Life lesson - SHARE YOUR PASSWORDS!

[disneysteve]

As I've posted, I'm in the process of cleaning out my cousin's house and settling his affairs. He and I sat down a couple of times before his death and reviewed all of his accounts and financial matters so that I'd be prepared to take over as his condition deteriorated and after he was gone. Great, right?

Except we both forgot one VERY IMPORTANT thing. He never shared all of his online access codes with me. If you are like most people today and handle your banking, investing, and bill paying online, make sure you make a master list of all of your accounts, user ids, and passwords. Keep it somewhere secure but make sure your spouse or executor or somebody close to you knows where it is so that they have it when the time comes that they need that information.

I've actually been able to hack my way into the accounts I've needed to access so far, but a simple list would have been far easier and saved me a lot of time.

Don't forget to also include any pass code for your cell phone, computer, and email accounts. Often, when trying to get into one of his accounts, the recovery method involved sending a one-time security code via text message or an email. Fortunately, I do have access to his phone so I avoided that problem. I did not have his email password but with the text system, I was able to reset that. If I couldn't get into his phone I would have been screwed.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Very good advice but so hard to do. I know that I should do this with my successor trustees in charge of my estate but I get cold sweats relinquishing my passwords.

[bjl584]

If I remember correctly Suze Orman used to sell an end of life/will planning kit.
One of the sections in it was a document to record all of your login info and passwords.

[Like2Plan]

As I've posted, I'm in the process of cleaning out my cousin's house and settling his affairs. He and I sat down a couple of times before his death and reviewed all of his accounts and financial matters so that I'd be prepared to take over as his condition deteriorated and after he was gone. Great, right?

Except we both forgot one VERY IMPORTANT thing. He never shared all of his online access codes with me. If you are like most people today and handle your banking, investing, and bill paying online, make sure you make a master list of all of your accounts, user ids, and passwords. Keep it somewhere secure but make sure your spouse or executor or somebody close to you knows where it is so that they have it when the time comes that they need that information.

I've actually been able to hack my way into the accounts I've needed to access so far, but a simple list would have been far easier and saved me a lot of time.

Don't forget to also include any pass code for your cell phone, computer, and email accounts. Often, when trying to get into one of his accounts, the recovery method involved sending a one-time security code via text message or an email. Fortunately, I do have access to his phone so I avoided that problem. I did not have his email password but with the text system, I was able to reset that. If I couldn't get into his phone I would have been screwed.

Serious question: I believe your cousin's will nominated you as executor, but have you gone through the formality of getting the court to appoint you as the executor (or, I think FL calls executors: personal representatives)?

It is my understanding the POA ends at death, but after death--it is a little different. Property is administered either by transfer on death (usually requires a death certificate to achieve the transfer) or through probate in which the court gives the personal representative the authority to act on behalf of the estate (so it is all nice and legal).

I google this for FL:

"Suppose the decedent had a Will that nominated a personal representative. In that case, the judge will also decide whether the person or institution appointed is qualified to serve in that position. Suppose the nominated personal representative meets the statutory qualifications. In that case, the judge will issue “Letters of Administration,” also referred to simply as “Letters.” These “Letters” are evidence of the personal representative’s authority to administer the decedent’s probate estate."

https://www.floridabar.org/public/consumer/pamphlet026/

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0733/0733.html

I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know the answer to this--but, I wonder if that would cause any problems with transactions that occur after the person's death, but before letters of administration have been issued?

[disneysteve]

Serious question: I believe your cousin's will nominated you as executor, but have you gone through the formality of getting the court to appoint you as the executor (or, I think FL calls executors: personal representatives)?

It is my understanding the POA ends at death, but after death--it is a little different. Property is administered either by transfer on death (usually requires a death certificate to achieve the transfer) or through probate in which the court gives the personal representative the authority to act on behalf of the estate (so it is all nice and legal).

I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know the answer to this--but, I wonder if that would cause any problems with transactions that occur after the person's death, but before letters of administration have been issued? [/FONT]

Great question.Yes, there is a will that names me as executor. The official court appointment hasn't happened yet as we were waiting for the death certificate. So I can't legally do stuff like use his checking account to pay a bill.

I do still need to know that a bill exists, though, so that they don't turn off his electricity or cancel his insurance or whatever. For now, I'm paying the necessary bills from my own accounts and will be reimbursed by the estate later. I'm keeping a log of anything I spend on behalf of the estate for that purpose.

In this particular case, it's really not an issue since along with being the executor, I am also the sole beneficiary. Unless someone comes along to contest the will (highly unlikely but theoretically possible), it's really just a matter of which pocket I'm paying things from.

[Scallywag]

Our pwd is the same for all of our online a/cs. If I have to change them at all, I choose a combination of places & dates that my family can easily guess. Plus, the security questions can be answered by my daughter and my siblings / in-laws, so hopefully there'll be no issue if / when we are no longer in the picture and they need to gain access to my a/cs.

We have an EXCEL spreadsheet that is updated with all the family's (rather small) holdings. My daughter has a copy in her computer. Every quarter, we update the spreadsheet and her copy with any changes. So far, there's not many changes to make as we don't plan to open any new a/cs, barring the purchase of a new home.

