No one likes to think about it, but death is inevitable. After it happens, you won't have to care about paying the electricity bill anymore, but what'll happen to your blog, e-mail, online profiles? The fact that you're, well, dead, is no excuse for slouching online; therefore we bring you over 20 tools that will take care of your online stuff after you're gone.
Data & Blog Maintenance After Death
With everyone having so many accounts and data out on the web now, you have to consider what will happen with it when you are no longer amongst the living. These are some checklists and ideas of how to keep things going, or giving a trusted individual access so they can take care of things for you after you've gone.
DirectHosting.info - An article about questions you should as yourself before you choose a "lifetime hosting" solution. In theory, this would be a a hosting account that would keep your online presence going indefinitely.
PCPro.co.uk - A very detailed and lengthy article about how to prepare your online email accounts for the inevitable.
ProBlogger.com - A checklist from ProBlogger about how to prepare your spouse or loved ones to deal with your online endeavors after you've passed away.
E-Mails To Be Delivered After Your Death
While it may feel a bit odd to write emails that people won't see until you pass on, it is a great way to say those things you never could while you were alive. (Hopefully they will all be friendly things)
ItsMyLife.com - Offers private letter delivery as well as extra documents such as funeral plans, wills, living wills and more.
LetterFromBeyond.com - Offers two level of memberships at £4.99 per year or £8.99 per year. Several letters per level plus pictures.
MyLastEmail.com - Offers online memorial and obituary services so your friends will be informed of your passing or you can leave messages for them.
PostExpression.com - Try the service for free, and then pay 19.00 € a year. Create multimedia-rich emails to be sent at any date in the future. If you pass on while a member, and scheduled emails to be sent years from now, they will still be sent.
TheLastEmail.com - The service offers four levels of service that range from free (you can send 1 email) to 18.99 € a year (unlimited emails). All emails can be edited and changed at any time.
YouDeparted.com - YoDeparted will not only store emails for you, but also instructions for your family, information on life insurance policies, how to access safety deposit boxes and more.
Obituaries & Memorials
The web has provided the opportunity to publicly comment on the loss of a loved one or a friend.
HumanArchives.org - Create a free page about yourself or a loved one to be memorialized. Include pictures and video so the person can be remembered.
Legacy.com - Monitors numerous newspapers for obituaries and offers you the service to set up guest books for people to leave their thoughts and memories.
LivingTributes.com - Offers various pricing packages from simple photo hosting up to a lifetime memorial.
MyDeathSpace.com - Keeps track of MySpace members that have passed away. Offers forum for discussion, and links to the deceased users profiles so you can leave comments of memory.
Wills
If you are of legal adult age, it is never too early to draft a will. (I've had a will since about a month after I turned 18) All of these sites will help you get started and draft simple wills, but always remember for anything complex that you should consult a lawyer.
BuildAWill.com - Gives you a basic will that you can print off for $19.95. If you want unlimited changes, you can upgrade to the "Will Vault" for an additional $9.95.
DoYourOwnWill.com - Just as the name implies, this site will walk you through creating your will for any number of different scenarios (children are minors, children aren't minors, single, and so on). Can also do Living Wills.
Global-Wills.com - Unlike most sites that focus just on the United States, Global-Wills handles wills for residents of several different countries. Most countries pay the equivalent of $47.95 USD.
LegacyWriter.com - Can hanle wills, living wills, power of attorney, all priced around $14.95 to $19.95, or $34.95 for a "complete package".
LegalDocs.com - Has a wide range of legal documents for numerous occasions. Documents cot from $0.00 to $89.75, with wills looking to be mostly under $20.00.
LegalZoom.com - Answer the online questions and your documents will be prepared and delivered to you online within 48 hours. Prices range from $69.00 to $119.00.
Nolo.com - As well as offering will templates you can purchase, they also offer free FAQs and step-by-step guides to what you need to do to make sure your affairs are in order.
Wills.com - Will let you download a simple will template for $23.95 and set up at least a 4-page will with unlimited distribution of assets and more.
Wills-Online.com - This site offers you the option to do the will yourself, or to have a paralegal draw up the forms for you for an extra fee.