What happens to my accounts if I die?
The honest answer: without instructions, your family walks into a maze. Bank accounts frozen until a court decides, subscriptions charging for months, photos and documents locked in a cloud nobody can open, and a business no one knows how to run.
It's not a money problem — it's an information problem. The average family spends months reconstructing what one person carried in their head: where everything is, what gets paid when, who to call.
Account by account
- Bank accounts: without a named beneficiary, they freeze until probate — which can take months or years.
- Email and cloud (Google, Apple, photos): companies have next-of-kin processes, but they're slow — and some delete everything after months of inactivity.
- Social media: without instructions, profiles stay up indefinitely — the quiet pain of an active page for someone who's gone.
- Subscriptions: they keep auto-charging until someone hunts them down one by one in the statements.
- The business: clients unanswered, invoices uncollected, passwords to everything — the part that decays fastest.
The fix is not sharing passwords today
Handing out passwords while you're alive is a security risk that goes stale in weeks. What works is a system that stores the information encrypted TODAY and delivers it to the right people ONLY when it's truly needed — that's exactly what FamiliaLista does with its check-in system.
Your life's operations manual, ready in an afternoon
FamiliaLista stores your instructions, messages, and access — and delivers them to your people only if you're ever gone or unreachable. Via WhatsApp and email, in English and Spanish.
Start free →Familia plan from $79/year · Your family, ready. No matter what.
Frequently asked questions
Can my family access my accounts with a death certificate?
For bank accounts with a named beneficiary, yes — fairly quickly. For everything else — email, cloud, subscriptions, crypto — each company has its own slow, different process. The certificate opens doors; knowing WHICH doors exist is the real problem.
What is a dead man's switch?
A system that periodically asks you to confirm you're okay (a check-in). If you stop responding, it executes your instructions: delivering messages and access to the people you chose. That's FamiliaLista's mechanism — nothing is delivered while you keep responding.
Isn't this what a will is for?
No. A will decides WHO INHERITS, processed by a court over months. The life manual handles immediate OPERATIONS: what gets paid, where things are, who to notify — what your family needs in the first 48 hours, not month eight.
What if I'm incapacitated, not gone?
That's the most common and least planned scenario: an accident or hospitalization. FamiliaLista covers exactly that — if your life hits pause, your people receive what they need to keep your home and business running.
More guides to get your family ready
Leave your family the essentials: accounts, payments, contacts, and wishes — organized and delivered only when needed.If your life hits pause: the emergency plan
An accident or hospitalization can pause your life without warning. How to keep your home and business running.Will vs. life operations manual: what each one covers
A will decides who inherits; a life manual solves what to do tomorrow morning. Why your family needs both.How to start the conversation with your family
Why it's hard, gentle ways to open the door, and exactly what to cover — so no one has to guess.Questions to cover at the family table
The list to sit down together and cover what matters: money, documents, health, wishes and more.Digital accounts & RUFADAA
Who can access your accounts after death, the law's 3-tier priority, and the steps that actually work.See all guides →
All 18 guides to get your family ready, in one place.