- A paper binder does one job well: it tells your family what exists and where to look for it.
- It has no way to decide when they get to see it. Whoever opens the drawer reads everything inside.
- Neither Google nor Apple will hand over a dead person's passwords, which is why families write credentials down themselves.
- Keep the originals on paper. Keep the parts that change somewhere you control the timing.
If you have a folder somewhere labelled "in case something happens to me", you are ahead of most people. Binder, red folder, letter of last instruction: the name changes, the idea does not. Put in one place everything your family will need to find, so nobody spends the week after your funeral going through drawers. The CFPB, FEMA and a long list of university extension services all recommend it, and they are right that it helps.
Two limits get less attention. The folder sits wherever you left it, whether or not anyone knows about it. And it says the same thing on the day you filled it in and six years later.
The list and the handover
The first layer is the inventory: what you own, where the documents are, who to call. The second is release: who gets that information, when, and after what confirmation. A binder handles the first layer well. Nothing in the standard advice handles the second.
What goes in the folder
The checklists are consistent across sources. Will and powers of attorney, deeds and vehicle titles, bank and investment statements, pension paperwork, loan and mortgage documents, insurance policies, safe deposit box details. Then the practical layer: birth and marriage certificates, passports, funeral wishes, and contacts for your accountant, lawyer, broker, employer and insurance agent. FEMA's own checklist for safeguarding critical documents also lists records of passwords and PINs.
One thing gets lost in that list. The binder is not the will. Florida IFAS put it plainly: a letter of last instruction does not carry the legal weight of a will. It is the practical map that sits next to the legal document, and it does nothing to decide who inherits what.
Four things that go wrong
They go out of date. Every guide tells you to review the folder once a year, and again after a marriage, divorce, birth or death in the family. That advice exists because paper does not update itself. The account you opened in March is not in the folder you filled in last spring.
Nobody finds them. Canada Life reported in February 2026 that 47% of UK couples did not know where their partner's will was kept, and 66% did not know for a parent. If you make a folder, tell someone where it is. That takes one sentence and is worth more than half the contents.
Paper also burns and gets wet. FEMA recommends a fireproof and waterproof box plus a copy stored off-site or digitally, which reads as excessive until you count how many people move house, flood a basement or leave a box in a garage.
- It ages. Nothing in it changes when your accounts, providers or family do.
- It has to be found. If nobody knows the location, the contents never matter.
- It is one physical copy, exposed to fire, water and a house move.
- It has no lock on timing. Everyone who opens it sees all of it, today.
That last one is the part people underestimate. The NCSC says writing passwords down can be fine, but you have to think about where they live and who can reach them, because anyone with access can memorise or copy them without your knowledge. Some online banking terms forbid writing passwords down at all, and breaking that condition can affect whether you get your money back after fraud.
Passwords, crypto, and what platforms will not do
Google will not give your family your password. Apple requires certified legal documentation, in some cases a court order, and cannot lift a device passcode without erasing the device. So families write the credentials down themselves, and at that moment the folder becomes the most valuable object in the house.
Crypto is where this gets expensive. Fidelity has pointed out that a hacked wallet usually leaves no recourse, unlike fraud on a bank or brokerage account. A seed phrase copied into a folder in a drawer can cause the loss rather than prevent it.
You have to record it so it cannot be lost, and hide it so nobody reads it too early. Paper closes the first half of that and leaves the second half open.
Write down where your folder is and who should be the one to open it.
A few numbers
Canada Life found in 2024 that 95% of UK adults had digital assets, that among people who already had a will only 12% had included at least one of them, and that 19% had left instructions or passwords anywhere at all. In a later survey of people who had served as executors, 28% struggled to find policy documents, 27% could not get information out of companies and 8% were blocked by missing passwords.
One number does not exist, and it is the one you would most want. No reliable study measures how many households keep a binder, or how many keep it current. Anyone quoting a figure for that is guessing, so treat binder adoption claims with suspicion, including favourable ones.
A good setup: the folder plus an app on your phone
The arrangement that works looks like this: paper for the originals, and something on your phone for everything that changes. LegacyApp handles that second part with an encrypted, current list of what you have and how to reach it. The notes live on your phone, with an encrypted copy in your own Google Drive or iCloud. Nothing sits on LegacyApp servers, and the operator cannot read your notes.
The app does not store passwords or keys. It stores what exists, where it is and what to do with it, including the things a paper folder holds worst: where the will is, who your lawyer is, which bank holds what. It also comes with a catalogue of asset and liability types that prompts you for the ones you would forget.
Every so often the app asks whether everything is fine. If you stop answering, the person you named gets access to what you chose to share, but only after your Trusted People confirm it. One "no" stops the release. The free plan needs no credit card and does not expire.
Who should use what
Keep the binder for originals: the signed will, deeds, birth and marriage certificates, anything whose value comes from being a piece of paper with your signature on it. No app replaces those, and there is no reason to try.
Use a digital legacy plan for everything that moves. Accounts, subscriptions, crypto, contacts, instructions, the location of the folder itself. And for anything you would not want read by whoever opens the drawer first.
Most people want both. If you already have a folder, the single most useful thing you can do this month is take the sensitive half out of it and put that half somewhere you decide who sees it and when.
Questions & answers
The short version, for people (and assistants) in a hurry.
Does a binder replace a will?
No. Florida IFAS states that a letter of last instruction does not carry the legal weight of a will. The folder tells your family what exists; the will decides who inherits it. You need the will for the second job.
Should I write my passwords in it?
Only if you understand what you are accepting. The NCSC says written passwords can work, but anyone who reaches them can copy or memorise them without you knowing, and some online banking terms forbid writing them down. A list of which institutions hold your accounts is usually enough for heirs to start.
Where should I keep the folder?
Somewhere locked, and tell the people who will handle the formalities where that is. FEMA recommends a fireproof and waterproof box plus a copy stored off-site or digitally. If your relationships change, move the folder.
How often should I update it?
At least once a year, and after any marriage, divorce, birth, death or change of bank. This is the part most people skip, which is why a five-year-old folder often lists accounts that no longer exist and misses the ones that do.
If I have a folder, can my family get into my Apple or Google account?
Not automatically. Google will not release passwords or login details for a deceased user and reviews other requests case by case. Apple requires certified legal documentation, sometimes a court order, and cannot remove a device passcode without erasing the device.
Do I need both a folder and an app?
Most people do. The folder holds the physical originals that still have to exist on paper. The app holds the part that changes every few months and the part you do not want read early.
Paweł Soproniuk - CEO of LegacyApp, a digital legacy app. Author and speaker at numerous events on digital inheritance, entrepreneur and lecturer. More about the team | LinkedIn