I haven't given my siblings or in-laws a copy of our docs yet. Hopefully my daughter will be able to take over our affairs some day, without the need to burden my siblings or in-laws. They will however get copies of our living revocable trust and our son's special needs trust as those are docs I feel multiple people should have copies of, in case we pass away unexpectedly and no one knows what we had planned for both kids, and especially our disabled son

[Petunia 100]

I have emailed my login info to my kids. This is a good reminder though to review and make sure it is current.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Our pwd is the same for all of our online a/cs. If I have to change them at all, I choose a combination of places & dates that my family can easily guess. Plus, the security questions can be answered by my daughter and my siblings / in-laws, so hopefully there'll be no issue if / when we are no longer in the picture and they need to gain access to my a/cs.

We have an EXCEL spreadsheet that is updated with all the family's (rather small) holdings. My daughter has a copy in her computer. Every quarter, we update the spreadsheet and her copy with any changes. So far, there's not many changes to make as we don't plan to open any new a/cs, barring the purchase of a new home.

I haven't given my siblings or in-laws a copy of our docs yet. Hopefully my daughter will be able to take over our affairs some day, without the need to burden my siblings or in-laws. They will however get copies of our living revocable trust and our son's special needs trust as those are docs I feel multiple people should have copies of, in case we pass away unexpectedly and no one knows what we had planned for both kids, and especially our disabled son

This is not safe to use the same password easily guessed. Maybe do a lastpass or password storage that generates passwords.

[Thrif-t]

This is what I use to record all my passwords https://smile.amazon.com/Personal-In...690293&sr=8-15

And I bought one for each of my kids when they started college so they could record theirs too. I try to stress not using the same password over and over, therefore you need a book, because gosh we have a ton of passwords! We all know where each others books are stored if we ever need to access it for each other.

[Scallywag]

This is what I use to record all my passwords https://smile.amazon.com/Personal-In...690293&sr=8-15

And I bought one for each of my kids when they started college so they could record theirs too. I try to stress not using the same password over and over, therefore you need a book, because gosh we have a ton of passwords! We all know where each others books are stored if we ever need to access it for each other.

As we get older, it's getting harder to remember our passwords, so we use one pwd across the board, with dual authentication required (security code texted to our cell phones).

What helps is to create a pwd that means something to us, but with a mix of upper & lower cases, along with numbers & special characters. The "word" comprises a set pattern of a place & a date of a family event. When it's time to change the pwd, we choose the next place and date combo.

For example, if our current pwd is where we spent Thanksgiving in 1980, for example, #AuntMabel1980#, when it's time to change it, it may be where we spent Thanksgiving 1981, or #CousinRose1981#. So the pwd is complex enough without being easy for anyone beside the family to actually guess what it could be.

If at all I forget, I reset it using reset code to my cell phone & then verbally inform my family that pwd changes to where we were on - say - New Year's Day, 2000.

It is easy and much less challenging to remember one pwd than 10 different ones, and I'm actually paranoid about writing pwds down anywhere in case we lose the notebook somewhere! Our Excel spreadsheet does not mention any a/c numbers or any login info, as our user ids are the same across the board, too. It simply mentions all the places we bank or trade or have a/cs in, and last a/c value (updated quarterly).

We've had the same cell phone numbers since 2007, and will likely have them for life, so a/c login info recovery is unlikely to be a huge challenge, even if we needed it. What's more problematic would be opening a/cs and then forgetting we have those a/cs after a one time funding - and this happens far more frequently than one would guess!

[Like2Plan]

I do still need to know that a bill exists, though, so that they don't turn off his electricity or cancel his insurance or whatever. For now, I'm paying the necessary bills from my own accounts and will be reimbursed by the estate later. I'm keeping a log of anything I spend on behalf of the estate for that purpose.

That is a good point. I have unsuccessfully tried to keep our utility bills in paper format for the benefit of my spouse- if I predecease him. There are a couple of utility companies that have excused themselves from the requirement to send a paper bill.

[disneysteve]

I have unsuccessfully tried to keep our utility bills in paper format for the benefit of my spouse- if I predecease him. There are a couple of utility companies that have excused themselves from the requirement to send a paper bill.

Really? I'm surprised to hear that a utility company would only do online billing. I suspect there are a fair number of customers, especially elderly ones, who have an issue with that.

[Scallywag]

Really? I'm surprised to hear that a utility company would only do online billing. I suspect there are a fair number of customers, especially elderly ones, who have an issue with that.

I'm surprised, too. Some of my elderly relatives would have challenges with online billing and would need a paper bill.

But you can find out what bills might potentially exist for what services he last recieved at home (water, electricity, cable, gardening, maid service etc), or what equipment he rented (lawn mowers, routers, post office boxes etc) and then calling local companies to check on his a/c.

Things like dry cleaning & maid services may be more difficult to figure out and settle, but the bill will eventually come as people like to get paid - even if happens after a while.

Are you intending to rent his home out? Or sell it?

[disneysteve]

Are you intending to rent his home out? Or sell it?

We will be selling it. I'd love to keep it personally but I know it isn't really practical for us to do that. It's not like we've ever considered owning in this area. We do want a place in Florida but 3 hours away from here.