The passwords your executor will and won’t need
- Discussing what online access an executor will need for the dollars and cents aspect of fulfilling their role
- Discussing non-financial online “assets” and how they can be accessed after death
I’m on a roll – this is the third in a budding column series about preparing for unexpected death.
I was going to write about preparing an end-of-life binder, providing your executor with a handy resource for all they need to know when looking after your affairs. That will have to wait because I got carried away with one commonly recommended binder tab: “Passwords”.
Passwords are required for everything we do online. It’s important to consider what direct online access our executor will need to fulfill the basic “dollars and cents” aspects of their executor role. Also important is to consider how to give access to our more personal online “assets”.
Providing online access to banking and investment accounts first comes to mind.
Indeed, financial accounts and their balances will be required.
But your executor won’t need online access. Bank and investment companies will provide the necessary information to your executor without the need for passwords.
Your executor will need to know where to go looking, though. Please leave your executor a list of the banks and investment institutions you deal with, including branch locations.
To be extra helpful, put together a collection of account statements, printing off those that aren’t mailed to you. Just one statement per account because it’s the account information, not the balance, that your executor will need.
Make a point of reviewing and updating this information annually.
For some online assets of value, though, having the password will be the only way your executor will be able to deal with them after your death.
You might recall the founder of a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange who died suddenly, reportedly taking the keys of approximately $250 million in crypto assets to his grave.
Consider what assets of value you hold that cannot be accessed after your death without a password. Ensure those “keys” or passwords are securely recorded and will be accessible by your executor.
Going beyond the transfer of financial wealth, consider personal “wealth” online that will forever be inaccessible to those you leave behind unless passwords are provided.
Obvious examples are social media accounts, e-mail accounts and cloud storage. You might wish for some of that material, particularly photos and videos, to be available to your loved ones after you die.
It has become increasingly common for wills to grant executors the explicit authority to access “digital assets”, referring to online accounts and data. But those provisions aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on when it comes to most of the players in the digital world.
It’s useless for cryptocurrency access.
And good luck to your executor bringing the will to Meta to access your Facebook account.
I’m learning that Facebook, Instagram, Apple and Google each have legacy settings that work in varying ways to allow us to give folks access to our data after death.
I recommend looking into those legacy settings which might perfectly fit your wishes.
Many online platforms don’t have legacy settings, though. And those that do might not allow for the level of access you wish to provide. Ensure you leave the means of accessing those accounts with whoever you want having that access.
Keep in mind that the means of accessing online accounts will likely extend beyond a basic username and password in our world of multi-factor authentication. I recommend a trial run with the person you want having access. You don’t want them getting stuck on something you didn’t anticipate like a security question asking the name of your first pet dog!
I’ll end with the reality that passwords are also required to access your smartphone, computer and tablet. If you want the data on those devices accessible, you will need to make those passwords available and kept updated. Note also that accessing your smartphone is typically necessary for multi-factor authentication.
I am interested in hearing from those who have tips to share about how best to navigate this ever-changing aspect of estate planning.
