2026-08-10 · 19 min read

Letter of instruction upon death template (and what to skip)

A seven-section letter of instruction upon death template — what to include, where to point instead of passwords, and who your executor must notify first.

A letter of instruction is the informal companion to your will: it tells the person handling your affairs where the documents are, which accounts exist, what renews monthly, and who to call. It carries no legal force, which is exactly why you can finish one today — Ohio State University Extension confirms there is no legal requirement for a letter of instruction and that it can be typed or handwritten. The seven-section template below points at where account access lives instead of holding the passwords themselves, because a document designed to be findable is the wrong place for secrets.

What is a letter of instruction, and what does it do that a will doesn't?#

Fidelity defines it as an informal letter to an executor, personal representative, or family members that provides important information about your assets and final wishes. AARP treats it as an informal supplement to your will covering the more personal material.

The division of labor is clean. The will names who gets what. The letter says where it is, who to call, what is owed, what renews monthly, and what you'd like done. A will read on its own leaves the executor opening drawers; the letter is the map that ends the search.

Is a letter of instruction legally binding?#

No. Fidelity states plainly that the letter is not legally binding, and that its value is making estate administration easier and more efficient. AARP is equally direct: it doesn't have the legal effect of a will and isn't a substitute for one. Ohio State University Extension adds that no legal requirement governs it at all.

Practical consequence: if the letter and the will disagree about who gets an asset, the will governs. Keep distribution decisions in the will and keep the letter to logistics.

One rule runs the other way. Under RUFADAA as enacted, where the provider's online tool lets you modify or delete your direction at any time, that direction overrides a contrary direction in a will, trust, power of attorney, or other record (Fla. Stat. §740.003(1)). Your Google and Apple settings can outrank your paperwork.

Which document decides what?#

Instrument	What it decides	Formality required	Who acts on it
Letter of instruction	Locations, contacts, logistics, wishes	None: no legal requirement, typed or handwritten (OSU Extension)	Executor and family, voluntarily
Will	Who receives what	Real execution formalities — Colorado, for one, requires two witnesses or acknowledgment before a notary (C.R.S. §15-11-502)	Probate court, executor
Power of attorney	Authority while you're alive but unavailable	Statutory execution	Agent, one of four fiduciary types under RUFADAA (Fla. Stat. ch. 740)
Trust	Ownership and management of trust assets	Trust instrument	Trustee
Provider online tool	Who reaches one specific online account	A few minutes in account settings	The provider — and it can outrank the will (Fla. Stat. §740.003(1))

What goes in the template, section by section?#

The sections below merge Fidelity's ten categories, AARP's three-part structure, and the four blocks Ohio State University Extension uses, with one deliberate change: the credentials prompt is replaced by a pointer. Copy this, fill the brackets, delete what doesn't apply.

LETTER OF INSTRUCTION
Written by: [full legal name]        Date: [date]
This letter is not a will. It has no legal effect. It exists to help
[executor name] and my family find things quickly.
My will is dated [date] and is located at [location].

1. PEOPLE TO CALL FIRST
   Executor / personal representative: [name, phone, email]
   Backup: [name, phone, email]
   Attorney: [name, firm, phone]
   Tax preparer / accountant: [name, phone]
   Financial advisor / broker: [name, firm, account contact]
   Insurance agent: [name, policy numbers held at: location]
   Employer or main clients: [names, phone, email]
   Clergy / officiant: [name, phone]
   People to notify personally, in order: [names and numbers]

2. WHERE THE PAPERWORK LIVES
   Will and trust originals: [location]
   Birth certificate, marriage certificate, military discharge: [location]
   Social Security card: [location, not the number]
   Deeds, vehicle titles, loan documents: [location]
   Last three years of tax returns: [location]
   Insurance policies, annuity contracts, pension paperwork: [location]
   Safe deposit box: [bank, box number, where the key is, who is authorized]

