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I wonder about the legal position of recipients of these cheatsheet. In particular, how much trouble can they get into for using the passwords? Say probate is

I wonder about the legal position of recipients of these cheatsheet. In particular, how much trouble can they get into for using the passwords? Say probate is taking a long time, so someone logs into the bank account and withdraws money for everyday essentials. That’s probably one reason the deceased person left the cheatsheet. But what happens when a bank notices money being withdrawn from the bank account of a dead person? Presumably it gets flagged as fraud. And if the estate is still going through probate, the person withdrawing money might not have a legal right to do that.

hnhn 4y ago
Yes, even if the recipient thinks they will eventually have the legal right of access, until they do it's not legal to try and move funds. For a couple, this is one reason to think carefully about which assets are in joint names and which are separate. Ideally, they should have enough money in joint, liquid accounts to cover however long it may take to be granted probate.
NamTaf 4y ago
This, a million times. Tech nerds love cooking up elaborate technical solutions to this problem (I’ve seen it here in several threads over the years) but completely ignore the legal requirements and expectations around establishing next of kin and executing probate. My recommendation always remains the same: don’t over complicate it and work with the existing societal processes. Society deals with people dying all the time. All major companies, industries, etc. have means for dealing this which have established legal precedent and won’t get anyone in the shit by following them. Let those processes unfold and instead focus on providing your loved ones with the means of having what they need to do so.