Someone will eventually have to sort out your affairs. That's not a grim thought so much as an administrative fact, and how hard the job is depends almost entirely on what you leave behind.
The difference between a good outcome and a bad one is usually not money or legal complexity. It's information. Whether anyone knows which bank holds the mortgage. Whether the life insurance policy from a job you left in 2008 gets found. Whether anyone can get into your email — which is the reset path for everything else you own.
A legacy folder solves this. It takes a weekend to build and an hour a year to maintain.
What it is
A single, findable collection — physical and digital — containing what someone would need to manage your affairs if you couldn't.
It's not a will, and it doesn't replace one. A will directs where assets go. A legacy folder tells someone what exists and where to find it. Both are necessary, and most people who have the first don't have the second.
The one-page document that matters most
If you build nothing else, build this. One page, printed, updated annually.
IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME — Laurie
Updated August 2026
FIRST CALLS
Dave [brother] — 315-xxx-xxxx
Attorney: [name, firm, phone]
Accountant: [name, phone]
Insurance agent: [name, phone]
WHERE THE ORIGINALS ARE
Home safe, bedroom closet — code is with Dave.
Contains: signed original will, birth certificates,
passports, SS cards, deed, vehicle titles, marriage
certificate.
DIGITAL ACCESS
Password manager: [which one]. Dave has emergency access.
Everything else is in there — email, banking, cloud storage.
Start with email; most accounts reset through it.
FILES
Computer: PERSONAL/ folder. Same structure on the cloud drive.
Backup drive at Dave's house in Massena.
MONEY
Checking and savings: [bank]
Mortgage: [lender], acct ending xxxx
Retirement: [provider] — beneficiary is [name]
Life insurance: [company], policy xxxx — beneficiary is [name]
Old pension: [employer, 2004–2011] — they still owe a small
pension, contact [details]
RECURRING BILLS
See BILL-CALENDAR in the PERSONAL folder. Several are on
autopay from the checking account — those will keep running.
WHAT I'D WANT
Nothing elaborate. The photo archive is meant to be copied
and shared — please make copies for anyone who wants one.That's it. One page. It's worth more than every other item on this list combined, because it's the thing that makes everything else findable.
What goes in the folder
Legal
- Original signed will — the original, not a copy. Many jurisdictions require it for probate.
- Trust documents
- Power of attorney (financial)
- Healthcare proxy and advance directive
- Any prenuptial or separation agreements
- Attorney's contact details
Identity and vital records
- Birth certificate
- Social Security card
- Passport
- Marriage certificate, divorce decree
- Military discharge papers
- Citizenship or naturalization documents
Financial
- A list of every account: bank, investment, retirement, credit card — institution, account type, approximate purpose. Not full credentials on paper; those belong in the password manager.
- Mortgage and loan details
- Property deeds and vehicle titles
- Life insurance policies — company, policy number, beneficiary
- Pension information, including from employers decades ago
- Tax returns for recent years, and the accountant's details
- Business ownership documents, if applicable
Old pensions and small life insurance policies are the most commonly lost assets. A policy from a job in 1998 is invisible unless someone writes it down. There are billions in unclaimed benefits sitting with insurers because nobody knew a policy existed.
Insurance
- Home or renters, auto, health, life, umbrella
- Agent contact details
- Policy numbers and claim phone numbers
Medical
- Current medications and doses
- Allergies and conditions
- Doctors and specialists
- Blood type
- Organ donation wishes
- Healthcare directive — and make sure the people named know they're named
Digital
- Password manager details and how to get emergency access. This is the single most important digital item.
- A list of important accounts even if credentials are elsewhere
- Where the photo archive and personal files live
- Where backups are, including offsite
- Domain names, websites, or online businesses you own
- Any cryptocurrency — this needs specific documentation, since inaccessible keys mean permanent loss
Practical
- Where the safe is, and its code
- Safe deposit box location, key, and who's authorized
- Property access — spare keys, alarm codes, gate codes
- Storage units
- Pets: vet, medical needs, and who has agreed to take them
- Subscriptions that will keep charging until cancelled
Personal
- Funeral or memorial preferences, if you have them
- Any letters you want delivered
- What you'd want done with photos, collections, or specific possessions
None of this is legally binding — that's what a will is for — but it spares people from guessing about things they'll agonize over.
Where to keep it
Physical copy: a fireproof home safe. Accessible, and grabbable in an evacuation.
A note on safe deposit boxes: better against fire and theft, but in some jurisdictions a box can be sealed on the death of the holder until an executor is formally appointed — which is exactly when the family needs the will. Check your local rules before putting one there.
Digital copy: encrypted, with a clear path for the right person to reach it.
A copy with someone else. This matters more than the security of any single location. A perfectly protected folder nobody can reach is the same as no folder.
The digital access problem
Most legacy folders fail on this specific point, so it's worth treating separately.
Nearly everything you own is now reachable only through digital accounts. Bank statements, insurance policies, photos, and the email address that resets all of them. Without access, an executor faces a genuinely difficult problem — providers have strict rules about releasing account access to anyone other than the account holder, and "I'm his daughter" is not sufficient.
Solutions, in order of effectiveness:
1. A password manager with emergency access. Most major password managers let you designate someone who can request access, with a waiting period during which you can decline. This is the cleanest available answer, and it takes ten minutes to set up.
2. Platform legacy tools. Apple's Legacy Contact and Google's Inactive Account Manager both let you designate someone to receive access to your account data. Set both up if you use those services. Facebook has a legacy contact feature as well.
3. A sealed written record. A printed list of critical credentials in your safe, or with your attorney. Less elegant, and it works. Update it when passwords change — which is the weakness.
Do not put passwords in your will. Wills become public records in probate.
Making sure it's found
A legacy folder nobody knows about is a legacy folder that doesn't exist.
☐ Tell at least two people it exists, and where. Out loud, in a conversation, not in a document they'd only find afterward.
☐ Give the one-page summary to whoever would handle things. Not the whole folder — the summary. It's the map.
☐ Tell your executor they're your executor. A surprising number of people are named as executor and only discover it later.
☐ Make sure whoever holds the safe code knows what's in the safe.
☐ If you have kids old enough, tell them too. Not the contents — just that it exists and where.
Maintenance
One hour, once a year. Attach it to your annual review.
- Update account lists — anything opened or closed
- Check beneficiary designations. These override your will in most jurisdictions, and they're the most commonly outdated item. Marriage, divorce, births, and deaths all warrant a review.
- Verify contact details for attorney, accountant, and agent
- Update medications and medical information
- Confirm the person with emergency access is still the right person
- Reprint the one-page summary with a new date
- Confirm the people who should know still know
Date every version. A legacy folder without a date leaves someone wondering whether it's current, and an outdated one can be worse than none — sending someone to a bank you closed in 2019.
The version to do this month
If a weekend isn't happening:
- Write the one-page summary. Thirty minutes. It's the highest-value item by a wide margin.
- Set up emergency access on your password manager. Ten minutes.
- Check your beneficiary designations. Fifteen minutes, and it's the item most likely to cause real financial harm if wrong.
- Tell one person where the summary is. Two minutes.
Under an hour, and it covers the failure modes that actually hurt people: nobody can get into anything, nobody knows what exists, and the money goes to whoever you named before your life changed.
Next in this series: How to Organize School and Kids' Paperwork Digitally