I know someone whose father died suddenly, and the family needed to access his computer to find important financial documents. The computer was password protected. His phone was locked. His email accounts were inaccessible.
They knew he did most of his banking online, but they didn’t know which banks or what the account numbers were. They knew he had photos and documents saved digitally, but everything was locked behind passwords he’d never shared.
It took them six months and a lawyer to get access to some of his accounts. They never did recover his photos or personal files.
Another story: A friend’s mother had all her photos stored in iCloud, but she’d never told anyone her Apple ID password. When she developed dementia and needed to move into care, the family wanted to print some of her favorite photos for her room. Simple request, right? Except they couldn’t access the account, and Apple’s security features (designed to protect her privacy) made it nearly impossible to prove they had legitimate need for access.
These aren’t unusual situations. Digital assets have all the same access problems as physical assets, plus additional layers of security that are designed to keep other people out.
The technology exists to solve these problems – password managers, emergency contacts, family sharing features. But you have to set them up before you need them.
After you need them, it’s too late.
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