Preparing Together: Accounts and Expenses Spouses Should Discuss

Probably the last discussion you want to have with your spouse is about your death. However, preparing yourself and your spouse for essential logistical elements for the surviving spouse is a demonstration of love and care that is critical to ensuring better outcomes for the surviving spouse. Addressing these logistical items now, and together, can significantly alleviate the future burden.

Organize Account Logins

Start by creating a comprehensive list of all your online account logins, including:

• Bank and credit card accounts
• Investment accounts
• Social media accounts
• Subscription accounts
• Service accounts
• Utility accounts
• Internet and phone accounts
• Shopping accounts
• Digital/cloud storage accounts

Remember that you will need usernames, PINs, passwords, challenge questions and answers, etc.  And consider what you would do if you have two-factor authentication linked to logins that requires access to a phone or apps protected by face ID or passcode. You can write all of this down, or you can use a password manager to securely share this information with your spouse.

Review Account Holders 

Are some of your accounts in one spouse’s name and others in both of your names?  There may be good reasons for this.  For example, you may each have a credit card in your own name to build or maintain your credit score.  But it is worth taking an inventory of your accounts and whether you need to have just one, or both spouses on accounts.  By doing a reasoned update to accounts, you can ensure the surviving spouse has easy access to accounts needed, especially immediately after the death of one spouse. 

Create a Plan for Social Media

Surviving spouses can be overwhelmed about what to do with social media accounts, so it is a good idea to discuss how you want to handle these.  Think about things like immediately deleting the account or keeping it, and if you have a shared account, how you might want to change the account or account name.  

Understand Your Household Expenses and Finances

It is not uncommon for one spouse to handle utility bills and the other to handle car and health insurance, for one spouse to handle monthly bills and the other to handle taxes.  Make sure you are both equipped to handle all aspects of household expenses and finances.  Here are some items to help get you thinking about what you need to know:

• Regularly recurring monthly bills
• Once-a-year bills/payments
• Vehicles and vehicle-related expenses
• Mortgage or rent, property taxes, etc.
• Home expenses
• Health expenses
• Insurance
• Household budgeting

Conclusion

By talking through these logistical items, you can better prepare your surviving spouse for an incredibly difficult time. While planning for the future may not be easy, taking these proactive steps can provide peace of mind and ensure your loved one feels supported when they need it the most.

Often, your surviving spouse or one of your children will serve as your executor.  Consider using this time to help your executor with the executor duties, too.  This discussion of the 15 primary duties of an executor is a great place to start.