How are you handling your "electronic will"

Tough question, but have you addressed it

[hannamyluv]

I thought I would post this here, because affiliates are the ones that could be most affected by this question.

Have you made any arrangments to handle your online accounts (email, affiliate, hosting or otherwise) if you were to die unexpectedly?

This article brought it to mind today...
Groups Debate Use of Dead Persons' Digital Information [eweek.com]

As more of our personal lives go digital, family members, estate attorneys and online service providers are increasingly grappling with what happens to those information bits when their owners die.

My husband can barely access his email, let alone my hosting and affiliate accounts. I'm not even sure I know where to begin as far as listing what passwords go where and what company does what. It's kind of scary. I have a will, but nothing in it would cover my "income" if I were to go. I'd hate to think of it being wasted simply because no one knew how to access it.

I've read a few threads on here about people from different aspects having to deal with this issue.

Do any of you an "electronic will" of any kind? Or how have you planned for the unthinkable?

[growingdigital]

I created a will in Quicken WillMaker Pro. I highly recommended it over paying a lawyer $$$$.

My wife helps me run my affiliate business. She knows almost as much as I do. She isn't as tech savvy, but she knows where to find people that are. I definitely think it's important to have a contingency plan if you are married, or have children.

Even if your spouse runs your business in to the ground you should continue to get a few residual sales. Don't forget to have a good life insurance plan!

[webmastertexas]

Wow. Never even considered this. My entire family are clueless when it comes to the 'net. They just don't seem interested in learning, hence the reason why I find it so difficult to convince my family that just because I set in my underwear all day and work on the computer doesn't mean I'm slacking. :)

But no. Never even thought of a will. Will have to, though...

[jcoronella]

I have been making a concerted effort to teach my wife as much as possible about what I'm doing, an have compiled a file of every domain I own and it's purpose, login, dns as well as affiliate accounts passwords, contacts, etc. I keep this encrypted, and she knows the passphrase. I email this encrypted list to my brother as well, who is an engineer but knows nothing about aff. marketing.

This post is a reminder that I have to document this stuff more in case anything happens to my wife and I at the same time. It would be a shame to see it all just wither away. It won't last long without me, but a little knowledge could prolong the site's life and yield my niecephews a little more college money.

I think that my wife is catching on fast ( a programmer, but not web programmer) and I probably won't need to, but I've considered making one of my SEO friends a 'Guardian' of my networks. Give them a % ownership in exchange for helping out my heirs keep it going.

[anallawalla]

I think I contributed to a thread some months ago about this. There is a program somewhere with a name like Dead Man's Switch or certainly that concept. It was written to send a final farewell to all the online communities you belong to and needed to be "reactivated" every xx days else it would assume you had died and it would proceed to check you out. You had to load it with all your logins and passwords.

A more reliable solution is to take legal advice so that your aff money is not piling into a bank account that cannot be touched by your survivors until the legal process is complete. This could be a trust account or whatever is the equivalent in your country.

[fclark]

A family member has a company that can legally be run only by members of her profession, and what we worked out for her business could be useful here as well.

The idea is to get to know two others in your line of work who would be willing to buy out your remaining clientele (sites), so that the heirs would not have to deal with it. It's a reciprocal agreement.

Another thing to consider is certain forms of business cease to exist as an entity when you do. This is one good reason to consider incorporating.

[annej]

With adsense your heir will have to reapply and put code with your new id up.

I have a son who will have a clue about what to do so I've made sure he has id and password for all my affiliates and such. Since my sites are evergreen it will be a nice source of income for him.

[Michael Anthony]

I have taken out some life insurance, which pays out a lump sum if you die unexpectedly.

I decided that this would be an easier route than trying to teach my wife and kids the ins and outs of AM.

This, and the rental income from our property portfolio will more than pay the bills. And even my wife knows how to collect rent :)

[shri]

I agree with Mike -- use your affiliate income to ensure a couple of things.

1) Life insurance. There are a few policies (not sure about the US but definately available internationally) which you can buy that provide a fixed income every year for a given number of years to your survivors.

2) If you're incorporated, look at "key man" insurance. I think this is available in the US.

3) At ANY time, please ensure that there is enough liquidity to take care of essentials for a year or so. Make sure you're not tied up in long term deals expenses that are not paid for... (long office leases without break clauses etc).

4) Step away from your computer for a few hours a day and enjoy life. A short walk can do wonders for blood pressures.