What do you want people to have now? Why wait for death to share things you want to share? For example, you might want to give people access to photos and videos. You might also share important documents that are actively in use—health files, children’s immunization records, pet health records—with one or two trusted people.
The best cloud storage services let you securely share files and folders. Keeping documents in cloud storage also means they’re backed up, so copies of your documents are safe in the event of a fire, flood, theft, or local data loss.
What do you want a trusted person to access quickly and easily if you’re incapacitated or die unexpectedly? One of my fears is that I’ll be hospitalized and no one will remember that I prepared and signed an advance health care directive. If you don’t have a lawyer who holds your important documents (and maybe even if you do), make sure at least two people can access digital copies of them quickly and easily.
Just as with other important documents, you can share these files securely via cloud storage, but put them into a clearly labeled folder, like _IMPORTANT FILES. Using an underscore ensures that the folder appears at the top of the list when files are sorted alphabetically. Because these documents contain sensitive information, make sure you review the security settings when you enable sharing so that only your trusted persons can access them.
Examples of papers to include are your will, power of attorney form, advance health directive, deeds and titles, certificates (birth, marriage, divorce), and identity papers (Social Security cards, naturalization papers).
What do you want people to have only after you die? You might not want your sibling or your spouse to have the keys to your email or your Instagram account now, but do you want them to post on your behalf after you die? Do you want them to permanently delete any accounts once you’re gone?
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