What hard copies of documents do I need to keep?

In My Humble Opinion
1

You are not a lawyer. If you are, you’re not my lawyer or you’re not licensed in my jurisdiction or if you are licensed in my jurisdiction, it doesn’t matter because you’re not my lawyer and this is not legal advice.

With access to relatively high quality scanners and electronic copies that are kept in the cloud with encryption and that are backed up by Google, what documents should I keep hard copies of and which are good candidates for digital only copies?

For instance, I had to have an irrevocable trust drawn up for my dad. The paperwork was signed and notarized. (I’m not even entirely sure that I need it anymore since I sent a copy to the state that was requiring it for Medicaid purposes.) But don’t get hung up on this example. How do I decide what to keep in a file cabinet and what to keep in bits and bytes?

2

Keep the original of anything that has a seal. That includes your birth and marriage certificates. You’ll need them when you apply for your REAL ID card, passport (for that matter, keep your passport, too!) and a bunch of other stuff.

Keep the original of your car title, even if it doesn’t actually have a seal.

And thanks to high quality fakes, you’ll want to keep your original copies of legal and loan documents, so you can compare the copy you have against the copy someone else has - you know, just in case.