Be Sure to Put Your Passwords in Your Estate Papers

Here's a piece from the Wall Street Journal that reminds us to include our online passwords with our estate papers/plans. The details:

He is encouraging clients to fill out a free form that includes user names and passwords to online accounts. The form, technically called a "testamentary letter" or "letter of final instruction," isn't a formal legal document but can help your family navigate your assets—including those on the Internet. He recommends including any passwords under the "PIN" section.

I'm in the process of compiling all of our information in one document (and, after that, I'll be moving many of our hard copy items -- passports, Social Security cards, checks, etc. -- to one central location) so my wife has a complete reference document of what we have, where it is, etc. in case something happens to me. As I've gotten into the process (which is quite detailed) I thought about online passwords and I will, as part of the document, be including them. Yes, it adds a huge amount of work, but what's the alternative? If I'm the only one who knows these passwords and something happens to me, then there is going to be at least some sort of problem, correct?

So consider this a reminder to add your online passwords to your estate planning documents. Those you leave behind will be glad you did.

Comments

[Chris]

The problem might become that you add/change passwords too frequently to keep a separate list up to date. I use KeePass as my password vault, so I guess I would only have to pass on the location of the (encrypted) password file and the passphrase. Though perhaps the list won't be too bad once you remove the non-financial items (how important is that amazon purchase history, anyway?).

[LotharBot]

Makes the most sense to use something like KeePass or TrueCrypt and store a list of your other passwords, and then just include the master password in your will.

[Sunil from The Extra Money Blog]

good reminder. as mentioned, there are cloud based services that store this info, and you can therefore remember just one login, but then again.....who/how do you trust ?

[Matt Wegner @ Financial Excellence]

I need to do that too - we call that our legacy file, so we can leave a legacy to our family.

[Georgia]

I keep my info where only my daughter knows where it is. I try to update it often. I have already included my passwords for financial accounts. I should probably let my son know also, as something might happen to my daughter. Thanks for updates like this.

[Kathy F]

I keep of list of all my accounts and relevant financial info in a file with computer userids and passwords and the computer security QAs for each site. This also includes the secret or special images or words that some sites ask you to select. If an executor or close family member is trying to access your accounts from a different computer than you normally use, they will need to have this information also. Sometimes I can't even remember all the answers to the questions or exactly how I answered. I need the information because I use both my home and work computers to access accounts. Also I had a virus on my home computer once and had to get the computer wiped and reinstall programs. After that, many of my computer accounts did not recognize my computer so I needed to know what those security answers were to access my account.

I know, more stuff to keep track of, but I include it all in my documentation too. I don't have any family nearby and my executor (my brother) would probably be using a lot of the information at different computer.