Ask HN: What's your death plan? Deadman switch?
3 comments
I started maintaining an “in case I die” letter in my 30s when I was flying a lot, with the target recipients being my parents. Once they passed and I married I still kept a document with key information spelled out. In addition we maintain a shared password manager with all of the financial accounts shared. Everything's stored both in a safe and in a safe deposit box. It's not particularly secure, if someone broke into either location they could get access to the password manager, for example.
Covid caused us both to revisit and update everything.
From an archives perspective I have a variety of digital things set to purge N years after last use, even if I'm still alive. If I haven't used it in a decade, it's not of particular use to me anyway.
I’ve had to deal with two estates as an executor in the "digital" era and both times it was a pain in the ass. Even with credentials and court documents I got locked out of multiple accounts that I needed to access to close out each estate. It's been several years so perhaps companies have adapted, but don't assume that your heirs / executors will be able to access accounts. Newer companies (not necessarily startups) seemed to have the most difficulty with the notion that their users might pass away and they'd have to deal with an executor.
I've also had the grim experience of seeing deceased colleague’s social media accounts get hacked and “reused”. At a minimum I'd want my accounts either put into some sort of memorial state for the services that support it, or frozen, or deleted.
Covid caused us both to revisit and update everything.
From an archives perspective I have a variety of digital things set to purge N years after last use, even if I'm still alive. If I haven't used it in a decade, it's not of particular use to me anyway.
I’ve had to deal with two estates as an executor in the "digital" era and both times it was a pain in the ass. Even with credentials and court documents I got locked out of multiple accounts that I needed to access to close out each estate. It's been several years so perhaps companies have adapted, but don't assume that your heirs / executors will be able to access accounts. Newer companies (not necessarily startups) seemed to have the most difficulty with the notion that their users might pass away and they'd have to deal with an executor.
I've also had the grim experience of seeing deceased colleague’s social media accounts get hacked and “reused”. At a minimum I'd want my accounts either put into some sort of memorial state for the services that support it, or frozen, or deleted.
I'm not in a situation where I have any private logins that matter beyond my death. I'm either doing it wrong, or doing it right...
I wonder if anyone would open source all their data after their death. I definitely won't.
Do you have a deadman switch? Have you "tested" it?
Do you have your master password (to a PW manager) printed and in a safe?
Considering the technical nature of certain post-mortem unraveling, have you designated a particularly competent friend as executor?