A checklist beyond your will: the personal things a plan forgets
The will is signed. Here are the things a will doesn't cover: the passwords, the people to call, the stories and the messages. A short, practical checklist.
Writes the iyawt prompt library.
A will covers property. Real life has a lot more in it. This is the list of things people wish someone had written down, in roughly the order they come up.
The practical things
- Where the documents are. The will, the deeds, the insurance policies. One folder, one drawer, and one person who knows which drawer.
- Accounts and passwords. A password manager with an emergency contact, or a sealed note. Don’t put passwords in your will; it becomes a public record.
- Who to call. Your attorney, your accountant, the friend who knows how the boiler works.
- The subscriptions. The ones that keep charging. A list saves someone hours.
- Pets. Who takes them, and what they eat.
The people things
- A list of who should hear from you. Not just family. The friend from college, the neighbor, the person you mentor.
- What you’d want each of them to know. This is the part a will can’t do, and the part people regret skipping.
The personal things
- Stories. The ones only you can tell: where the family came from, how you met, the goat on the ferry.
- Thank-yous. Specific ones.
- A message for the big days ahead. An 18th birthday. A wedding morning. Here’s how to record one that arrives on the day.
How to do the personal part
Don’t write it. Record it. A video message carries your voice and your face, and takes a minute each. Keep them somewhere they’ll reach the right person at the right time, and only then. That’s what iyawt is for.
Start with one prompt for your partner, tonight, before the folder goes back in the drawer.