3. ACCOUNTS, AND WHERE ACCESS LIVES  (no passwords in this letter)
   Banks: [institution, type of account, last four digits]
   Brokerage / retirement: [firm, account type, TOD registered? yes/no]
   Password manager in use: [name]
     Emergency access recipient: [name]
     Printed recovery kit is stored at: [location]
   Apple Legacy Contact: [name]; access key stored at: [location]
   Google Inactive Account Manager: configured [yes/no]; contacts: [names]
   Other provider legacy tools configured: [list]
   Email addresses I use, and what each is tied to: [list]
   Two-factor backup codes are stored at: [location]

4. MONEY IN AND MONEY OUT
   Income still expected: [source, frequency]
   Automatic payments and direct debits: [payee, amount, account]
   Subscriptions and recurring charges to cancel or keep: [list]
   Debts: [lender, contact, account number, approximate balance]

5. WORK IN FLIGHT  (delete if you don't run a business)
   Named successor to review files and notify clients: [name, phone]
   Live clients and current commitments: [client, deliverable, deadline]
   Where project files and client records live: [location]
   Domains, hosting, payment processor: [registrar, host, processor]
   Business entity, EIN location, bank account: [details]

6. PERSONAL EFFECTS, PETS, AND WISHES
   Items I'd like specific people to have: [item, person, why]
   Pets: [names, vet, contact, care instructions]
   Funeral home / prepayment status: [details]
   Service preferences, music, readings, obituary draft: [location]
   Organ and tissue donation, autopsy wishes: [statement]
   Charitable donations in place of flowers: [organizations]

7. NOTES I WANT READ
   [Anything you want to explain in your own words.]

Signed: [signature]      Date: [date]
Copies of this letter are held by: [names and locations]

Why shouldn't you write passwords into it?#

Because plenty of templates still tell you to, and that advice aged badly. AARP's own prompt asks, of important documents on your computer, what the file names or passwords are. That treats an unencrypted document, kept in a drawer or a synced cloud folder, as a reasonable vault.

CISA says the opposite: use a password manager, and don't write a password down and leave it somewhere others can find it — in your desk, next to your computer, or taped to it — because that makes it easily accessible to anyone with physical access. A letter of instruction in a drawer or a shared folder is the same exposure with a wider blast radius, since it names every institution at once. CISA's Secure Our World guidance states the alternative: a manager generates, stores, and fills unique passwords for every account, and you reach them with one primary password.

A legal problem stacks on the security one. Handing someone raw credentials does not make their access lawful. As Kitces puts it, hacking is potentially punishable under a variety of statutes, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and most providers' terms of service don't allow an account to be transferred to someone else. Yahoo states that all Yahoo accounts are non-transferable even when the account owner is deceased, that it cannot provide passwords or other login details, and that releasing account content requires a US court order satisfying its requirements. A password written in your letter buys the holder nothing Yahoo will honor.

The authorization that works comes from status, not secrets: a fiduciary acting within the scope of their duties is an authorized user for the purpose of applicable computer fraud and unauthorized computer access laws (Fla. Stat. §740.05(4)). Even Fidelity's digital-asset advice stops at listing your files and accounts and naming a successor in your estate planning documents, precisely because state and federal laws may prohibit others from accessing them without written consent.

Where should access actually live instead?#

Section 3 of the template is a set of pointers. Each row below is what the person on the other end actually receives, and what they must produce to get it.

