It’s hard to believe February is here! In January, we were making New Year’s resolutions. Now it’s the month of hearts, cupids, and chocolates. If you really want to show your family some love, consider leaving them a written document that tells them what they need to know about your assets.
You may already have a Will and Power of Attorney, but what about all your actual assets? Would your family know how to access them? Would they even know some of them exist? Many people do their banking/investing online, so there’s not a paper trail.
What about “digital” assets? Your photographs, email, and social media accounts could be lost forever if your loved ones can’t login to those accounts. Consider making a master list of your accounts containing account names, numbers, locations, usernames, passwords, and other login credentials. This information can be stored on paper, a flash drive, in a safe, in cloud-based documents for which you can control access, or with third party providers who use secure password management.
A thorough plan for providing information about your assets may utilize multiple approaches. You may want to leave a written document listing all accounts, account numbers, etc. while storing password and login credentials with a password manager.
You will also need to designate a trusted person to whom you provide this information so that they can access it when the time comes. Having this information readily available will save your family hours of time searching, going through old mail and files, and calling 800 numbers only to get the “runaround.” Instead, you will have provided the necessary information to efficiently carry out your plans for transferring your assets to your loved ones. What a tremendous act of love from you to them!
Amy Shue Isaacs
Estate Administration/Probate Attorney
The McIntosh Law Firm, P.C.
704-892-1699
www.mcintoshlawfirm.com