Statements, invoices, payment reminders and password reset codes all land in your inbox. Whoever can open it can reach most of your affairs. Email providers usually won't hand a dead person's account over to the family, so without a pointer from you your loved ones are stuck at the login screen.
What to write down
- your main email address, plus any second one where the bills arrive,
- a short hint about where the login details are, such as “in my password manager” or “envelope in the safe”,
- where your backup codes for two-step sign-in are kept, if you use them.
Leave the password itself out and just say where to find it. Passwords change; the place you keep them usually doesn't.
Google and Apple settings
Gmail has an Inactive Account Manager and the iPhone lets you add a Legacy Contact. If you've set either of them up, mention it in the note so your family knows what to expect.
In the app: Digital Identity and Communication, then Email Accounts. The note stays on your phone and in your own backup, not on our server.
