Help Your Executor: Secured Places and Passwords
by
Melanie Cullen
Does your executor know how to find the things you've hidden?
When it’s time to wind up your estate, your executor will need to find information and items that may be hidden away or protected by passwords: everything from your electronic banking records to your email accounts, from your safe deposit box to a home alarm.
You can provide essential directions for your executor for each locked place, login, or security measure. Here are some tips to get you started.
Services and Products
Make a list of each service and product for which you have a user name and password or personal identification number (PIN). Common items include:
- computers
- Internet service providers or Web hosting services
- email accounts
- online services
- software applications
- cell phones and pagers, and
- personal digital assistants (PDAs).
For each item on your list, note your account name or number and any password or PIN that you use.
Home and Vehicle Security
List all the ways you protect your home, vehicles, or other property. Be sure to include the following:
- vehicle and home alarm systems
- home safes
- mailboxes or gates, and
- locked boxes, drawers, or cabinets.
For each item, note passwords, combinations, or the locations of keys.
Safe Deposit Boxes
If you have a safe deposit box, you’ll want to be certain that your executor knows where it is. But you should also think carefully about what you put in your box. Your executor may not have access to the box immediately after your death, so it’s usually not the best place to store information your executor will need right away, such as your wishes for burial or cremation, or your will.
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