What Your Family Needs to Know If You Die: 31 Critical Items

Every estate attorney has seen the same scene: a grieving family in a conference room three weeks after a death, trying to reconstruct the deceased's financial life from envelopes, sticky notes, and best guesses. They are missing accounts they didn't know about. They are paying bills for services no one needed. They are calling banks and being told nothing without court paperwork.

All of this is preventable with one written document. Not a will — a practical handoff document covering the 31 things a family actually needs to know in the first week. Here they are.

The first seven days

### 1. Where the original will is

Not a copy. The original, with witness signatures. Tell the executor specifically. Most states require the original to admit it to probate; a missing original is presumed to have been revoked.

### 2. Who the executor is, and the backup

Even if you've named them in the will, the family may not know. Write down the executor's name, contact info, and the same for the backup. Tell both that they're named.

### 3. The estate attorney's contact info

Name, firm, phone, email. If you don't have an attorney, leave a note saying so — the family won't waste time looking.

### 4. The funeral home preference

If you've pre-planned, include the contract or pre-need number. If you haven't, state your preference: burial vs. cremation, religious vs. secular service, traditional vs. green burial. Decisions made within hours of death are easier when the family isn't guessing.

### 5. Who to notify outside the immediate family

A list of names, relationships, and contact info — close friends, work colleagues, distant relatives, clergy. The family will spend hours debating who to call; a list removes the guesswork.

### 6. The healthcare agent and primary care physician

The family will need access to medical records (death certificate processing, insurance claims). The agent and PCP can authorize release.

### 7. Pet care arrangements

If you have pets, who takes them, immediately. The first 48 hours after a death are when pets are most at risk of ending up in shelters.

The first 30 days

### 8. Bank accounts and balances

A list of every bank and credit union, account types, approximate balances, and named beneficiaries (POD designations). Banks freeze accounts at death pending the executor's letters testamentary — but accounts with POD beneficiaries transfer faster.

### 9. Brokerage and investment accounts

Same information as banks: institution, account number, beneficiaries, current balance. Include robo-advisors (Betterment, Wealthfront), cryptocurrency exchanges, and any private investments.

### 10. Retirement accounts

401(k), 403(b), IRAs (traditional and Roth), pensions. Each has its own beneficiary designation; the executor needs to know they exist to claim them.

### 11. Life insurance policies

Carrier, policy number, beneficiaries, coverage amount. Include term policies — beneficiaries should know they exist even if death seems unlikely during the term.

### 12. Real estate

Every property, the title status, and the deed location. Include vacation homes, timeshares, and any properties co-owned with other family members.

### 13. Vehicle titles

Cars, boats, motorcycles, RVs. Where the titles are kept. Joint registration vs. sole.

### 14. Safe deposit boxes

Bank name, box number, location of the key, and who is authorized to access it. Many states freeze safe deposit boxes at death — your spouse may need a court order to open it.

### 15. Home and auto insurance

Carrier, policy number, agent contact. Insurance has to be maintained on the home through probate, and the carrier needs to be notified of the death within a defined window.

### 16. Mortgage and loan information

Lender, account number, balance, monthly payment, autopay status. Loans don't pause for death — late payments accrue while the executor sorts things out.

### 17. Credit cards

All accounts, even unused ones. The executor needs to notify carriers, cancel autopays, and prevent identity theft after death.

### 18. Tax records

Location of the prior three years' returns. Name of the CPA or tax preparer. The decedent's final return is due by April 15 of the following year and an estate return may be required.

### 19. Outstanding debts

Personal loans, medical bills not yet paid, business obligations. The executor will field creditor claims and needs the picture from the start.

### 20. Recurring subscriptions and memberships

Streaming services, gym memberships, professional associations, cloud storage, software subscriptions, magazines. Each one continues billing until cancelled.

### 21. Social Security and pension information

Social Security number, pension administrator contact. Survivor benefits require notification to SSA within specific windows — the SSA survivor portal outlines the process.

Digital and identity items

### 22. Password manager master access

The password manager is the key to almost every other digital account. Set up emergency access (most managers have a built-in delay-based release for a designated person). Leave the master recovery key in a sealed envelope in the safe.

### 23. Email account access

Email is the recovery vector for most online accounts. The executor needs access to confirm 2FA challenges, retrieve receipts, and locate accounts the family didn't know about.

### 24. Photo and document libraries

Where the family photos live — iCloud, Google Photos, Dropbox, external drives. The single most-grieved-over loss after a death is photo libraries no one knows how to access.

### 25. Cryptocurrency

Wallets, exchanges, seed phrases. Self-custody crypto is unrecoverable without the seed phrase. Store seed phrases offline (steel plates, in a safe) and reference the location in this document — never write the phrase itself in the binder.

### 26. Social media legacy settings

Facebook, Instagram, Apple, Google all offer legacy contacts or memorialization workflows. Set them up in advance and note that you've done so.

Practical items

### 27. Daily routines and obligations

For families with caregiver responsibilities — children, elderly parents, dependent siblings — write down the daily schedule, medications, school contacts, and any urgent obligations someone will need to take over.

### 28. Business obligations

If you own or co-own a business: partners, key employees, buy-sell agreements, business attorney, business CPA, key client commitments. The first week is when business value is most fragile.

### 29. Employer contact

HR contact, supervisor name, location of any employer-held documents, status of pending compensation or commissions.

### 30. Charitable and ongoing commitments

Pledges to charities, ongoing volunteer obligations, board memberships. The family can decide what to honor and what to gracefully exit.

### 31. Your voice — a personal message

A recorded video, an ethical will, a letter to family. Not legally required, often the most valued single document the family receives. Our legacy letters to grandchildren and ethical will guides cover how to write them.

Where to keep this document

Same as the emergency binder: fireproof home safe with multiple family members knowing the location, plus a secure digital vault for backup. Our family vault is built for this purpose — encrypted, with credentialed access for designated family members at the right time.

The 30-minute version

If 31 items feels like too much to start, do the 7-item short list this week:

1. Where the will is 2. Executor's name and contact 3. Bank and brokerage list 4. Life insurance carrier and policy number 5. Password manager master access 6. Funeral preference 7. The location of this list

Then build out the remaining 24 over the next month.

The conversation

Writing it down isn't enough. Tell at least three people: your spouse or partner, your executor, and one adult child or trusted family member. Walk them through where the document is and how to use it. The document no one knows about is the same as the document that doesn't exist.

What VoiceWill™ does

VoiceWill™'s voice intake builds this exact document as part of the will-drafting process — capturing your accounts, beneficiaries, executor preferences, and personal messages in a single guided conversation. Everything goes into your family vault, where designated family members have credentialed access at the right time.

The bottom line

The first week after a death is the hardest week of a family's life, and they will spend large parts of it on logistics they shouldn't have to figure out from scratch. A 31-item handoff document — built once, updated annually — collapses those logistics from weeks of work to a single binder. It costs you a few hours. It saves your family weeks.