When someone dies.....

[Curlygirl06]

Posting here for traffic.

We recently had a death in the wider family, and trying to sort the admin stuff out has been problematic. There were half filled out insurance policy forms, bank account applications etc, and with a lot of stuff now being online it's difficult to sort out what's what and what's not. Didn't help that they were hoarders and their filing system was a bit erratic.

My filing system is pretty good-I could lay my hands on most stuff immediately (well, I will after I've put away the latest pile of paperwork!) but so much stuff is on my phone and laptop, with passwords and security codes stored by them that it would be difficult to get to it all.
Thinking of the future, I've started making a list of EVERYTHING. Bank accounts, pension details, insurance policies, passport numbers, addresses, phone numbers, you name it, I'm listing it, so that when the time comes my adult children won't have to spend hours looking for stuff, it'll all be in one place. When they need the actual paper version of it, it'll be in the relevant files (hopefully!)

Not everyone will want to do this, or have the time to do it but if you can, please do. The wasted hours that are going into hunting for things that may or may not exist is very frustrating. Thank you.

I'm remarrying soon and after that we'll be putting together a box file with everything in and the passwords are already in the safe.

Anyone reading - please do this!

I’m executor for a friend who died suddenly and I have a book full of question marks where facts should be. I don’t think I’ve found all her savings, I don’t know her energy supplier, car insurer, house contents insurer. I can’t even find an up to date address book to invite people to the funeral.

Yy to address book. Many people don't have one now, it's all on their phones, which relatives wouldn't be able to access. And notices in the paper are presumably a thing of the past.

I answeredupthread about giving my DS details of my bank a/cs and various (small) pensions etc. (without on line passwords, etc)
But seeing further replies to the OP, I will add to this energy suppliers (of course these can easily change), but passport number and driving license number a good idea.
(I am retired, but when I get older, I may stop driving, but the license is useful to update, as it can act as an ID card)
As well as addresses and telnos on my mobile, I also have an old fashioned address book. I have also added who they are beside the names eg; friend, nephew, etc as the names are not always easily identifiable.

As long as people know the banks, they don't need to know every separate account, many change each year if you have different savings accounts. So my family just know who I bank with. Electric and gas, there is a phone no. on Ofgen you can ring to find out which energy company as they are sometimes changed each year though not so much now.