Digital Legacy: What Happens to Accounts When Life Changes

Every life change — a death, a divorce, a kid leaving for college — leaves an account trail. Planning for that trail is a kindness, not a morbidity.

Start with a 'god document'

One document, updated once a year, listing where your household's most important accounts live and who should have access if you can't. The vault can be the primary source; the document is the pointer.

Naming a digital executor

Not a legal role in most jurisdictions, but a practical one. Pick the person who will be responsible for closing or transferring shared accounts.

What to do at a life change

Immediately: rotate shared credentials, revoke the departing member from the family, and re-map account ownership. Later: cancel subscriptions that no longer make sense.

Handling a death

Legally complicated. Practically: preserve access to email and financial accounts long enough to close them, then delete. Most services have a bereavement path.

Handling a divorce

Emotionally complicated. Practically: split shared subscriptions into personal ones, rotate every shared password, and create a new family for each household.

Handling a kid moving out

Common: teens keep sharing streaming for a while, then move to their own accounts. The vault makes handoff clean — grant, revoke, and rotate as needed.

A worked example

A family loses a parent. Because they'd maintained a god document, the surviving spouse knew within an hour where every account lived. The alternative — a two-week scavenger hunt — is the norm.

Privacy after the fact

Some services (email, journal apps) contain deeply personal content. Respect that. Not everything a deceased person had access to needs to be inherited.

Kids and legacy

For minors: the household lead is the natural legacy holder. For adults: it's a conversation, not a decree.

Wrap it up

Digital legacy is one of those tasks that feels heavy but takes an afternoon. Doing it now saves a specific person a very hard week later. Worth it.