What a household should have on file

The checkup is built on a plain list: for each kind of person or thing, what should be on file, how often it renews, and where to get it if it is missing. Here is the list, so you can argue with it.

For each adult

• A current government photo ID. Driver’s license or passport. Every other renewal asks for it. Passports take six to eight weeks and many countries refuse entry with less than six months left, so Thaw raises the passport nine months out.
• Birth certificate. Certified copies come from the vital records office of the state of birth; the CDC keeps an index of where to write.
• Social Security card. Replacements are free through a my Social Security account.
• Current health coverage. The summary of benefits or the card.
• A will. If one exists, the signed copy. If not, the checkup says so once and remembers your answer.
• Power of attorney or an advance directive. Most states publish a statutory form; it needs a notary, not an attorney.

For each vehicle

• Title, unless a lender holds it, in which case the purchase agreement stands in.
• Current registration. Expired registration is a ticket at the first stop.
• Current auto policy. The declarations page.
• Inspection, where the state requires it.

For each property

Owned: the deed or closing disclosure, a current homeowners policy, and a property tax bill for each year. Rented: the current lease and a renters policy. Thaw infers owned or rented from what is on file (a mortgage statement says owned, a lease says rented) and asks only when it cannot tell.

For each business

Formation document, EIN letter, operating agreement or bylaws, current insurance, current licenses and permits, and the annual state filing for each year. In Texas that filing is the franchise tax report, due May 15 even at zero tax.

For each pet

Current rabies certificate, microchip registration, a pet license where the city requires one, and a vet visit in the last year.

Series and hygiene

Beyond the list, the checkup looks for series that skip a year (tax returns for 2015 through 2025 except 2021) and for hygiene: exact duplicates, and documents past any retention need, batched into one item rather than forty.

What it does with the answer

Each gap arrives ordered by severity (lapsed insurance on an owned car above a missing 2019 utility bill) and with a solution: which office, which form, what to bring, with the link. Dismiss any of them with a reason. “Sold the car” closes everything about the car. The list recomputes every time a document arrives, so it is a living view, not an onboarding artifact.