Don't take your passwords to the grave

Your survivors will have enough on their minds when you die, so take steps now to ensure it won't be a major trauma to access the financial accounts you keep online.

There's no question that online banking, electronic bill payment and personal-finance software make our lives easier. But could we be creating a digital mess for our heirs when we die?

One poster on the Your Money message board shared her family's trauma when her father died without divulging the passwords to his computer or online accounts.

"I am the co-executor of the trust and the most financially savvy of my siblings, so it was up to me to help mom. But what do you do without passwords?" poster Tuppermom asked. "And most companies don't just give you access -- it is a process that can take weeks and months (if they don't just say 'Oh -- he's deceased? OK, we'll close the account' and then NO ONE has access!!)."

Tuppermom's family got lucky when it stumbled upon a folder that contained passwords for some of her father's work-related accounts and one of his online banks. That provided enough clues to find and gain entry to most of his other accounts. The family's lawyers helped them get access to the rest, although the process took time.

The experience was so traumatic that Tuppermom and her family revised their own estate plans to include complete lists of online IDs and passwords for each of their accounts. Concern about identity theft and security, she wrote, shouldn't go so far that family members are left in the dark.

The family "learned that ID protection is not JUST about nobody knowing the passwords," Tuppermom wrote. "It is also about protecting the asset behind the password -- and making sure that if you can't access it, someone you trust can."