Guide · Digital estate planning checklist
A digital estate planning checklist for the documents your family will need
Updated June 4, 2026
Estate planning is no longer only about paper. Half of what your family will need now lives behind a password — and a plan that ignores that leaves them locked out.
What “digital estate planning” really means
Traditional estate planning organizes your documents and decides who inherits what. Digital estate planning does the same job for a life that is increasingly lived online — your email, your photos, your financial logins, your subscriptions — and, crucially, makes sure the people you trust can find and reach all of it. The documents are only half the work; access is the other half, and it is the half that most often fails.
Work through this checklist over a few sittings. There is no prize for finishing in an afternoon, and a plan built calmly is a plan you will actually keep current.
1 · The core legal documents
- A will — and, if appropriate for you, a living trust. These say who receives what and who is in charge.
- A durable power of attorney, naming someone to manage your finances if you cannot.
- A healthcare directive (living will) and a healthcare proxy, stating your medical wishes and who speaks for you.
- Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance — and a reminder to keep them current, because they usually override your will.
If you do not yet have these, an estate attorney can prepare them properly for your state. They are the foundation; everything else is organized around them.
2 · The financial picture
- A list of bank and investment accounts, with the institution and rough purpose of each.
- Retirement accounts and pensions, and who to contact about them.
- Life insurance and annuity policies, with policy numbers and insurer contacts.
- Real estate, with the location of each deed, and vehicle titles.
- Debts — mortgage, loans, credit cards — so nothing is a surprise.
- Recurring bills and subscriptions, so they can be continued or cancelled deliberately.
3 · The digital life
This is the part that did not exist a generation ago, and the part most checklists still skip. Leave a way in — lawfully and securely — to the accounts that matter.
- Your email and phone — often the master key, because they can reset almost everything else.
- A password manager your trusted person can reach, or a securely stored list of logins.
- Important online accounts: banking, brokerage, government services, and bill-pay.
- Photos, documents, and writing you would want preserved rather than lost.
- Any accounts with monetary value — domains, online stores, payment balances, or loyalty points.
- Instructions for what to do with social-media and subscription accounts.
A word of caution: accessing some online accounts after a death has legal limits, and sharing passwords carries its own risks. Many providers now offer a legacy-contact or inactive-account setting — use those where they exist, and ask an attorney about the right way to grant access to the rest.
4 · The people and the instructions
- Who you have chosen as executor, trustee, and guardian for any minor children — and confirmation that they have agreed.
- Contact details for your attorney, accountant, and financial advisor.
- Your wishes for care, for a service, and for burial or cremation.
- A letter in your own words — not legally binding, but often the most treasured thing you leave behind.
5 · The step almost everyone forgets — access
You can complete every item above and still leave your family stranded, because the most carefully assembled file is worthless if no one can find it — and dangerous if the wrong person finds it first. The final, essential step is to put everything where it is secure during your life and reachable by the right people afterward.
This is precisely what Legatus Vault was built for: one secure place for your documents and digital details during your life, and a careful, verified release to the people you name when the time comes. You decide who receives what, down to a single item — so your checklist actually reaches the hands you meant it for.
Keep it current
Set a yearly reminder — a birthday or the new year works well — to check that everything is up to date: beneficiaries, account lists, the people you have named, and your digital logins. Lives change, passwords change, and a checklist is only useful if it matches reality.
Common questions
- What is digital estate planning?
- Digital estate planning is the process of organizing both your traditional documents (will, trust, powers of attorney, healthcare directive) and your online life (email, password manager, financial logins, photos, and accounts with value), and arranging for the right people to be able to find and reach all of it when the time comes. It treats access as part of the plan, not an afterthought.
- What documents do I need for estate planning?
- At a minimum: a will and, if appropriate, a living trust; a durable power of attorney for finances; a healthcare directive and healthcare proxy; and current beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance. Alongside these, gather a list of your financial accounts, insurance policies, deeds, debts, and key digital logins so your executor has a complete picture.
- How do I organize my important family documents?
- Group them into four categories — legal documents, financial records, digital accounts, and people-and-instructions — then keep them in one secure place rather than scattered across drawers, files, and inboxes. Most importantly, make sure a trusted person can reach them; a secure vault that releases your documents to the people you name solves the findability problem that defeats a shoebox.
- What happens to my online accounts when I die?
- It varies by provider and by law. Some platforms offer a legacy-contact or inactive-account setting that lets you name who can manage the account; others require legal authority over the estate, and a few simply close inactive accounts. Use the built-in legacy tools where they exist, leave secure access to the essentials like email, and ask an attorney about the right way to handle the rest.
Keep reading
Legatus Vault keeps your wills, trusts, and estate documents in one secure place and releases them — only when the time comes, and only after careful verification — to the people you choose.