Route	What the person receives	What they must produce	Timing and limits
Apple Legacy Contact	Apple Account data	Death certificate plus the access key, an alphanumeric code with an associated QR code (Apple Platform Security)	The key can be printed and stored offline with your estate documents; it deliberately excludes what's needed to decrypt iCloud Keychain
Google Inactive Account Manager	All data, or only chosen data types, and different data for different people	Nothing, if you named them in advance	Up to 10 people, notified only once your account has been inactive for the period you set
Facebook legacy contact	First-priority direction under RUFADAA	Nothing, if configured in advance	Named alongside Google's tool as an example of a first-priority online tool by the State Bar of Texas
Bitwarden Emergency Access	View access, or takeover access requiring a new master password	A request you approve, or the wait running out	Grantor-set wait time; the vault key is encrypted to the contact's public key and delivered only on approval or when the wait lapses, so they hold nothing usable in advance
1Password Emergency Kit	Sign-in address, account email, Secret Key, setup QR code	Physical possession of the printed kit	1Password suggests a safe deposit box or a copy with someone you trust, and notes that using the optional space to write your account password is an added vulnerability if someone gets hold of the document
Nothing configured	Catalog of communications on request; content only with explicit authorization (Kitces)	Fiduciary appointment, and often a court order	Custodian representatives told the author they will always require a court order, for fear of liability for improper disclosure (State Bar of Texas)

The ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section recommends this order: use the online tool where one exists, and include language in your estate planning documents addressing fiduciary access. For the account-by-account version of section 3, the companion piece on building a digital handoff binder that records where each account lives covers the inventory and the provider tools in detail.

What does an executor get by default?#

RUFADAA sets a three-tiered priority: your online-tool direction first, then your legal documents such as a will, trust, or power of attorney, then the custodian's default terms of service as the fallback (Kitces). The Uniform Law Commission created the act in 2015, and Kitces, writing in 2018, put adoption at nearly 40 states. Each state enacts its own version, so check your state's statute rather than leaning on any one state's section numbers — the Florida citations here are illustrative.

One distinction decides how useful your letter is. RUFADAA separates the catalog of electronic communications — the information identifying each person you communicated with, the time and date, and that person's electronic address — from the content, meaning information concerning the substance or meaning of the communication (Fla. Stat. §740.002(4) and (5)). A custodian must provide an executor with the catalog if it's requested; content needs explicit authorization (Kitces). The act reaches four fiduciary types, tracked in Florida's text by the four people they act for — decedent, ward, principal, and settlor (Fla. Stat. §740.05(4)): personal representatives, conservators, agents under a power of attorney, and trustees.

That is why a letter listing where accounts exist stays valuable with no passwords in it. It tells the fiduciary which custodians to write to.

What does the solo-operator version add?#

The professional precedent is ABA Model Rule 1.3, Comment 5: to prevent neglect of client matters in the event of a sole practitioner's death or disability, the duty of diligence may require a plan designating another competent lawyer to review client files, notify each client, and determine whether there is a need for immediate protective action. That isn't aspirational language — states adopt it verbatim, as North Carolina's Rule 1.3 Comment 5 shows, word for word. A freelancer, agency of one, or independent consultant can fold the same three duties into section 5: name a successor, list live clients, say where the files are.

Then there is the money that keeps moving. Domains renew, hosting renews, the payment processor keeps settling, and subscriptions keep billing a card nobody is watching. Fidelity advises survivors to keep checking the mail regularly for 60 to 90 days for anything overlooked — a strong argument for listing those charges yourself rather than making someone reverse-engineer them from envelopes.

Closure has its own paperwork. Per the IRS, a sole proprietor files Schedule C with the final Form 1040 or 1040-SR and may need Form 4797 for property sales and Form 8594 if the business is sold; anyone with employees must make final federal tax deposits and report employment taxes, provide each employee a Form W-2 for the year of their final wages, keep employment tax records for at least four years, and cancel the EIN by letter stating the complete legal name of the business, the EIN, the business address, and the reason for closing the account. Naming the accountant in section 1 is what makes that list someone's job instead of nobody's.

Where should you keep it, and how often should you update it?#

Not in the safe deposit box. AARP says so bluntly — don't put it where it might be difficult to reach — and California Probate Code §331 shows why: before letters have been issued, a key holder may obtain access only on presenting proof of death and reasonable proof of identity, only under the financial institution's supervision, and may remove only instructions for disposition of remains plus, after photocopying, wills and trust instruments. Your letter is none of those, so it stays locked in during exactly the week it's needed.

