Finding the Will (Part 2)

While the internet permits convenient access to accounts, policies, and stored documents, it presents a plethora of password management problems. which too many people avoid by succumbing to password laziness, such as:

re-using passwords for multiple logins, or

using simple, easy to remember passwords, or

writing them on sticky notes placed on their monitor or under their keyboard, or

keeping them in a spreadsheet on their computer, or

letting their browser remember passwords for them.

The prevailing solution is to use a third-party, reputable password manager. Turn a phrase you can remember into a password, substituting numbers and characters for letters in the phrase so you have a 20 character or longer password.

Remember this one password to access all your other passwords and to create unique, robust passwords for each account. The small learning curve is worth the trouble. Plus, these password managers typically offer online “vaults” to store your important files. Where your level of trust with your agent(s) for Power of Attorney (POA) must be high to begin with, give your passphrase to your agent(s) or use a “deadman switch” that sends them instructions after a number of days of your inactivity.

Keep personally identifying information off of social media. A cyber-villain should not be able to readily answer your security questions by scraping your online presence.

While you’re doing your part to stay secure online, you have no control over your information that is already out there. Social media, big tech companies, and banks have been hacked, and more will be hacked in the future. This means you want to set up two-factor authentication (2FA) for your email accounts (email addresses are commonly usernames) and for your most sensitive accounts. The 2FA is a code sent to your phone (text or authenticator app) or email to be able to log in.

This begs an additional security measure you need for your phone. Set up a PIN with your cellular carrier to avert “SIM swapping.” Hackers use what they’ve scraped from your public and stolen information to literally take over your cellular phone number, transfer it to their phone, and receive the 2FAs so they can drain your accounts overnight!

Presume you’ve been hacked and will be again. In 2015 the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was hacked. The records of over 22 million current and former government employees/contractors were compromised.

“The hackers had first pillaged a massive trove of background-check data. As part of its human resources mission, OPM processes over 2 million background investigations per year, involving everyone from contractors to federal judges. OPM’s digital archives contain roughly 18 million copies of Standard Form 86, a 127-page questionnaire for federal security clearance that includes probing questions about an applicant’s personal finances, past substance abuse, and psychiatric care.” https://www.wired.com/2016/10/inside-cyberattack-shocked-us-government/

Here’s an example of how to organize.

1. Rob and Julie have a tabbed 3-ring binder containing all their estate planning documents. The contingent agent for healthcare and financial POAs is familiar with the contents and its location.

2. Every document in the binder is available electronically. The estate planning attorney provides a vault service with a menu of permissions that can be set as to who can see which documents.

3. Julie and Rob’s contingent agent for POAs is also the executor (personal representative) of their wills. Their last will and testaments (wills) are simple because a living trust handles most assets and associate details. Rob and Julie like that the trust is not a public document like a will is upon probate. The executor is also a contingent trustee, then the trust department of a local bank. This means the contingent trustee can either get assistance from the bank’s trust department or turn all trustee control over to the bank trust department.

4. The binder includes recent insurance policy statements. Co-located with the binder are the paper copies of all the insurance policies/contracts. It also contains a recent statement for every open account.

5. After every statement is the associated beneficiary designation or transfer (payable) on death designation. These designations bypass probate.

6. All of Julie and Rob’s children, upon attaining age 18, registered their Living Will and Power of Attorney for Healthcare (collectively called Healthcare Directive) with their home state government. Their state issues registration cards so in an emergency a hospital can locate the Healthcare Directive and agents for healthcare POA.

7. Without having to read the wills, Rob and Julie’s children know their wishes related to funerals and burial vs cremation.

Trust with proper legal authorization is essential for smooth transitions from the go-go years, to the slo-go years, to the no-go years, to your heirs. See your estate planning attorney every 2 years; more often as life and relationships change. Respond when your attorney reaches out to you when laws change or after important court rulings.

