Ever considered providing an in-case-of-death account?

VinylHound

I've been wondering about good ways to pass on passwords for things to loved ones if I die, while at the same time keeping them to myself until I die. I can envisage a product structured along these lines:

1. An account that holds info that the user wants to pass on after death, encrypted with a password or phrase that the account holder shares with whoever he plans to pass them on to.
2. A front door for the account holder accessible by a password known only by the account holder.
3. A back door that 1Password can open for the recipients upon the account holders death and after the due legal process has been completed.

Perhaps something like this exists somewhere already, or there are other easier options.

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ag_ana

Hi @VinylHound!

That is one of the reasons we created the Emergency Kit:

Get to know your Emergency Kit

This can be stored safely and separately from the 1Password account, and used when necessary.

VinylHound

Thanks. I don't think that solves the issue though. Consider this for a scenario. Someone has a cryptocurrency holding and they don't want it to be accessible by anyone, other than themselves, until after death. In that scenario the emergency kit would be a constant weak point and an actual threat - it would be accessible by anyone who had it, before death. The aim is to have no possibility of access until after death.

Lars

@VinylHound - the issue of digital legacy is a tricky one, especially when there are sums of money involved that the holder would like to have remain exclusively in their own possession until after they're gone. It's something we continue to give thought to, but at present, I'd suggest what ag_ana mentioned along with the additional precaution of storing it with a trusted attorney (like an estate trustee) or in a safety-deposit box that only such a trustee has the key for.

VinylHound

Thanks, Lars. Yes, I'm aware that it isn't an easy issue or small job to implement, and that, in 1Password's case, the emergency kit is a solution. I'm just going down a bit of a rabbit hole I guess as to what the ultimate solution might be. Without having thought too deeply about it the idea suggested seems to be better, or at least more secure, especially if access after death required multi-sig. There are indications though that Banks are looking to provide cryptocurrency services, so it wouldn't surprise me if they start offering legacy solutions. As Bitcoin use rises demand for it will surely rise. If so, then I expect that companies like 1password are in a bit of a head start position.

Lars

@VinylHound - it's something we've kept an eye on, because it's certainly something that fits into what we consider 1Password's overall purview -- keeping your secrets safe. I suspect if this had been an easy or quick thing to do properly, you'd already have our solution. But like everything else, we want to make sure something this sensitive gets done right...and this is not an easy thing to do correctly, in a way that is both secure and relatively straightforward to use, even (or perhaps especially) for the non-technically-adept. It's definitely been on our radar screen, though, so thanks for the additional nudge. :) :+1:

clarino

I'm puzzling over this, too. Until you have a better solution, I wouldn't recommend relying on a bank or attorney. Neither are safe.

NY Times had a good article on the problems of safety deposit boxes:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html

And here's an article of the FBI seizing private records from an attorney's office:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/us/politics/fbi-raids-office-of-trumps-longtime-lawyer-michael-cohen.html

ag_ana

Thank you for sharing those resources @clarino! Everything helps when it comes to tricky discussions like this one :+1:

Beacher8

Why not an extra tresor for in-case-of-death which only could open an connected emergency contact?
Only this one tresor where I exactly could store passwords which should be given to my emergency contact!
That would be a pefect solutions for this point!

In fact I did not want to give away the whole emergency kit to let anyone have full access to all tresors in my account.

ag_ana

Thank you for the suggestion @Beacher8 :+1:

steenth

This is NOT a tricky issue. Lastpass allows you to send someone a special email, which they store in a secure file. My wife and son both have one. In it is a link that when activated sends me back an emergency request to access my vault. If I do not respond is a specific amount of time (because I can't) access is granted. When you send this email out you can pick the time frame from hours to days.

steenth

I am looking at the emergency kit. This is answer? Scratching out your master password on a piece of paper and giving it to someone?