When they are gone.

[Markverhyden]

We all know the challenges that revolve around a user who've passed away. Yesterday I was dealing with an iCloud authentication on an old macOS 10.7 machine, nobody died LOL, and noticed this new feature. It's called Legacy Access. Apple has setup a process whereby an Apple user can choose someone who will be able to access the contents of what's stored on their servers. They do need to be at iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, and macOS 12.1 to set this up. And the delegate will need the key generated during the process along with the death certificate to complete the access. They will have to login at https://appleid.apple.com/ to set this up using their icloud creds. I looked around my icloud.com login and didn't see anything. I didn't test it but I'd bet that you have top have 2FA turned on.

How to add a Legacy Contact for your Apple ID - Apple Support

A Legacy Contact is someone you choose to have access to the data in your Apple account after your death. Learn about the information that’s shared with your Legacy Contact and how to add one or more Legacy Contacts.

support.apple.com

 

[britechguy]

It's good to see this idea catching on. Believe it or not, Facebook/Meta has had this for quite a while.

Many email service providers will reset access if the person requesting it can present evidence that they are executor (or other formal administrator) for the estate and have a death certificate.

In the end, though, it's really important for us, and attorneys who handle estate planning, to get our clients to understand that they need to have some sort of "account transition plan" in place for after their passing so these can be handled gracefully. Even using a password manager and having someone (probably your executor) who will have an "open on death" letter that reveals the password for the manager that's currently in use will do it, as that gives you the keys to the proverbial kingdom.

Another thing that is important, and that's often ignored/overlooked long term, is that if you are the surviving spouse you really need to change the name on each account (particularly bank) that you might inherit. I recently hand to handle the estate of a dear friend, for whom I was also power of attorney. Her attorney told me to make sure that if anything still existed that was in her late husband's name or that was joint between the two of them and he'd never been removed, to do that immediately when her health declined. Trying to get access to something that a surviving spouse could just waltz in and have access to, once they've died, is not easy at all even if you're their executor. I ended up getting a safe deposit box handled, then closed, just in the nick of time before my friend passed. It had remained strictly in her husband's name, and while I had legal power to change it under her power of attorney, that disappears at the moment of death and isn't part of what you can do as executor.

 

[Markverhyden]

Facebook/Meta is an entertainment venue so I'd not expect them to be subjected to the same level of scrutiny that someone like Apple, Microsoft etc would be subject to. Of course family memebrs will still want access.

I'm not overly confident in the courts ability to properly handle things, even in the case of a will, etc. My Dad passed away Feb 2019. Fortunately for me I had all credentials for everything online since I'd been doing all his IT stuff for years. I submitted a spreadsheet of expenses for reimbursement a couple of months later. January I got a letter saying the court had a new clerk and I had to submit receipts. Mind you I'm the executor of the estate.

Given the above I decided to see what M$ has. From - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...has-died-ebbd2860-917e-4b39-9913-212362da6b2f

 

[britechguy]

I'm not overly confident in the courts ability to properly handle things, even in the case of a will, etc.

Oh, don't get me started!

Hence the reason I say that the individual should be making provisions for their chosen representative to be handed the proverbial keys to their cyber kingdom after they pass away so that whatever needs to be taken care of expeditiously can be.

I am named as executor of a dear friend's estate in her will. It was a small estate, under $50K, so two separate attorneys advised me not to seek qualification and instead use a Virginia Small Estate Affidavit to handle the estate, which removes the oversight and paperwork that is really necessary for substantial estates. Well, that works fine as far as eliminating a lot of unnecessary reporting requirements, but it also effectively means there's no estate at all. So, fun, fun, fun, trying to handle the money as things were liquidated afterward has been "interesting" to say the least since there is no estate account nor Estate Identification Number since, technically, there is no estate. Guess what that's been like at tax time!

Dealing with my friend's estate prepared me for dealing with my Mom's, and she passed away 8 months later. But the dealings with all sorts of entities for both has often made me wonder, "Has anyone ever died before?," because by the way these entities have acted you'd think both of these deaths were the first that ever occurred and that there was no standard procedure to be followed.

