Don’t know where to start with digital estate planning? Willful’s Erin Bury has some advice.

No one likes to think about death — their own or anyone else’s. But as our lives move increasingly online, it’s worth considering what happens to our digital selves after we’re gone. From social media accounts to crypto wallets, our digital footprint now extends far beyond the physical world.

In this episode of Random but Memorable, 1Password’s Michael “Roo” Fey talks with Erin Bury, Co-founder and CEO of Willful, about how technology is reshaping estate planning. Together, they explore how we can prepare for the future — not just legally, but emotionally — and ease the burden on those we leave behind.

Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity. The views and opinions expressed by the interviewee don’t represent the opinions of 1Password.

Michael “Roo” Fey: What is estate planning? And how has it changed in the digital age?

Erin Bury: People often think of estate planning as just the legal documents: the will and the power of attorney documents. To me, estate planning represents everything related to planning for the transition when you pass away. So, yes, it includes the legal documents, but it also includes broader wishes regarding funeral and burial preferences. It includes the documentation and collection of information – everything from life insurance policies to passwords. And increasingly, it includes planning for your digital footprint. 

It encompasses a wide spectrum of things, which is why it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Not only do some people not know what it is, but when you start peeling back the layers of everything involved, it can feel pretty overwhelming. 

To the second part of your question, estate planning hasn't changed much in the last century. It's still very paper-based, from people writing down passwords on sticky notes to creating wills and other legal documents on paper. This field is dominated by visiting professionals and paying an hourly rate, which can total thousands of dollars depending on where you live, and involves collecting physical documents in a file folder.

MF: Why is digital estate planning so important these days?

EB: The first reason digital estate planning has become so prevalent is simply the size of our digital footprint these days. The second reason is the types of digital accounts and assets that make up that digital footprint. 

In 1997, and I'm aging myself here, I had a Hotmail account, and that was it. Fast-forward 20 years, and I have every manner of online account including banking, credit cards, life insurance, investments, cryptocurrency, photos, online recipes, social media accounts, as well as my will and power of attorney documents.

"Our legacy is no longer just the obituary that’s written about us in the newspaper."

Our legacy is no longer just the obituary that’s written about us in the newspaper. It's, well, does Erin's Facebook account stay active after she's passed away? Am I going to get that birthday reminder every year? And for the folks you leave behind, it’s knowing that they can find, close, and retrieve value from any of your online accounts when typically you are the only one with access to them.

MF: So how do companies like Willful help with estate planning?

EB: The original mission of the company, which still holds true today, is how to reduce the burden on our loved ones when someone passes away. How do we make sure they have the necessary information and know the person's wishes, so they can honor them and have an easier time logistically? 

It's really difficult to process the death of a loved one. It's even more difficult if you have no clue what they would have wanted and where things are stored. It becomes a wild goose chase. So Willful focuses on estate planning and helping you record your wishes in legal documents, such as wills and power of attorney documents, as well as outside of those in asset and liability lists. 

We are a complement to tools like 1Password that store the actual passwords and login information. We help you put together high-level wishes, both in legal documents and outside of them. 

"It's one of those taboo topics that should be more at the forefront."

Nobody loves to think about mortality. It's not something we sit down at the dinner table to learn about and talk about as kids. It's not something we learn about in school, yet it's something that every single one of us will go through when we lose a loved one, and every single one of us will pass away at some point. It's one of those taboo topics that should be more at the forefront, particularly since we're in the middle of the largest generational wealth transfer in history. 

MF: Lawyers are still very paper-based today. Are you seeing a shift towards digital processes? Or is that a gap that Willful needs to fill?

EB: If you live in a place that gives you the option to create your will online, chances are the most annoying part of that process is going to be printing out your document on paper and signing it in front of witnesses. And that's because in most jurisdictions, including the U.S. and Canada, there are archaic laws that require wills, powers of attorney documents, and other key documents to be physical paper documents with wet ink signatures. 

