dazzlindonna - 2:53 pm on Dec 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

I experienced this firsthand a couple of years ago, when a friend died, and his family contacted me for help. They had seen emails between the two of us, and determined that I might be someone they could trust.

Since he did not leave information about his sites, it was a nightmare trying to figure out what sites he owned, what the passwords were to everything, etc. With some hard work, and a lot of intuitive detecting, I was able to eventually (after a few months), find out all the info for them.

Since then, I have been diligently documenting everything that my family would need to be up and running immediately. I periodically print it out and put it into a safe.

You'll need domain registrar info (usernames, passwords for each domain), hosting info (usernames, passwords for each site, including control panel info, database info, support info), as well as all affiliate info (affiliate site, username, password). I also include a list of typical usernames and passwords I might use in case there is anything I may have left out of the document.

Finally, leave a note with some names of people you trust who could help your family deal with it all. Someone who understands the business, but won't rip your family off.

This IS extremely important. If my friend's family hadn't contacted me, they may have gone bust very quickly.