In a recent article, we wrote on the subject of Password Security. We advocated creating a secure vault to store your passwords. As a recent article by CNET news indicates, sometimes you can take password security too far.
When William Talcot, a prominent poet, died in June…his daughter couldn’t notify most of his contacts because his email account and online address book were password protected. It is a not uncommon problem. As more and more information is kept on computer and on websites, the danger that in the event of an emergency or death this information will be inaccessible to loved ones is increasing.

Now, savvy attorneys are advising their clients to put passwords to things online into estate documents, and what they want to do with their electronic resources. The provisions governing the release of information from online providers in the event of death are not consistent amongst companies, and often require court intervention.

Our advice for safety in the event of death is as follows: We advised that passwords can be stored in a password vault program…our example is KeePass. KeePass uses one master file for your passwords. We recommend a copy of your password vault with the master password by placed with your estate files. Consider perhaps a safety deposit box for it. We recommend considering a bank safety deposit box as a backup site for a set of your backup media, updated periodically.

The important thing to remember, that in the event of your death or incapacitation, you need some provision for allowing a loved one to access your information to follow your instructions. You have to find the solution that works for you. It isn’t pleasant to think about, but we tend to find that the solution that requires the least amount of work to set up and maintain is the one you are most likely to follow through on.