If you missed Part 1 of Finding the Will. Here it is:

Part 1

Finding the Will (Part 2)

While the internet permits convenient access to accounts, policies, and stored documents, it presents a plethora of password management problems. which too many people avoid by succumbing to password laziness, such as:

re-using passwords for multiple logins, or

using simple, easy to remember passwords, or

writing them on sticky notes placed on their monitor or under their keyboard, or

keeping them in a spreadsheet on their computer, or

letting their browser remember passwords for them.

The prevailing solution is to use a third-party, reputable password manager. Turn a phrase you can remember into a password, substituting numbers and characters for letters in the phrase so you have a 20 character or longer password.

Remember this one password to access all your other passwords and to create unique, robust passwords for each account. The small learning curve is worth the trouble. Plus, these password managers typically offer online “vaults” to store your important files. Where your level of trust with your agent(s) for Power of Attorney (POA) must be high to begin with, give your passphrase to your agent(s) or use a “deadman switch” that sends them instructions after a number of days of your inactivity.

Keep personally identifying information off of social media. A cyber-villain should not be able to readily answer your security questions by scraping your online presence.

While you’re doing your part to stay secure online, you have no control over your information that is already out there. Social media, big tech companies, and banks have been hacked, and more will be hacked in the future. This means you want to set up two-factor authentication (2FA) for your email accounts (email addresses are commonly usernames) and for your most sensitive accounts. The 2FA is a code sent to your phone (text or authenticator app) or email to be able to log in.

This begs an additional security measure you need for your phone. Set up a PIN with your cellular carrier to avert “SIM swapping.” Hackers use what they’ve scraped from your public and stolen information to literally take over your cellular phone number, transfer it to their phone, and receive the 2FAs so they can drain your accounts overnight!

Presume you’ve been hacked and will be again. In 2015 the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was hacked. The records of over 22 million current and former government employees/contractors were compromised.

“The hackers had first pillaged a massive trove of background-check data. As part of its human resources mission, OPM processes over 2 million background investigations per year, involving everyone from contractors to federal judges. OPM’s digital archives contain roughly 18 million copies of Standard Form 86, a 127-page questionnaire for federal security clearance that includes probing questions about an applicant’s personal finances, past substance abuse, and psychiatric care.” https://www.wired.com/2016/10/inside-cyberattack-shocked-us-government/

Here’s an example of how to organize.

1. Rob and Julie have a tabbed 3-ring binder containing all their estate planning documents. The contingent agent for healthcare and financial POAs is familiar with the contents and its location.

2. Every document in the binder is available electronically. The estate planning attorney provides a vault service with a menu of permissions that can be set as to who can see which documents.

3. Julie and Rob’s contingent agent for POAs is also the executor (personal representative) of their wills. Their last will and testaments (wills) are simple because a living trust handles most assets and associate details. Rob and Julie like that the trust is not a public document like a will is upon probate. The executor is also a successor trustee, then the trust department of a local bank. This means the successor trustee can either get assistance from the bank’s trust department or turn all trustee control over to the bank trust department.

4. The binder includes recent insurance policy statements. Co-located with the binder are the paper copies of all the insurance policies/contracts. It also contains a recent statement for every open account.

5. After every statement is the associated beneficiary designation or transfer (payable) on death designation. These designations bypass probate.

6. All of Julie and Rob’s children, upon attaining age 18, registered their Living Will and Power of Attorney for Healthcare (collectively called Healthcare Directive) with their home state government. Their state issues registration cards so in an emergency a hospital can locate the Healthcare Directive and agents for healthcare POA.

7. Without having to read the wills, Rob and Julie’s children know their wishes related to funerals and burial vs cremation.

Trust with proper legal authorization is essential for smooth transitions from the go-go years, to the slo-go years, to the no-go years, to your heirs. See your estate planning attorney every 2 years; more often as life and relationships change. Respond when your attorney reaches out to you when laws change or after important court rulings.