Next of kin organizer
Print a file that tells your person where your will, accounts and keys are.
This file needs JavaScript, which is off in this browser. The notes below still explain what to write down, who should get a copy, and what never belongs in it.
No account, no passwords. Nothing you type leaves your device.
This tool organizes information and is provided as is. It isn't legal, medical, tax or financial advice. Before you sign or rely on anything, check with a licensed attorney in your state or province. Terms
Why you need one
A next of kin organizer covers what a spouse or grown kids usually know: where your will is, which bank you use, and who has a spare key. With no one like that, nobody already knows. This file tells the one person who will need to: a friend, your executor, or the person you named to act for you. The PDF opens with a one-page "Read this first" cover.
How to use your file
Answering the questions
Every question is optional. Skip one and it prints as blank lines, so you can fill it in by pen. To update it next year, save your answers as a file on your own device.
Who gets a copy
- The person it's for. Ask them before you write their name down, then give them a copy or tell them exactly where it is.
- Your backup, so they aren't starting from nothing if your first person can't help.
- Your executor and the people in your powers of attorney, if they're different people, and your lawyer, if you have one.
Where to keep it
Keep it with your will and other papers, somewhere your person can get to without you. Don't keep the only copy in a safe deposit box: your person may need it before anyone can open the box.
What never goes in it
Passwords, PINs, your phone passcode, safe combinations, full account and card numbers, and your Social Security or social insurance number. A paper file can be lost or read by the wrong person. This one says where things are and who to call. Your person gets into accounts the proper way: through your power of attorney, your will, or an account's own tool, like a legacy contact.
Update it once a year
Pick a date you'll remember, like your birthday. Open your saved answers, change what's new, print a fresh copy, and swap it for the old one. Every page prints the date you made it, so anyone reading it knows how current it is.
Set up what it points to
This file is a kind of letter of instruction: it tells people where things are, but it gives no one the legal right to act. These guides cover the papers and settings that do.
- What goes in a letter of instruction, and how it differs from a will.
- Estate planning with no family: who settles your estate, who inherits, and who finds the papers.
- No one to be your executor? Friends, professionals and trust companies, and what a professional executor charges.
- Where to keep your will, and how an executor differs from a power of attorney.
- Power of attorney when you have no family, and a health care proxy when you have no family.
- Digital estate planning checklist, and password manager emergency access.
- Legacy contacts: Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft.
Other free tools
- Emergency contact card: a wallet card and fridge sheet that say who to call.
- Final wishes planner: your wishes on one sheet for the person who carries them out.
- Digital legacy contact walkthrough: name who can reach your Apple, Google and Facebook accounts after you die.
- Estate planning checklist: a ranked to-do list for someone with no spouse or kids.
- Pet planning sheet: a handoff sheet for whoever takes your pets.
- Power of attorney form: your state's official one and its signing rules.
This file is general information, not legal advice. It prints what you type and doesn't check it. It isn't a will and doesn't give anyone legal authority.