1Password Access after Death, Legacy Contacts

No worries! It can get confusing especially around recovery and adding a new method. Recovery is one thing we want to ensure everyone understands vs. being in a very bad situation.

The statement above would have been from the viewpoint of a user self-recovering their account with a recovery code. The recovery code would take the organizer out of the picture (using the code). They (the organizer) would never know a recovery took place. Again, with the code. To be clear with a recovery code you would not need to provide it to an organizer expect in legacy type situation. At least, that is the only time I can think of you'd provide it to them. Even then, the organizer may not be the heir/executor in charge of your estate. In such a situation, the organizer would likely not need to know the code. Only the executor or some other person you feel comfortable leaving the details to would need to access it.

In an estate-type situation, the executor would likely receive the code with the will and other essential papers. They would also need to know the password to the email account to complete the recovery process.

I would summarize it like this (My description as I might relay it to my children, who are my heirs.)

Recovery code - Self-recover or estate situation.
Recovery from a Family Organizer - assisted recovery or estate situation.

Both recovery options would require access to the email address/account.

1P_Tommy That's unfortunate, so even in the Family account context it doesn't eliminate the catch-22 of needing access to the family members email password that's in their vault which is inaccessible without the email password. :)

I was confused by the statement here: https://1password.community/discussion/145903/recovery-codes-for-families-beta#latest which said under the "Multiple Recovery Methods" section, "1. They won't need to wait on someone else to confirm their recovery" - I thought that could mean that as long as the family organizer doing the recovering verified the process, the family member being recovered wouldn't have to themselves verify. Thanks.

Yes, you need to know the email account password and or have access to it no matter the method used. The email is one of the key details for the account.

https://support.1password.com/recovery-codes

When you use a recovery code:

You’ll need access to the email address associated with your 1Password account to verify it’s you.
...

https://1password.community/discussion/comment/711218/#Comment_711218

Both require access to the users email.

1P_Tommy No I realize the individual user is creating a recovery code for themselves, but I guess what isn't clear is if the family organizer can use that code without access to that family members email. According to https://support.1password.com/recovery-codes a verification email is part of the recovery flow, so that won't work if the family member is unavailable/incapacitated/etc.

Are you saying the recovery code process for families doesn't require email verification? If so is that recovery flow documented anywhere? Thanks!

The recovery code would allow anyone to access the data in the users account. It is a way for you or anyone to recover the account. Typically the recovery code would be used by you.

Using a recovery code allows Family Organizers and Family Members to self-recover their accounts in case they forget their account password or lose their Secret Key/trusted devices.

Perhaps you're thinking the Organizer is creating a code for the family member? That is not the case, each member would need to to create their own from inside their account. When I create the code I am doing so for my account as the Family Organizer. You or the family member would need to print their own and keep it safe.

tl;dr Yes the Private/Personal vault woud be accessible using this method. The key is self-recover

1P_Tommy I'm talking about the new beta feature for 1P families that you posted about: https://1password.community/discussion/145903/recovery-codes-for-families-beta#latest

Nowhere on that page does it say if the family organizer would then have access to the other persons vault if the new recovery code method is used, that's what I'm trying to confirm.

The issue with the existing assisted recovery for Families is it requires the other persons involvement as you noted, which in an emergency situation (like death), may not be possible.

lopinc

A recovery code would/could be used by you or your heir in that situation. Assisted recovery from a Family organizer would not need the code and would be one in which you or your heir actively participate. Both require access to the users email. The following may help.

Generate and use recovery codes

1P_Tommy It's not clear if if a family organizer uses the recovery code of a family members account to recover that members account, does it give them access to the vault items? I mean the whole point of "legacy access" is if they are not available to access their vault themselves, so if the family organizer can't see the contents of the other family members recovered vault, it doesn't solve the issue. thanks.

MerryBit et al.

I wanted ensure you saw the recovery code announcement for families.

https://1password.community/discussion/145903/recovery-codes-for-families-beta#latest

Thank for sharing thedean.