet discreetly. Do not advertise that a bag contains identity and financial records. Avoid leaving the packet in a hot vehicle, unattended public place, or location where people outside the household can browse it.
Place the contact sheet and immediate medical summary where an authorized person can reach them quickly. Put more sensitive copies behind an additional access step where practical. Confirm that the intended user can read, open, carry, and explain the packet.
Create a Protected Digital Backup
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recommends password-protected web storage for a digital copy and a fire- and water-resistant container for a portable drive. Its disaster checklist also advises storing the completed original and a copy in separate places.
Choose a method the household already understands and can access from a replacement device. Protect the account with a strong unique password and the service’s available authentication controls. Confirm how an authorized household member gains access if the primary account holder is unavailable. Do not assume that a phone photo album, an unencrypted email attachment, or a loose drive is a secure archive.
Test recovery without exposing the records: sign in from the expected backup path, confirm the current files are present, and verify that another authorized adult understands the process. Keep at least one backup physically separate from the go-bag.
Distribute Access Across the Household
Ready.gov’s evacuation guidance recommends making sure household members know where the go-bag is and who is responsible for it. Assign primary and backup custody for the document packet. If the household may separate, decide which information each person needs rather than giving everyone a full duplicate of every sensitive record.
One adult might carry the working paper packet while another has protected digital access and the out-of-area contact has a limited recovery sheet. Children, older adults, and people who need assistance should have identification and contact information in a form that fits their care and privacy plan.
Use the VIVAL 72-hour kit build guide for the full allocation, packing, organization, and carry-test method. Test the actual document arrangement alongside the rest of the bag, but keep this packet focused on access rather than whole-kit weight or gear selection.
Go-Bag Documents Working Checklist
| Record or contact | Task it supports | Portable form | Full backup location | Review trigger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Household identification | ||||
| Medical and prescription summary | ||||
| Insurance contacts and policies | ||||
| Property, landlord, lender, or vehicle details | ||||
| Emergency and out-of-area contacts | ||||
| Account and service contact routes |
Packet check
- ☐ Every item supports a defined task.
- ☐ Copies or reference details replace originals wherever they are sufficient.
- ☐ No plaintext passwords, PINs, recovery codes, or unnecessary full credentials are present.
- ☐ Paper is legible, current, compact, and protected from ordinary water and handling.
- ☐ The full backup is stored separately from the bag.
- ☐ Authorized household members know where the packet is and how to access the backup.
- ☐ Medical, contact, insurer, account, address, and custody information is current.
- ☐ Another household member has tested the recovery path.
This checklist covers documents only. Use the complete VIVAL 72-Hour Kit checklist to review water, food, shelter, clothing, light, communication, health, tools, and the rest of the portable system.
Review, Replace, and Remove Outdated Records
Review the packet at least once a year, as Ready.gov recommends for emergency-kit needs, and whenever a record changes. Useful triggers include a move, birth, death, guardianship change, new pet, new employer or school, changed medication, new medical device, renewed identification, vehicle change, insurance renewal, closed account, or changed emergency contact.
Replace damaged or illegible copies. Remove expired cards and records that no longer support a real task. Update the paper set and digital backup together, then record the date and the person who completed the review. Destroy discarded sensitive copies through the household’s normal secure disposal method.
Go-Bag Documents FAQ
Should original documents go in a go-bag?
Only when a known situation requires the original and the household has assigned custody. Routine storage in an unattended bag raises loss and theft risk. Copies or reference details are often better for identifying the record and starting recovery, but they may not be accepted in place of an original.
Are phone photos enough?
Not as the only plan. A phone can be damaged, discharged, locked, or unavailable to another household member. Use phone access only as one layer alongside a small paper set and a protected backup stored separately.
How should sensitive copies be protected?
Carry only the minimum necessary information, use a compact protective inner pouch, limit who can reach it, and keep the full archive elsewhere. Protect digital storage with the service’s security controls and test the authorized recovery path.
Should every household member carry the same packet?
No. Give each person the identification, contact, medical, and access information needed for the household plan. Unnecessary duplicate sensitive records increase exposure without adding capability.
How often should the packet be reviewed?
Use an annual review as a baseline, then update it whenever household members, addresses, contacts, identification, medication, providers, policies, vehicles, or accounts change.
Bottom Line
A strong document packet is small, current, protected, and recoverable. It lets the household identify people, continue care, reach the right organizations, and begin recovery without turning one lost bag into a second emergency.
Follow the VIVAL principle of carrying capability instead of clutter: keep only what solves a defined task, maintain a separate backup, and make sure the people who need access can actually use it.