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If something happened to you tomorrow, could your family reach your email, your banking and your accounts? Not by passing round passwords — but with encrypted access you hand over to the right person, at the right time.
What to store
The accounts and keys people forget until it is too late. Record them once, securely — then decide who can reach them, and when.
Nothing automatic — and that is the problem. Your accounts do not close themselves, and your family cannot see your logins. Without a plan, they are locked out of your email, your banking, your photos and your subscriptions at the exact moment they need them most. Some providers have a legacy or next-of-kin process, but each is different, slow, and often needs a death certificate and grant of probate first. Meanwhile bills keep leaving accounts no one can reach, and irreplaceable things — photos, messages — can be lost for good. A little preparation turns weeks of locked doors into a single set of keys.
A will becomes a public document once probate is granted in England and Wales — anyone can order a copy. Anything written into it, including passwords or account numbers, stops being private forever. Passwords also change often, while a will is rarely updated, so they would be out of date almost immediately. The correct approach is to keep credentials completely separate from the will: store them in a secure password manager or an encrypted credential safe, and let your will (or your death folder) simply point your executor to where that access lives.
This is a real grey area, and worth getting right. Under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, accessing an account you are not authorised to use can technically be an offence — even a well-meaning relative logging into a deceased person’s email can be on shaky ground. The safe route is not to hand round passwords informally, but to leave clear, documented authorisation and to use each provider’s official legacy or bereavement process where one exists. Recording your wishes and access details in one organised place — and naming who you authorise to act — makes that far smoother. This is general information, not legal advice.
Three principles. First, centralise: keep your important logins in one secure place rather than scattered across sticky notes, spreadsheets and memory. Second, protect the master key: your email and your password-manager master password are the keys to everything else, so those matter most. Third, control the hand-over: decide who you authorise, what they can see, and when — not everything needs to be shared while you are alive. With Beqst’s credential safe you store account access encrypted, and release it to the person you choose, only when they need it.
They solve related but different problems. A day-to-day password manager keeps your logins handy and secure while you are alive, but most are built around a single master password only you know — which is precisely the problem when you die. A credential safe like Beqst is built for the hand-over: it keeps access encrypted, sits alongside your will, documents and final wishes, and lets you nominate exactly who receives access and when. Many people use both — a manager for daily use, and Beqst to make sure the right person can get in when it counts.
Somewhere encrypted, organised, and reachable by the right person at the right time — never in your will, and never on paper in an unlocked drawer. The goal is a single, secure record that your executor or next of kin can be granted access to, covering your email, banking, devices and the accounts that need closing or memorialising. With Beqst, every sensitive field is encrypted with AES-256 on UK-based infrastructure, and you decide precisely who can see it and when.
Last reviewed July 2026. Beqst is a UK estate-organisation tool, not a law firm; this guide is general information, not legal advice.
Related: store your important documents securely, the free death-folder checklist, and what your executor will need.
Kept safe
A credential safe holds the keys to your whole digital life. With Beqst, every sensitive field is encrypted with AES-256 on UK-based infrastructure, and access is revealed only to the person you choose, only when they need it.
Start today
Beqst keeps your account access encrypted alongside your will, documents and final wishes — handed to the person you choose, only when they need it. Free to start, no card required.