Roughly 15 U.S. states now allow digital signatures on wills. There's one Canadian province, British Columbia, that allows electronic signatures on wills. Some states and provinces allow virtual witnessing. So it still has to be a physical signature on a piece of paper but it can be witnessed via a video conference call instead of in person. 

"You can go through the process online but there still is an offline component."

So there's certainly been progress, but by and large, the default is still very paper-based. There's also not a lot of awareness about the fact that you can actually do these things online. I always say my biggest job is education and explaining what estate planning is, what a will is, and why it's important, as well as what happens when you pass away without one. I also spend a lot of time educating people about the requirements for making a will because in most countries you can go through the process online but there still is an offline component. 

My hope is that in the next 5-10 years, we see governments recognize that this is a huge limitation. Research has shown that most Canadians and Americans don't have a will. And yes, that's because wills can be uncomfortable to think about. However, the biggest barriers are the cost of hiring a professional and the ease of getting one done. If we could remove the barriers associated with the paper format and make wills more affordable, a lot more people would have these important documents in place, which would be so helpful to their loved ones.

MF: How has the actual process of writing a will changed over the years?

EB: The process is very similar to what it was 100 years ago, even if you're creating your will online. 

Writing a will boils down to a few key decisions. Folks tend to think of it as an impossible task on their to-do list. “I can't make a will, I don't have 10 hours. And I don't want to gather my tax returns and my investment statements.” Realistically, a will is a very high-level document. It doesn’t contain a list of your assets and liabilities. You aren’t including your bank account numbers or your passwords. It simply says who is going to act as your executor to wrap things up when you’re gone, who's going to receive your assets, and who's going to take care of any dependents, including minor children and pets. 

"You can create a will online in less than 50 minutes and for under $100."

If you have the answers to those three questions, you can create a will online in less than 50 minutes and for under $100. In many countries, you can even write a will on a piece of paper. So it's not as hard as it used to be. Before, you had to make an appointment in a lawyer's office in the middle of the day, and you had to pay a lot of money. If you wanted to change your will you had to go back and pay hundreds of dollars. 

Now it's just like tax software. You can use a tool like Willful, or Trust & Will in the US, or Farewill in the UK, or Willed in Australia, and they will ask you some questions about your life situation and build customized documents much like tax software. These will help you understand what's changed in your life and how you need to fill out your tax documents this year to best suit those life changes. 

But it's still essentially the same as it was 100 years ago. It’s all about those three core decisions: your executor, your beneficiaries, and the guardians of minor children.

MF: What are the implications if someone doesn’t have a good digital handover or instructions after they pass away?

EB: It's quite standard these days to include a digital assets clause in your will. That grants legal authority to your executor, the person who manages your affairs after you pass away, and puts the wishes in your will into action. It gives them the right to access your digital accounts and do whatever you may have instructed. 

If you’ve shared detailed instructions, your executor could then follow them. That might be something like, “Download all of my photos before closing my Instagram account.” 

If you don't have a digital asset clause, the executor will need to go directly to each company that you have an account with and provide proof of their role and all of these other breadcrumbs to prove their right to access. Or they’re going to be left without that legal authority and they're not going to be able to access those accounts at all.

Our Willful clause is quite general. It just says, “Hi, my executor has the authority to wrap up any digital accounts or to do what they need to do with them.” But you can get much more specific if you work with a professional. 

"Appoint legacy contacts on each of your digital accounts."

The next best practice is to appoint legacy contacts on each of your digital accounts. So, for example, Facebook has a memorial contact. Let's say I’ve chosen my sister for that role. When I pass away, she can then access that account without having to contact Facebook or use my password without authorization, since that's really against the terms of service for most of these providers. You can't pretend to be someone else. 

The third best practice is obviously to use a password manager. I use one at home and at work. This just makes it simpler for your executor and family members to access all of your accounts because if they don't have those access details, they’ll need to go company by company and navigate the bureaucracy of a million help desks.

MF: What actually counts as a digital asset? Does a traditional bank account fall into that category?

