The death binder

One binder.
Everything they'll need.

A death binder is one physical place holding what your family needs when you die: where the will lives, every account listed without its password, the deeds, the policies, the people to call, and what you want. A binder from an office store works. Fill it, tell two people where it is, and touch it once a year.

The contents

What goes in a death binder

Eight sections: where the original will lives and who the executor is; a list of every account and policy (institution and account type, never the password); insurance policies and agent contacts; deeds, titles, and loan statements; the advance directive and power of attorney; a contact list of the people to call, professional and personal; your funeral and disposition wishes in plain words; and a letter of instruction tying it together. Our estate inventory builds the account list for you.

The exclusions

What stays out of it

Passwords, PINs, and account numbers paired with logins. A binder sits on a shelf, and a shelf is not a vault. Use a password manager's emergency access feature and write only the path into the binder: which manager, whose phone gets the recovery, which drawer holds the backup codes. The binder says where keys live. It never is the key.

The location

Where to keep it, and who to tell

A fireproof document box at home works for most families. Ask your bank how it treats a safe deposit box after a death before you put the will in one; access can take longer than the funeral. Then tell two people where the binder lives. A binder nobody can find is a decision you made and mailed to no one.

The digital copy

The digital version

The Folder is the same idea built as a tool: the map of where everything lives, kept current, shareable with the people you choose. Keep both. Paper survives a dead phone, and the digital copy survives a house fire.

The narrative

The letter that explains it all

Documents say what. A letter of instruction says how and who: which plumber, where the spare key hides, what the password manager is called, which neighbor has the dog's vet records. It carries no legal force, and families use it more than the will in the first month.

The maintenance

Update it once a year

Pick a date you already remember, a birthday or the day the clocks change, and spend twenty minutes: new accounts in, closed accounts out, contacts still right, wishes still true. A binder from 2019 sends your family to a bank you left in 2021.

The binder is the map. The documents are the territory.

A perfect binder pointing at documents that don't exist helps nobody. If you haven't made the will, the advance directive, or the power of attorney yet, start with the list of what your family actually needs.