How your family gets into your phone, your email and your photos if you cannot, and the settings that make it possible.
Most of a household now runs through a few phones and a few email accounts, and almost none of it is written down. If you are in the hospital or you die, your family may not be able to unlock your phone, reach your email, or save your photos.
The fix is mostly settings you can turn on today: a legacy contact on each big account, emergency access on a password manager, and a written note of where the unlock codes are kept.
A will can leave your digital accounts to someone, but the companies that run them have their own rules. A phone that is locked stays locked. Encrypted photo libraries cannot be opened by anyone without the code or a legacy setting, including the company.
Most states have adopted a law, the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, that sets the order of priority. The settings you choose inside a service come first. Your will or trust comes next. The company's terms of service come last. So the settings you turn on today can matter more than anything your attorney writes.
Two-factor codes usually arrive on your phone. If nobody can unlock it, they may not be able to get into your email, your bank or anything else that sends a code.
| Service | Setting | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | Legacy Contact | Lets the people you name request access to your iCloud data after your death, using an access key and a death certificate. |
| Inactive Account Manager | Shares chosen data with people you pick, or deletes the account, after a period of inactivity you set. | |
| Legacy contact | Lets someone manage a memorialized profile. You can also choose to have the account deleted. | |
| Password manager | Emergency access or emergency kit | Bitwarden and others let a trusted person request access after a waiting period. 1Password uses an emergency kit you print and store. |
Each setting takes a few minutes. Do them for every adult in the household, and write down on paper which ones are done.
Never write passwords in a binder or a will. Write where they are kept and how someone would get to them.
Of everything online, photo libraries are the thing families most want and most often lose. Consider sharing a family album now, so the pictures are not locked in one account.
Some money exists only online, and some of it is gone for good if nobody can reach it.
If you are the one handling it, go slowly. Closing an account too early can cut off the two-factor codes you need for everything else.
The Life Binder has a Digital life page for password managers, phones, email, legacy settings and photos. It never asks for a password.
Download the Life Binder (PDF)Paper goes stale. Hubstone holds the same record and keeps it current, and you choose who sees each page.
General information, not legal, medical or financial advice. Requirements differ by state.