Do you have a 'death box'?

Will your executors know where all your bank accounts, pensions, credit cards, insurance policies and investments are held? Will your family know who to let know you have died, where all your personal possessions are kept, your utility and key providers or even how to cancel the milkman?

Keeping a list of this information with a note of the relevant institutions, contacts and providers is crucial. Age UK produces a free and comprehensive LifeBook that can be used and serves as a useful template. Give a copy to your family or let them know where to find it.

Less than half of UK adults have a Will in place but unless you have no assets and no dependants, everyone should have a Will. Also plan and agree in advance who will look after any dependants and pets. Tell your family where your Will is kept or store it with your solicitor. The Probate Service can also keep it for you for a small fee. See how to store your Will.

Make sure your partner and older children understand your family finances and know what to do if something happens. These conversations can be difficult but better to have them than for them to lose valuable assets.

If your bank and building society accounts will pass to your spouse or partner on death, consider holding them in joint names. When you die, the money will automatically go to the surviving joint holder without the need for probate first.

Making sure you are adequately insured and your family know how to access this in the event of your death is important. It can ease cashflow at a time when liquidity may be difficult and ensure that any mortgages are covered. The earlier you look at this the cheaper it is likely to be so don’t hesitate.

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that enables you to nominate who should look after your affairs if you were to lose capacity to make decisions. Without an LPA your loved ones will need to apply through court which can be a long and expensive process. It must be made when you have capacity but can be set up at any time so there is no need to wait until you are older. It can be used as soon as it is registered or can be restricted to making decisions only after you have lost capacity.

There are two types: a Health & Welfare LPA and a Property & Finance LPA. You can set one up yourself (online or by downloading a form) or you can use a solicitor. There is a compulsory fee to register an LPA and this is currently £82 in England & Wales.

When made correctly, an advance decision (often known as a living Will) on future medical treatment is a legally binding (in England & Wales) statement made under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It enables you to record your wishes for future interventions (or non-treatment) if you were to become seriously ill and lose the ability to make decisions in the future. You do not need a solicitor to prepare it and it can be cancelled or amended at any time verbally or in writing. More information can be found on the Age UK website.

Age UK’s LifeBook includes a section where you can note your wishes and preferences around burial or cremation, your ashes, what kind of service you would like and so on. Making these decisions in advance will make planning your funeral much easier at a difficult time. A prepaid funeral plan is also an option if you want to make sure it has been paid for in advance.

In the next 50 years, it’s predicted that the number of Facebook accounts belonging to the deceased will outnumber the living. With so much of our lives spent online on social media, email and messaging apps and photos stored in phones, computers and the cloud, it’s important to think about our digital legacy after we are gone so all those precious memories don’t just disappear. Being able to access online accounts is also increasingly important in managing a loved one’s affairs.

• Appoint a digital executor: Consider appointing one trusted person as your digital executor. Remember that even if your digital executor has a secure list of your online login details, they are likely to be in breach of the website’s terms if they use them, so will still need to notify the websites and obtain permission to gain access. If nothing else, a list of the various sites you are a member of will be a useful starting point.
• Photos: Backup your photos to an external hard drive or your computer as well as to the Cloud and provide your digital executor with the password.
• Social media accounts: If you have a Facebook account you can specify in your profile settings if your profile should be memorialised (you can also name a legacy contact to manage it) or deleted. Instagram accounts can also be memorialised on request. X (formerly Twitter) accounts can be deactivated on request.
• Email accounts: Most email providers will delete accounts after a long period of inactivity. Google allows users to set up a plan for their digital legacy (in Data & Privacy in account settings). You can also specify up to 10 chosen contacts to be alerted after a specified period of inactivity.

If you don’t have anyone able to take on your pets when you die the RSPCA offers a free Home for Life service. You will need to submit an application form and acknowledge the RSPCA in your Will but there is no obligation to make a donation.

Ensure you have nominated your beneficiaries for any pension pots or insurance policies. With most pension pots now passing free of Inheritance Tax to your nominated beneficiary, consider who this should be and avoid ‘wasting’ the spousal exemption if your spouse does not need the money.