An Orderly Life – or Chaos ?

An article in PC Magazine (which, by the way,  is no longer going to print a magazine, just offer on-line magazine in future – which I don’t like at all, I prefer print) has a good story in the last issue on page 23. 

Titled  “How to get Your Online Assets in Order Before You Die”.   It is something I had not thought about, but the consequences of having no plan would mean that your heirs would have to show death certificates and other proof in order to close down your Facebook account, your email account, possibly on-line banking, EBay and Amazon accounts, and much more.

The solution is simple, keep all your passwords in a safe place – and more importantly, up to date --- and make sure a responsible person knows where this information is kept.  Not so easy if you put it in a bank security box.  But if it is just “somewhere in the house” it might not be easy to find or secure.  The answer could lie in one of the new on-line security services – which will not disclose these passwords until your passing.  One proof will do for them to disclose   all your passwords, provided the right person (you name) presents the proof.   

www.assetsinorder.com  is one of them, free or pay more for more storage.  www.legacylocker.com  is another, nearly identical.  Check the free and more expansive versions before you decide on this course of action. 

One nice thing, these sites will allow you to store a digital copy of your will and other important documents.  So it is much like a bank box – only it’s all PDF or electronic. This feature could give you an opportunity to share information with all your children in its complete and original state, rather than just one personal representative.  Last requests and distributions for example could be posted in a way that all heirs could access that portion of the information privately on their computers.

Whatever you decide, post a comment here to share what you did, that might help the rest of us who have not yet done anything.  Maybe we could all benefit from less expensive, or easier, processes or ideas.