Most of us in our day to day activities do not spend much time pondering what happens when we die. Perhaps it is due to not being exactly sure of what happens after we leave this plane of existence, or the fear of leaving loved ones behind. Regardless of why we do not think about it much one thing that you should think about is what happens to your technology.
I am not speaking of just the physical computers, smartphones, and tablets. What happens to your email account? What happens to your Facebook, Instagram, iTunes and all the financial accounts that are tied to your email? Does your significant other have access? Do you want them to?
Google recently enabled a “dead man’s switch” feature called the Inactive Account Manager. After a set amount of months of inactivity to your account, all (or some) of your Google info can be shared with a nominated contact. This does deliver an “email from the grave” to your contact that you write when setting up this feature.
Facebook has a similar feature that allows you to designate a “legacy contact,” who will be allowed to pin a post on your timeline after your death. They will not be able to login as you or read your private messages, but will be able to respond to new friend requests as well as update your cover and profile photos.
Each online account you have may have different policies and procedures, and the amount of accounts can be staggering. For the sanity of the person left behind to “clean up” and properly notify and close accounts it is important to have as much information as possible in one location.
You can put all of this in writing and copied to your attorney, however as often as we update passwords these days some of that information may be out of date. Today I will introduce you to Everplan.
Everplan is a secure, digital archive of everything your loved ones will need should something happen to you. It contains:
- Wills, Trusts, and insurance policies
- Important accounts and passwords
- Information about your home: bills, vendors, what is automatically paid versus need to send a check
- Health and medical information
- Advance Directives and DNRs
- Final wishes and funeral preferences
For more information visit www.everplans.com.