How to prepare your online life for your death

What happens to all of your online accounts – credit cards, merchants, news subscriptions, social media, streaming services – after you die? How will your heirs know how to access these accounts or understand what you want done with them? Most people haven’t considered these questions, and this lack of planning can create significant headaches for next of kin.

We studied challenges older adults encounter when thinking about what should happen to their online accounts after they die. We interviewed 21 American adults over age 60 to learn about their concerns, needs and practices for their online accounts, as well as what would make planning for these accounts easier.

Most of the people we interviewed had hired lawyers or estate planners to draft wills specifying how their money and physical property should be handled after their deaths. They wanted to make sure that heirs had easy access to the money and assets left behind.

People also wanted their relatives to have easy access to their digital estates, but they had not done any formal planning and didn’t know how to plan for transitioning or shutting down online accounts, such as email, social media and accounts for online bills. Some told us they hadn’t thought about their online accounts at all. Others said they assumed heirs would know what to do, or they assumed that giving heirs the passwords to accounts would be enough to grant access to their digital estates.

Unfortunately, more planning is typically necessary to smoothly transition a digital estate.

Passing down a list of passwords

The older adults we interviewed mainly kept track of their passwords by hand: They wrote their passwords down on paper, or they stored them in a digital file. Almost everyone had already shared some of their passwords with family members who help them manage their accounts. Everyone also believed that their heirs would be able to find their list of passwords after their death.

The people we interviewed weren’t always happy with their current systems for keeping track of their passwords. Some people complained that when accounts required frequent password changes, it was difficult to keep their password lists up to date. As a result, they weren’t sure their heirs would get the latest version of all their passwords.

Password managers can be a good way to make sure passwords are up to date and, if set up appropriately, accessible to a designated heir. While most of the people we interviewed used password managers, some said they didn’t save important passwords in them because they didn’t know whether they were secure. However, using a password manager is the most frequent security recommendation from experts, who typically use them to store passwords for all of their accounts.

By using a password manager, you can make sure your designated heir has access to all your latest passwords. Some password managers provide access for survivors by default, such as through time-delayed emergency access features. You can also write the master password down somewhere safe to pass to your heir. Instead of making sure dozens of account passwords are up to date, you only have to manage one.

Passwords alone cannot unlock all accounts

Unfortunately, just handing someone your passwords doesn’t always mean they can log in and manage your account. If the account asks for two-factor authentication, such as through a code sent to a phone or email, a password alone won’t grant access. And if the email account is closed or the phone number is no longer active after you die, then they might be out of luck.

To make sure your heirs aren’t locked out, identify the devices and accounts that can act as keys for heirs to unlock the rest of your online accounts, and direct your heirs to keep them open until other accounts have been settled. This not only makes sure that heirs can get authentication codes, but also lets heirs reset passwords to your other accounts if they can’t find the password.

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In some cases, passwords might not be necessary. Some online services, such as Facebook and Google, have features that let you choose someone to manage your account or get your data after you die. However, not all platforms offer this option, and few of the older adults we interviewed were aware of these features.

Online accounts don’t automatically die with you

Like many of the people we interviewed, you might also assume that heirs will properly deal with accounts with money and important data, while unimportant accounts can be ignored. But even if there is nothing important in an account, it can still be used by hackers for identity theft, spam or fraudulent activities. Automatic monthly charges, to cover the cost of streaming services or annual billing for magazine subscriptions, for example, might also continue for a long time.

Without instructions, the people managing your online accounts after you die might not think to close those accounts. They might also find it hard to guess your intentions.

You can leave instructions for your heirs by going through your accounts and noting which ones can be closed outright, which ones require final payments before closure, and which ones might require other actions. You can also periodically tidy up and close accounts you are no longer using to keep your list of accounts more manageable.

Planning ahead for you and your heirs

While it seems simple to just let your heirs handle your important online accounts and let the others slowly fade into nonexistence after you die, the reality is often more complex.

Your online accounts will live on after you die. Planning ahead for what happens to those accounts can reduce the stress on your heirs and ensure your digital accounts are handled according to your wishes.

Lujo Bauer, Nicolas Christin and Lorrie Cranor contributed to this article.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Jenny Tang, Carnegie Mellon University and Xiaoyuan (Owen) Wu, Carnegie Mellon University

Read more:

• Online tools put will‑writing in reach for most people – but they’re not the end of the line for producing a legally binding document
• Are older adults more vulnerable to scams? What psychologists have learned about who’s most susceptible, and when
• Elder fraud has reached epidemic proportions – a geriatrician explains what older Americans need to know

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.