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My mom, who passed away a few years ago, was a very careful and meticulous person who kept a notebook with all of her online account passwords. Mom was also a Morse code operator in the Royal Air Force during WWII, so all of her passwords were in code.

I was lucky: She told me about the book and her codes. If she hadn’t, finding and deciphering her notes would have taken a very long time, and could have held up important estate and financial planning tasks.

Like my mom, most of us live part of our lives online today. We have email and social media accounts. We purchase digital books and music. We pay our bills and do our banking online.

Many virtual items cannot be left to heirs through our wills because we don’t actually own them; we just have licenses to view/read/listen to them.

Would you prefer your social media accounts be deleted or turned into “memorial” accounts when possible? Would you like someone to post a final status update after your death?

#3. Choose a “digital executor.”

Let that person know where you keep your passwords (and if they need to be decoded). Talk to your executor, but also leave detailed instructions on where and how to find passwords, user names, etc.

You may be able to leave virtual items you actually own (e.g., photos you took, music you bought) to people in your will, so make sure your executor has all the information needed to access and download them.

You may also want to consider “vaulting” your digital goods with a company that puts all of your digital information (including passwords) onto one online platform. A few of the companies that PC Magazine recommends are iDrive (www.idrive.com), SOS Online Backup (www.sosonlinebackup.com), and Carbonite (www.carbonite.com).

Whatever you decide, do make a decision. Your digital legacy is important. Make sure your heirs can “crack the codes” to access it.

All contents © 2017 The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.