EB: Any holdings you have with a traditional financial institution would fall under your regular assets. You might have an online account for your bank, but it would still be treated as a regular asset. 

I would define a digital asset as something that does not belong to a traditional financial institution. Something that no one would know about unless you listed it out as a digital asset somewhere.

Let's use the example of crypto. If I have a crypto wallet and I haven't told anybody about it, there's no helpline to call. Maybe there's a company like CoinSquare that I can contact. But not everybody uses those services and not everybody discloses that they have digital assets that aren't tied to a traditional financial institution. 

So if I'm planning how to pass on my assets, I would document the existence of digital assets that are not tied to a traditional financial institution. Because if my relatives don't know about them and don't have the key or details to access them, they might just be stuck in the digital ether for a long time.

MF: How should people start to think about their digital legacy? 

EB: When Dave and Sarah were on the podcast, they talked about how estate planning isn't just creating a will. 

My husband and I created our first will. After that, a loved one passed away. We owned property at the time. We've since updated it as we've had our two daughters. So, yes, the legal documents are the cornerstone of estate planning. But there are so many pieces of information that sit outside of that. 

It can be overwhelming, as I mentioned. The first step is to really think about the things that you want to pass on and how you can do that, either on paper or digitally. I've used Willful to create my asset and liability list and to create my legal documents. I've created my vaults in 1Password and I've shared some of them with my husband and with my executors so that they would have access. 

"Think about the things that you want to pass on and how you can do that, either on paper or digitally."

But I've also thought about the larger wishes that I have that wouldn't be contained in those places. I've written down in a cloud folder what kind of funeral I want to have and what I want it to feel like. Just for the record, I want an open bar, pizza, and a live band! I've written down the cable account details. I manage the finances in our house, so I’ve included everything my husband would need on day one if I passed away.

Digital legacy is also about how you live online after you pass away. I've written a final set of social media posts that I want my husband to post. Every year, on our daughters’ birthdays, I write a letter to them and they're all stored in this account. So either I'm still alive and I can just share the letters with them, and if I’m not they have this voice talking to them about life. 

Digital legacy isn’t just who gets my crypto and what I want done with my Facebook account. You might have a gravestone in a cemetery that your loved ones visit. What is that equivalent place online? What do I want my virtual presence to be like?

MF: That's really beautiful. What can everyone do right now to make their passing less impactful and carry on some meaning afterwards?

EB: A lot of what we're talking about is just related to life organization. For example, documenting the details of our cable provider, including the account number. It’s making sure that my loved ones know where I bank. This is just part of the “house organization guide”, right? 

I don't view a lot of this as estate planning. I use 1Password every single day for day-to-day life. There's an added benefit: if I were to pass away, I have a shared vault, and somebody is going to have those instructions. But there's a ton of value to me today. It’s the same with the letters I write to my kids. I was actually just with a friend this weekend who said she opened an email address for her son when he was born and she emails him random things all the time. When her son is older he can access the inbox and discover a virtual stream of memories. 

It doesn't take a lot of time, and it’s not about death; it's actually about life, legacy and preserving memories. It’s about being intentional about how you want to live, but also how you want to be remembered.

MF: How can people get started with estate planning?

EB: Step one is to create the legal documents as this will give your executor the authority to manage your digital legacy. You can use a tool like Willful, visit a professional, or – if it's legal in your country – write it on a piece of paper. 

But that's really the first step. Power of attorney documents are really important because they give someone the authority to act on your behalf if you're incapacitated due to illness or injury.

Step two is to document your assets and liabilities so that your executor knows where they are and how to track them all down. That can be as simple as writing everything down on a piece of paper. That acts as breadcrumbs for your executor when you pass away. 

Then there are the concrete digital steps that you can take. First, appoint a legacy contact on any of your online accounts that offer it, including Apple, Google, and Facebook. Second is to use a password manager for security but also because it’s such an easy way to share access with loved ones, spouses, and executors in case something happens.

Additional resources

• Discuss this episode in our forums
• Listen to 1Password founders Dave and Sara Teare share their tips on digital estate planning