A legal representative such as a solicitor or lawyer can act as a third party confidant in helping you plan a digital afterlife and privately keep your passwords on file for next of kin. There are also many, many different digital legacy and afterlife services that are emerging and you can compare their approach. Here are some digital services that store and help you organise your confidential information including passwords and offer the option to transfer relevant information to beneficiaries when the time comes.
These are ones that I’ve been made aware of recently but not necessarily trialled. I’d recommend that you do research services thoroughly before committing to make sure that you find one that suits your requirements. Many digital offerings provide the option of a free trial as well.
Are there others you’d suggest? If so, please drop details in the comments section below.
This service (UK based) allows clients to manage their online accounts on a day to day basis as well as upload and store critical documents appertaining to their life. Account information and documents or files can be assigned to an executor or a guardian after death to carry out their last wishes. Cirrus does not give ownership to any financial, sentimental, intellectual or social data but offers are a series of signposts if you will to the accounts for executors and family to deal with on a one to one basis.
According to Paul Golding who owes Cirrus Legacy, if the firm was acquired the data would move to the new owners, who would have to adhere to our clients wishes in regards to sharing and the usage of their personal information as specified by the client at sign-up. If the firm were to close down, a process is in place granting time for the individual client to retrieve their stored information. The company also runs an affiliate program across a UK solicitor network.
Passing Bye focuses on providing a file vault for documents and a secure central password management system but also offers a journal type facility where you can store favourite personal items such as stories, memories, recipes, photos or videos. Another feature highlighted is the option to store last final messages which are sent to intended recipients when you’re gone. Sharing options and rights are built into the service and subscribers pay on an annual basis with a free 30 day trial available.
Another service (UK based) that acts like an electronic vault, holding your important documents, account details and passwords. It was designed and built specifically for digital afterlife planning and requires you to give contact details for next of kin or nominated representatives to speak to when the time comes. The company offers a 14 day trial and offers payment plans on a monthly, yearly or lifetime basis.
SafelyFiled offers a platform for users to organise, store, and retrieve important documents and account details. It then allows the account owner to share information with family members or professional advisor. Different types of information can be shared with different beneficiaries and prompts are sent when it’s time to update or renew important documents. SafelyFiled offers a free account for medical information and a 30 day money back guarantee on other services if not fulfilling your needs. It also offers very useful checklist resources.
Your Digital File is a newly launched service based in Australia specialising in the digital storage,sharing and signing of confidential documents. It positions itself as a hyper secure service both for personal and corporate use..
It securely protects confidential files from others (even Your Digital File can’t see them) and provides a secure means to share and manage documents. Nominated documents (ie wills), are released to beneficiaries when the account holder dies once verified by Your Digital File. The company has a tiered level of account offerings based on how much storage a subscriber needs.
Away For A Bit 
We at PassingBye think that you should share your plans for your digital asset disposition with an attorney. However, the intimate details might better be served by storing them in a safe and secure place on line with only the person(s) chosen to carry out the disposition of them know how to access. How and where will the attorney store the information and what is the possibility that the information may get lost? How much will the attorney charge for keeping this info and how will it be periodically updated? All good things to think about!
Thanks for elaborating Ross and an alternative perspective to either/or. Appreciate the comment.
SafelyFiled is a great option because you can use it as a family to save important information such as your digital assets and other important documents, and you can grant access to your Estate Planner/Lawyer as well as other family members (such as your spouse and adult children) who may need access to that info at a moment’s notice. That’s why we created it. The pain was felt when our CEO’s Father passed away suddenly and papers and account info that was needed to close the estate couldn’t be found. And in my case, my husband’s Grandfather was resuscitated even though he didn’t want to be, because his DNR could not be found. Thousands and thousands of dollars later, he died anyway and his family was left with more debt ;-( That’s why we created SafelyMD too—which comes with SafelyFiled.
what happens to the assets when a legacy services provider goes under?