Fidelity recommends keeping a copy with your estate planning documents, giving one to your attorney, and leaving one where family members might look first. Ohio State University Extension frames the real requirement as discoverability: it is imperative that the executor and heirs know of the existence and location of the letter, and if they don't, the letter is useless.

On cadence, Fidelity suggests updating even as often as annually, because assets and their corresponding documentation change often; AARP suggests revisiting every couple of years or when circumstances change. Either way, the letter keeps one structural weakness no revision fixes: it's a static document that helps only after someone notices you've gone silent and goes looking for it. That seam is what Proceedly covers, as a scheduled check-in — miss it past a grace window and a person you name confirms, or on a paid plan it releases automatically, before your encrypted handoff plan reaches the people who depend on you. It carries the instructions and where the keys live, never the passwords, which is the rule section 3 already runs on.

Who has to be notified, and what will they ask for?#

Give this list to whoever holds the letter. Work top down: the funeral home's report to Social Security is what starts most of the other clocks.

Two clocks are already running before the first call. The FDIC insures a deceased owner's accounts as if he or she were still alive for six months after death, so families have time to review and restructure (12 C.F.R. §330.3(j)). At the brokerage, generally no account activity — buying, selling, or transferring the account to another firm — can occur until legal authority is established and the new account is opened (FINRA).

What should never go in the letter?#

Passwords, PINs, Secret Keys, or two-factor codes. Write where they live instead (CISA).
Asset distribution decisions. The letter has no legal effect (AARP); the will is the instrument with execution formalities (C.R.S. §15-11-502).
Full Social Security numbers, and account numbers nobody needs. USAGov notes the SSN will be needed — an argument for naming where the card is, not copying the digits into a document you leave findable.
Anything you'd be unwilling to have read. The whole design goal is discoverability (Ohio State University Extension).

FAQ: what else do people ask?#

Do I need a lawyer or a notary for a letter of instruction? No. Ohio State University Extension confirms there is no legal requirement for a letter of instruction, and that it can be typed or handwritten. Formal execution belongs to the will — in Colorado, two witnesses or acknowledgment before a notary (C.R.S. §15-11-502).

What happens if the letter contradicts my will? The will governs, because the letter doesn't have the legal effect of a will (AARP). The reverse can be true for digital accounts: where the online tool allows you to modify or delete your direction at any time, that direction overrides a contrary direction in a will, trust, power of attorney, or other record (Fla. Stat. §740.003(1)).

Can a family member just log in with my password? That is the risky path. Hacking is potentially punishable under a variety of statutes, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Kitces). Yahoo treats accounts as non-transferable, won't provide login details, and requires a US court order to release content.

Does the Apple Legacy Contact hand over my saved passwords? No. The keying information a legacy contact receives doesn't encompass what's necessary to decrypt the decedent's iCloud Keychain, and the process requires a death certificate (Apple Platform Security).

Do my debts pass to my family? Generally no. Debts are generally paid out of the money or property left in the estate, and if the estate can't pay and no one shared responsibility for the debt, it may go unpaid. You're not responsible unless you shared legal responsibility as a co-signer or joint account holder, or fall within another exception (CFPB).

What about joint accounts and beneficiaries? With rights of survivorship, the money passes to the surviving owner, or equally to the rest if there are several; as tenants in common, that owner's share passes to their heirs, by will or state law (CFPB). Transfer on Death registration is available for individual brokerage and non-retirement accounts: you keep control during your lifetime, ownership passes to named beneficiaries, and it generally avoids probate for those holdings. A TOD designation supersedes your will (FINRA).

How long should the letter be? Long enough to cover the seven sections, short enough that you'll actually update it annually — the cadence Fidelity recommends because assets and their documentation change often.