After I'm gone instructions...

SumDay

SumDay

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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I recently saw a template for a downloadable list of things for your family to do after you've kicked the bucket. Like who the executor is, where the money and insurance are, who gets the house and grandma's china that no one wants, etc. It was a Facebook ad, and now, of course, it's nowhere to be seen. Search was zero help.

I like the downloadable idea much better than a book, because things like banks, investments, etc., can change, and it's easier to update on the computer than marking up a book.

Anyone have something they've used and like? Or have heard of? Seems like a good use of my time right now to make life easier for the kids while I'm dirt napping.
 
Mine's quite simple - I said to DW "Do what you like".
 
I leave a one page letter to DW with the will explaining about where the money, insurance etc. is. I update every year or so.
 
We have a loose leaf binder with our estate plans, including POA's pour over will, etc.
In front of the binder are 3 pieces of paper as follows:
List of my account numbers along with company name and phone numbers
List of all the accounts along with the present value and who the beneficiaries are
List of all my passwords.
 
Like Souschef, we have a looseleaf binder that I update, and "everything financial" is on my desktop quicken.

In addition, prior to traveling to the Congo (DRC) last year, we wrote a long, detailed email to our three kids, entitled "if we die on this trip." (it included keys to the quicken passwords) We told them to keep it in their files and that we would update every year or so. (Our kids live on the two coasts, while we are in TN.)
 
Souschef said:
We have a loose leaf binder with our estate plans, including POA's pour over will, etc.
In front of the binder are 3 pieces of paper as follows:
List of my account numbers along with company name and phone numbers
List of all the accounts along with the present value and who the beneficiaries are
List of all my passwords.
Click to expand...
What good are your passwords to anyone after you are dead? It would not be proper for someone to access your accounts and pretend to be you with your username and password after you are gone, even if they are a joint account holder, and even if they are a beneficiary. After you die you no longer exist as a person and your account access is no longer valid.

For joint accounts each person on the account is supposed to have their own individual account access, so a joint account holder who is still alive can access the account with their own username and password. And whether it is a joint account or not, after you die the account beneficiaries are supposed to contact the account provider and go through their process of transferring the account to their name.
 
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JustCurious said:
What good are your passwords to anyone after you are dead? It would not be proper for someone to access your accounts and pretend to be you with your username and password after you are gone, even if they are a joint account holder, and even if they are a beneficiary. After you die you no longer exist as a person and your account access is no longer valid.

For joint accounts each person on the account is supposed to have their own individual account access, so a joint account holder who is still alive can access the account with their own username and password. And whether it is a joint account or not, after you die the account beneficiaries are supposed to contact the account provider and go through their process of transferring the account to their name.
Click to expand...

"Don't let what is legal prevent you from doing what is right."
 
How it applies is in this context is that even though it isn't technically kosher for a surviving joint accountholder to access your joint account with your credentials once you have passed on the surviving jointaccount holder nonetheless has the legal right to access the account so what does it matter? Better that then suffering an administrative quagmire and having access to the funds held up with no good reason.

I can see the point more for beneficiaries in that a beneficiary could potentially access the account using your credentials and change the beneficiary designations to themselves (not that I think that the beneficiary who would have my credentials would do so... in fact she frequently encourages me to be more generous to her brother... who has not been as financially successful as she has).
 
And what if there are delays in opening up the Probate Estate with the court?

We are dealing with that now because of a dispute with pension administrator on who is a beneficiary individual vs estate. I had similar problems with my DF estate back 5 years ago.

Having access to the financial information (even if read-only) is very useful.
 
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pb4uski said:
I can see the point more for beneficiaries in that a beneficiary could potentially access the account using your credentials and change the beneficiary designations to themselves (not that I think that the beneficiary who would have my credentials would do so... in fact she frequently encourages me to be more generous to her brother... who has not been as financially successful as she has).
Click to expand...

I would think of any change of beneficiary would be "time-stamped" and any occurring after time/date of death would be at a minimum - disregarded.

The bigger issue would be a beneficiary using the illicit access to actually remove the funds while posing as the deceased.

