Managing Digital Legacies

Appendix A. Appendix

In my research for this report, I inevitably came across a lot of good advice for dealing with a sudden death, but that was beyond the scope of this report. I don’t intend for this to be an exhaustive list of items to work on, but I did want to include this data because it might be helpful to some in a difficult time.

Section 1: Preparation Items Beyond the Scope of Managing a Digital Legacy

Ensure that multiple family members understand/have completed the following:

• Add both spouses to all financial accounts as authorized users

• Confirm that both spouses understand all sources of income

• Ensure that both spouses understand all regular expenses

• Make sure both spouses are aware of all financial accounts

• Switch bill/financial management roles once per year

• Review and purchase appropriate life insurance

• Ensure major reward-point account information is shared between spouses

• Verify that proper beneficiaries are set up for financial accounts

• Both spouses create a will or estate plan

• Both spouses create a living will

Ensure that multiple family members are trained on operation of the following:

• Operating the home’s main electrical distribution panel (ideally with circuits labeled, including the main breaker)

• Main interior or exterior water shutoff valve

• Natural gas meter and shut off valve

• Sewer clean out access

• Hot water tank temp gauge, controls and pilot light (especially how to relight the pilot)

• Attic and crawl space access

• Sprinkler system controls

• Plotted ...