A few services popped up in the last few years to handle giving out logins of people passing away to their heirs. The idea has its merits and its going to become more and more of an issue as time goes on and everything shifts more and more to digital, but I don’t think this is the right solution.
The real problem about every single one of these services for passing is that they are in fact a business (of course) and absolutely nothing can guarantee that they will be around a few years from now, even less than they will last until we pass away, and the more young you are the more this statement is true.
Another idea would be that the solution should come from the websites themselves. The would provide a place that you can fill in with an email address of the person you want to transfer the account to and that’s it. This requires each website to implement it, might happen for the big ones one day, but it is pretty unlikely to cover every single website one uses.
The solution I’m going to propose is simpler.
Since I don’t trust any 3rd party service enough to handle this properly, I think that a custom handmade solution would be the best. Have a simple txt file with detailed instructions alongside your 1Password1 master password in a bank vault (or home safe box if you happen to have one) and not much more. Maybe links to your personal websites and an HDD/SDD with backups.
The real problem is the same as the problem with wills. People don’t think they need one until it’s too late.
-
Or whatever password manager you like to use. ↩