-gauss
 
Our password master list contains a lot more than just financial passwords. We think it's handy so we can shut down/discontinue/access things as needed on behalf of the departed or use various memberships as a way to notify others someone has passed on.
 
pb4uski said:
How it applies is in this context is that even though it isn't technically kosher for a surviving joint accountholder to access your joint account with your credentials once you have passed on the surviving jointaccount holder nonetheless has the legal right to access the account so what does it matter? Better that then suffering an administrative quagmire and having access to the funds held up with no good reason.
Click to expand...
I see what you are saying and I agree in principle. The issue can be easily avoided by setting up separate credentials for each joint account holder..the surviving joint account holder can be technically kosher and access the funds without going through an administrative quagmire.
 
gauss said:
I would think of any change of beneficiary would be "time-stamped" and any occurring after time/date of death would be at a minimum - disregarded.
Click to expand...
That's true if the beneficiary were changed after death, but what if someone logged in with the primary account holder's credentials and changed the beneficiary designations before death...i.e. while the primary account holder was demented, or incapacitated, or ill and dying? Who would know? A lifetime of estate planning on the part of the primary account holder could be wiped out while they are lying on their death bed and no one would be the wiser.
 
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I have a looseleaf binder with each page with the name of the company, account number and owner. It is usually the paper from when I start the account. It is organized into insurance, credit cards, utilities, banks, brokerage, reward points, etc.

I have simplified most of my assets into Fidelity and I store documents on Fidsafe.

I don't keep a list of passwords. When my DM passed, I sent in the death certificate and trust documents which allowed me to set up my own access.

A problem I had when DM passed was finding a lot of old financial documents that I had to chase down, even though they were closed out accounts. Shred your old stuff.
 
I have a 12-page document for DW, sorted by various categories, that covers all of our finances, bills, etc. One page is titled: In Event of My Death, and explains who to contact, URL's, phone #'s etc.
 
My DW, and I need to do this so there is no confusion after our passing. It would also be beneficial to list any items that have value that may not be obvious, and an estimate what it is worth, and how/who to sell it to get the most $$.

Maybe include some direction for who gets what if both of us pass at the same time.
 
MBAustin said:
The Big Book of Everything is another one:

The Big Book of Everything Organizes Important Personal Info

It's free and available in both Excel and PDF.
Click to expand...

This is what we use. Big Red Binder and the kids know to look for it in the event something happens to both of us. It does take a bit to maintain but you get used to it.
Dogs have medications and suppliers listed and horses do too.
It's comforting to me to know that I've left things "tidy".
 
SumDay said:
I recently saw a template for a downloadable list of things for your family to do after you've kicked the bucket. Like who the executor is, where the money and insurance are, who gets the house and grandma's china that no one wants, etc. It was a Facebook ad, and now, of course, it's nowhere to be seen. Search was zero help.

I like the downloadable idea much better than a book, because things like banks, investments, etc., can change, and it's easier to update on the computer than marking up a book.

Anyone have something they've used and like? Or have heard of? Seems like a good use of my time right now to make life easier for the kids while I'm dirt napping.
Click to expand...

i have prepared an "Emergency Book" with much of the same information. my wife and sister are not techy so the documents reside on the PC but are kept in a 3-ring binder for them. our finances don't change much.
 
JustCurious said:
That's true if the beneficiary were changed after death, but what if someone logged in with the primary account holder's credentials and changed the beneficiary designations before death...i.e. while the primary account holder was demented, or incapacitated, or ill and dying? Who would know? A lifetime of estate planning on the part of the primary account holder could be wiped out while they are lying on their death bed and no one would be the wiser.
Click to expand...

Depending on who is getting the mail, changes like those are always followed up by letter so that could reveal the deception.

There's also the opposite case. My mom and one child were never close due to the kids being made to choose sides during the divorce, decades earlier, as to who they would live with. My mom cut that child out of everything which would have been devastating if they ever learned of it because as mom was dying of cancer they reconciled.

While mom was in hospice I used my durable general POA, which granted me legal access, to assure that all accounts listed all kids in equal amounts. Some accounts had no beneficiaries. I removed my brother as a beneficiary on some accounts because he had passed 35 years earlier.

Her home was put on a "transfer on death" title a few years earlier so I couldn't do anything with that in time but because all accounts now had valid beneficiaries I never had to open the estate. My sibling to this day never knows what almost happened and they never will.

So the situation can cut both ways although I used a different method.
 
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