Thread by @natashenka

A lot of people recommend writing down your passwords in case something happens to you. It's important to plan for your loved ones, but writing down passwords is error prone, puts you at risk and probably won't work in a few years due to 2FA.

Here's what you should do instead:

1) Have a will and a power of attorney document in case you are incapacitated. This is 100% the most important thing you can do for your family to prepare for the worst case

2) Many large account providers such as Google and Facebook support the ability to select a trustee if you die. Set this up where possible

3) Write down the accounts you use, your usernames or account numbers and your wishes with regards to each account and sign and date the document and keep it with your will. Or ask your lawyer if you can include this info directly in the will.

Making your wishes clear makes it more likely your loved ones can get access to an account if your arrangements fall through

4) Also consider giving loved ones immediate access to accounts that aren't that sensitive, for example, setting them up to be able to pay the phone bill if necessary. This might even come in handy for other reasons!

5) If none of the above are possible, then provide the password alongside making your wishes clear. But remember this is the least good solution, as it can leave your heirs with few options if you change your password and forget to update it, or they get locked out of the account

6) Only share financial passwords if your will has a single heir who is also the executor, and you are extremely certain no one will contest it, and even then be careful.

It's easy for someone with the passwords to make the executor's life more difficult, or even do something illegal ...

And don't forget financial passwords are useless unless the person you give them to also has rights to the money in the account

will > passwords

7) If you don't think they'll know, write down why you want your family to be able to access certain accounts. Otherwise you'll leave them wondering whether you gave them access just in case they need to pay the power bill or because they contain the family secrets

8) Finally, consider whether your loved ones need access to every account. It's easy for things like email to be misinterpreted when people are seeking answers, and this could lead to more hurt than comfort. Asking that an account be deleted is a perfectly okay choice

tl;dr giving people access to your electonic accounts isn't a substitute for estate planning, and there's better ways to ensure access than writing down passwords in most cases. Make sure to do what you can to take care of your loved ones in case of the worst