Death-Defying Websites Pass Crucial Info to the Grieving

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When my mother became sick and eventually died it took years to clean up the mess. From my experience I can tell you that all of these products fall short of offering a comprehensive solution to arranging your final affairs. Estate++ offers more features, more upload storage space, for much less money.

James Bell of NC 5:09PM October 13, 2009

Forty years ago, long before we used the Internet for everything, a magazine article suggested that readers write a letter to their spouse, to be opened in the event of the reader's death. In the letter readers were encouraged to list the location of life insurance policies, wills, deeds, etc. We were also reminded that this could be a love letter, a "see-you-on-the-other-side" letter, could contain a home movie (after all, this was 40 hears ago), an audio recording, and/or anything else we wished. The letter and other contents should be sealed in a suitable envelope, we were told, clearly labeled, and put in a safe spot in the home, with a note in the reader's wallet and as copy of the note in the spouse's purse stating the location of the letter.
It was low tech, free, easily updated, and not subject to cyber thieves or the possibility of a Web repository going out of business.
I wrote mine in 1969. On a typewriter. Virtually everything in it has been updated (including the name of my spouse, after my divorce and remarriage), but I still have the original, just for the memories.
Neither that letter, not a data-keeping Web site, takes the place of a will, of course. But it seems that letter provides all of the basic services offered by the high-tech Web sites.
I suppose the letter could be lost in a fire or flood. Maybe I should keep a copy at my office, too.

Tom of CA 5:19PM September 21, 2009

After my husband found he had lung cancer we started to prepair for his passing. Although we felt we had everything in place I found that the one thing we had not thought of was his computer accounts. Just before he passesed he handed me a scrunched up paper that had accounts and passwords on it. The only problem was nothing matched. It took me over a year to get all his accounts closed. I thought I was done. Wrong. Almost 2 years after his death I started receiving overdue bills for accounts I had no idea he had. It was a nightmair. Now that I'm a widow with no children or family I turned to Legacy Locker to help me set up an account so that my accounts can be handled by a person I feel comfortable with leaving my lifes legacy to.

EllenMae Serviss of AZ 5:40PM September 18, 2009

Leaving encouraging messages to those left behind is of equal importance to providing facts and figures such as passwords et al. Born from the loss of a 27 year old family member, VitalLock is the newest service to offer encrypted cloud based storage of messages for posthumous delivery of VITAL (Video Image Text Audio Link) messages. VitalLock boasts absolute security and integrity of your data by using an Adobe AIR powered rich internet application to pre-encrypt on your computer before anything ever leaves your control. VitalLock is free for the first month and $24.95 a year thereafter. http://VitalLock.com

Bob Stewart of MA 2:28PM September 18, 2009

to answer the question below - i'm assuming there are no other sites, that's probably why these sites were created. my best friend is going through a painfully long probate process right now because they couldn't find her father's will and all his assets (over $1 million) are currently tied up by the government. i like the idea of these sites, they're really much needed

sarah mcduggan of CT 12:13PM September 18, 2009

If someone didn't sign up for any of these death reminders before they died and the living family member needs to get into their emails, is there a free site they are able to access email names and/or passwords?

Gail of TX 8:37AM September 18, 2009