Dear Savvy Senior
I recently had an estate plan drafted, including a will, power of attorney and advance directive, but I’m not sure what to do about all my online accounts – email, banking, and social media. What can I do to make sure my family can access what they need and protect my digital information after I’m gone.
Almost 80
Dear Almost
In addition to creating an estate plan, you should also make a “digital will” that lists all your online accounts and login information. This will help your loved ones access your electronic devices and online accounts more easily so they can manage your electronic affairs, according to your wishes, after you’re gone.
Montana State University offers a Digital Assets Inventory Worksheet (see Montana.edu/estateplanning/digitalsssetsworksheet.pdf) to help you get started. Or consider purchasing a “password book” on Amazon for a few dollars. This will let you record and organize your online account information alphabetically. Here are a few other tips to help you prepare your digital life for your survivors.
Apple: If you’re an iPhone, iPad or Mac user, you should nominate a “legacy contact” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. This is a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system. iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks need macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on – including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google: Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager (see Support.google.com/accounts/answer/3036546), which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait – from three to 18 months – before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can choose what types of data they can access – including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram: If you’re on Facebook or Instagram, both of which are owned by the parent company Meta, you can have your accounts either memorialized or deleted after you die if the companies get a valid request from a family member or friend. See Facebook.com/help/1111566045566400 or Help.Instagram.com/264154560391256 for details.
Meta also strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after your memorial accounts – see Facebook.com/help/1070665206293088. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also must have a Facebook account.
Passwords: If you use a password manager – a service that creates, saves and manages passwords for all your online accounts – see if it has an emergency access feature. Some services, like Keeper, Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access your keys in case of an emergency or death.
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