A legacy binderwhere everything is, for the people who will need to know

Method

1. 1

   Set the rule before you write a word

   The rule is where, never what. The binder says “the password manager’s recovery sheet is in the fire safe”, never the password. It says “savings at Lakeshore Credit Union, statements by email”, never the account number.

   These never go in know.sh, not even in a private document: passwords and PINs, account and card numbers, Social Security numbers, crypto recovery or seed phrases, security-question answers, two-factor backup codes, and door, alarm or safe combinations. Your library lives online, your assistant reads it, and a link can be forwarded. The binder should be safe to read for anyone who opens it.

2. 2

   Give your assistant a list, not your statements

   Go through a month of statements and your file box and write a plain list: each bank, plan, policy and adviser, what it is, how its statements arrive, where the paper is kept, and whom to call. Do not hand your assistant the statements themselves unless every number is blacked out first; a list is safer and quicker.

   Give the list to whichever assistant you use and ask it to build a shelf, Legacy binder, with five documents: Where things are, Home, Insurance, Wishes and People to call. Each institution, policy, key and person becomes a finding titled by what it is and who holds it, “Everyday banking — Lakeshore Credit Union”, with the same four lines under every one.

3. 3

   Fix it up in the editor

   Open each document and press Edit. Correct what the assistant got wrong, then add what no list holds: the password manager and who has emergency access to it, the phone and where its passcode is kept, the fire safe and who holds its combination. Mark as Key and drag to the top what the executor needs in the first week.

   Home should say where the deed is, who services the mortgage, what is on automatic payment, and link to your house manual. Insurance needs the agent’s name and office number for each policy. In People to call, business numbers are fine; for friends, a name and “number in my phone” is enough.

4. 4

   Write Wishes in your own words

   Wishes is the one document your assistant should leave empty, because it must sound like you. Burial or cremation, the music, the service or none, the dog, who gets the watch. File each as a Decision finding, so it reads as settled.

   Be plain with yourself about what this document is: a letter, not a will. If a wish matters legally, such as who gets the house or who raises a child, it belongs in the will or the trust your lawyer drafts, and the finding in Wishes should say only where that document is.

5. 5

   Ask your assistant what your executor would still not know

   Ask your assistant to read all five documents on the Legacy binder shelf as your executor would, the week after. Tell it exactly what to write: a Question finding on the right document for each gap, quoting the finding that raised it, and no answers of its own.

   Then answer the questions yourself. Expect it to find the second pension you mention once and never explain, the subscriptions nobody would think to cancel, and the key that is “with the papers”. Check Revisions afterwards: every change the assistant made is marked as an assistant’s, with Restore beside it.

6. 6

   Decide how the right person will reach it

   know.sh has one owner per library and no way to hand an account over after death, so choose a route now and tell your executor what it is.

   • A password link given to one person. Press Share on each document the executor needs, leave it with no expiry (the default), and add a password. Copy the link when it appears; it is shown only once. Put the links in the letter kept with your will; give the password separately, in person.
   • Private, and a paper copy. Keep the shelf private, tell your executor it exists, and once a year ask your assistant to read it back as plain text for a printed copy in the envelope.

   Links are one per document, so five documents means five links. The read count on each tells you if one has been opened.

7. 7

   Review it once a year

   Pick a date you will not forget, such as the week you file your taxes, and put it in your own calendar; know.sh sends no reminders. Put the binder in Focus that week, walk the file box again, and update what changed: a new insurer, a closed account, a new neighbour with the key.

   If circumstances change, a divorce or a falling-out, turn the link off or replace it. A replaced link resets its exclusions and expiry, so set them again and send the new one.