Legal Requirement to Keep Original Documents

The work product between lawyer and client is a separate topic for litigation and investigation and is not relevant to the type of documents you must provide to your client at the end of the representation. 4. Set retention schedules. The retention period for necessary business records depends on a number of considerations, including retention periods set forth in state or federal regulations, contractual obligations, ongoing or reasonably foreseeable litigation or governmental proceedings relating to the subject matter of the documents, statute of limitations, intellectual property protection, product development, and research considerations. In the absence of a specific legal obligation to retain records, each company must weigh the importance of certain documents to the business against the cost of keeping the records. In general, records that are not subject to retention should not be retained longer than necessary to perform the task for which they were created. The inclusion of estimates to judicial authorities, on which they rely to set retention periods, facilitates the revision of calendars to take account of legislative developments. Countries that allow accounting records to be kept in electronic form, but require the form to be the “original” form in which the register or document was created, are: Bosnia, Dominican Republic, France Georgia, Germany, Mexico, Montenegro and Serbia. 1. Specify goals and objectives. It is recommended that the reasons for the policy be explained. This may include providing a system for complying with recordkeeping laws; ensure that valuable documents are available when needed; and facilitates the orderly disposal of documents that are no longer needed, saving the company time, space and money.

When faced with the issue of paper or electronic preservation of global documents, this article encourages organizations to consider the following three factors when deciding whether to retain documents or records in electronic or paper format: 3. Identify the records subject to the policy. The first step in developing a record retention policy is to distinguish between records that are essential to the ongoing, legal and efficient operation of the business and those that are merely personal, non-commercial and/or temporary. The authorities check the tax documents for audit purposes and ensure that they comply with the information contained in the tax returns. These are not “one-off” or “surprise” inspections. Organizations typically have a notification and time to compile the information and print that information from its original sources. The only exception may be customs documents relating to duties related to duties. Such records must be promptly and routinely deleted and destroyed in accordance with the Company`s written retention policy, except for records that are relevant or may be discovered in connection with ongoing or potential litigation and other legal and regulatory proceedings. Significant e-mail communications must be printed or stored on a separate server or on tape or media and must be subject to appropriate review and retention or destruction in accordance with the records retention policy applicable to other records.

This guide focuses on the client`s file (documents, correspondence, and other documents created, sent, received, or produced during the client`s relationship) and the lifecycle of these records. The client file contains documents and files in paper form, but also electronic copies and files in native electronic formats (such as Excel spreadsheets). The client file also contains notes, drafts and revisions of documents and e-mail communications. Eight countries allow electronic storage of accounting documents, but only in the electronic format in which the document was originally created. This essentially requires organizations to retain accounting information in its original form, which may include updating it to its original software format (i.e. Germany). Sometimes during a case, you need to get an original document from a client. If possible, it is recommended that you scan the document and/or make a working copy of your file and return the original to the client immediately. If this is not possible, keep the original and return it to the client no later than after the file is closed. Countries that do not include media requirements in their salary laws are: Algeria, Chile, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Nigeria, Panama, Portugal, Suriname, Sweden, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey and Uganda.

This resource covers the most common issues and risks for law firms when it comes to document retention. The purpose of this guide is to help you develop a client file document management and retention strategy so that you (1) fulfill your professional responsibilities and (2) understand general best practices in the delivery of legal services. A good document retention strategy is a best practice – or perhaps even a business necessity – to effectively deliver services in today`s legal marketplace. ADEA`s record-keeping requirements also require employers to retain all payslips for three years. In addition, employers must retain all employee benefit plans (such as pension and insurance plans) and all written seniority or benefit plans for the duration of the plan or plan and for at least one year after its termination. You must keep an index of the status of all customer records, note the date the originals are returned to a customer, and the date a customer file is destroyed. At the other extreme, there are documents whose subsequent retention serves no useful business purpose and the company may in fact unnecessarily expose storage costs and legal liability such as self-protection. You may want to retain certain items to defend against subsequent disciplinary allegations, legal errors, etc.