It was a somber meeting. The McBrayer children — adults now — had just buried their mom. The information they brought in and spread across the conference room table included their parents’ estate plan documents, several account statements, and Mom’s laptop computer. Since she was such a meticulous record keeper, everything seemed to be in order, or at least that’s what the family thought.

Then they began trying to log in. The bank account required a password and two-factor authentication. The authentication code was sent to mom’s disconnected cell phone. Then, as they tried again and again in frustration, her email account was locked. On top of everything else, the password manager — that everyone agreed was going to be so secure — couldn’t be accessed because no one had the master password.

For the McBrayers, it quickly became evident that what was secure in life became inaccessible in death. In that moment, they realized that an estate plan is not just legal documents, beneficiary forms, and life insurance policies. A complete estate plan should define the estate, explain the decedents' rationale, and provide the heirs and executors with the information necessary to access everything.

The sudden loss of a loved one is difficult enough without the additional chaos of hunting down passwords, navigating locked devices, or guessing which financial institutions might hold accounts. In these moments, heirs and executors need a clear, centralized, and accessible record of what exists, where to find it, and how to unlock it. That’s where the power of paper earns its place in the estate settlement process.

Cybersecurity is critical in our hyper-connected world. We all want to safeguard our personal, private information. I frequently recommend password managers. When available, I enable two-factor authentication. Digital safeguards are necessary to deter cybercriminals. But I’ve also seen how those same safeguards can unintentionally create delays, frustrations, and unnecessary expense at the most inopportune times. 

Passwords, authentication codes, and PINs facilitate secure digital access. A person should maintain their cybersecurity, use strong passwords, and enable two-factor authentication when available to protect their information. But the truth is this: if the heirs or executors can’t access the decedents’ phone or email, those digital records may as well not exist.

This is not about choosing paper over digital, but about creating redundancy.

Paper doesn’t crash, and it doesn’t require tech support. A printed list of key accounts, logins, and important documents — stored securely in a fireproof safe or personal file cabinet — can be one of the single most valuable legacies a person leaves.

During the bleakest situations, like when a family is trying to settle an estate or manage a medical crisis, heirs or executors will need detailed information, including:

• Financial accounts – Banks, investment firms, retirement plans.
• Insurance policies – Life, property, health, long-term care.
• Real estate holdings – Deeds, mortgage information.
• Legal documents – Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care directives.
• Digital logins – Email accounts, social media, cloud storage, password managers.
• Advisors and key contacts – Attorney, CPA, financial planner.

A person can consolidate the information in a notebook, a three-ring binder, or a specifically designed organizer. Recently, I’ve been providing my clients with an organizer specifically designed to catalog this essential information. It’s a simple resource intended to help a person compile and store all of their key information in one place. 

I’ve seen families eventually gain access to locked accounts. It often takes months. It requires death certificates, legal affidavits, multiple calls, and lots of patience. The effort isn’t catastrophic, but it is exhausting. And, it creates an administrative burden that compounds grief — a grief that is avoidable.

No matter what a person chooses to use, they should not make assembling this information a homework assignment. They should think of it as a natural extension of their regular bookkeeping and bill-paying process. Rather than treating it as another item on the “to-do” list — something to “get around to someday” — they should think of it as a tool to maintain and update in stride, as part of a regular routine.

Most households have a rhythm. Once a week or once a month, a person sits down to pay the mortgage, check the credit card balances, transfer savings, or review their retirement accounts. They should use that time to update the estate plan organizer, noting account numbers, balances, providers, login credentials, contact information, and major asset purchases.

Doing this in stride requires minimal additional effort. They’re already reviewing the documents and updating accounts. Preparedness is not measured by how advanced a security measure is, but rather by how smoothly the heirs and executors can step in when a crisis occurs.

Whether it’s a retiree thinking ahead, a business owner safeguarding a legacy, or a parent preparing for the unexpected, detailed written information about accounts, numbers, and locations is a practical resource with real-world value. And unlike its digital counterparts, paper won’t lock heirs out or disappear behind forgotten login information.

It’s not about choosing between digital or paper. It’s about redundancy. When a family needs answers, the simplest, most practical format will always win, and that’s more often than not a well-labeled, printed paper format. When the time comes, and it always does, the family will not be thinking about encryption protocols. They will be looking for answers.