 

[frase]

Is it called iDied?

 

[Metanis]

Thanks for this! My wife and I set this up this evening.

 

[BPR]

Thankyou I've just notified a customer about this who was asking for a feature like this!

 

[300DDR]

FYI google/gmail has this too. After x days of inactivity and several unanswered emails they will give access to a person you've set up.

About Inactive Account Manager - Google Account Help

Inactive Account Manager is a way for users to share parts of their account data or notify someone if they’ve been inactive for a certain period of time. To set it up, go to your Inactive Account Mana

support.google.com

 

[timeshifter]

My dad had cable TV in his nursing home room. After he passed I called the cable company to cancel the service. Long ago I learned that it's SO much easier when calling on behalf of someone else to just pretend to be them.

Agent: Mr Smith, so sorry to hear you're cancelling service with us, may I ask why?
Me: I'm moving
Agent: OK, could I get you connected with service at your new address
Me: I won't need cable where I'm moving

 

[carmen617]

Thanks, this is good to know and I will make sure to let my clients know it exists. I have a lot of older clients, and I bring this stuff up all the time. One of the key things I tell them is to inform their survivors to keep their cell phone active until the estate is totally settled - that eliminates a lot of access issues, especially in the Apple environment, which is so dependent on codes sent to other apple devices. I also tell them that access to email accounts is key, so make sure they leave their email credentials in a safe place - I often suggest they write down a list of passwords to keep in a safe deposit box.

I had a friend who's husband, a lawyer, died very unexpectedly of a heart attack. He wasn't planning to die, and she didn't have any way to access his digital accounts. She literally had to bring his iPhone to the morgue to get his fingerprint to open it up in order to start sifting though things.

 

[300DDR]

I'll just add one more thing everyone should do: make a will. I finally got around to making one this year using freewill.com. Highly recommend this site since it's free, provides a lot of info, and the process is easy to complete.

 

[britechguy]

She literally had to bring his iPhone to the morgue to get his fingerprint to open it up in order to start sifting though things.

And this is just so, so sad and infuriating at the same time! It shows a complete lack of planning (and, to some extent, respect) by her late husband. And from a lawyer that makes it even worse.

I made sure that both facial recognition and fingerprint recognition are on both my phone and my partner's phone for each of us. I use a password manager, and need to make sure (I haven't done this yet), that I have something that I am sure will be passed to my executor(s) so that they can get in to all accounts directly, without having to jump through all the hoops to prove that they are my executor(s).

I'll have to check out freewill.com. I'm way overdue for making a will, and have been putting it off until my sister and her husband create a trust for my nephew. But I really need to have something before that happens, and revise when it happens later. Luckily, my estate is pretty simple.

 

[HCHTech]

I'll just add one more thing everyone should do: make a will. I finally got around to making one this year using freewill.com. Highly recommend this site since it's free, provides a lot of info, and the process is easy to complete.

I'd also like to add to this. The audience here almost all have businesses. There are lots of locally-variable laws that may impact what happens to your business in the event of death, so it's worth the money, IMO to get an actual lawyer involved to make sure that things are done correctly to your wishes.

 

[HCHTech]

I made sure that both facial recognition and fingerprint recognition are on both my phone and my partner's phone for each of us.

I will have to check this out - I didn't know you could have multiple fingerprints registered on a single phone! I guess I never even thought about trying this - haha.

 

[Computer Bloke]

I didn't know you could have multiple fingerprints registered on a single phone!

When many of your clients are already missing fingers (or entire limbs - that's rural communities for you) it becomes routine to recommend enrolling at least one finger from each hand in case of accidents.

You city folk have it easy.

 

[britechguy]

When many of your clients are already missing fingers (or entire limbs - that's rural communities for you) it becomes routine to recommend enrolling at least one finger from each hand in case of accidents.

Not that this isn't a great idea, because it is, but they should also be doing a passcode of some sort, whether numeric, swipe pattern, or something else, too.

Never rely on a single validation method.