Do You Have an iPhone? If So, Do This Now

In today's world, when many of our most cherished memories and our most important financial and legal documents are stored on our phones, taking a moment to protect access to that information is more important than ever. If you use an iPhone, setting up a “Legacy Contact” is a prudent first step to take. A Legacy Contact allows you to nominate someone to access your phone and its contents in the event of your death. As data storage becomes increasingly digital, managing access to the materials on your phone will ensure that they are available after your death to those who need and value that information. The process is simple, but there are some details to think through.

Who to Choose for Your Legacy Contact

Apple allows you to select anyone as a Legacy Contact. The obvious candidate may be the person who is the executor of your estate because they will already be charged with handling your administrative details. Once you have a Legacy Contact established, Apple allows you to add additional Legacy Contacts, and it might be appropriate to add a spouse or adult children. Keep in mind, however, that you do not want family members fighting over access to the materials on your phone, and you want to make sure that the Legacy Contact will not delete materials that other family members might wish to have (such as photos, voice messages, or texts between family members). Conversely, in certain situations, you might want to have your Legacy Contact delete sensitive information that you do not wish for family members to see ever, and this may be more easily handled by your executor than by any other parties. For these reasons, your executor can often serve as a more neutral choice. However, you may wish to have a secondary Legacy Contact in the event your executor predeceases you or becomes incapacitated for any reason. One possible choice for a secondary contact may be your estate planning attorney, if they are willing to take on that role. 

Establishing Your Legacy Contact

Go to “Settings” on your iPhone and click on the button at the top with your name. Then click on “Sign-in & Security.” Toward the bottom, you will see a button for “Legacy Contact.” If you click on this button, you are asked to select one of your Contacts to make them your Legacy Contact. When you do so, your phone will generate an “Access Key” and ask you to print it and store it in a safe place. In the event of your death, your Legacy Contact (and only this person) can take the Access Key and a copy of your death certificate to Apple, and they will be given access to your phone.

How to Protect Your Access Key

In addition to providing a copy of the Access Key to your primary Legacy Contact, you should also provide a copy to your estate planning attorney to be kept with your original estate planning documents. In addition, your attorney should know who your Legacy Contact(s) are and who has a copy of the Access Key. In the event that your Legacy Contact(s) somehow manage to lose the Access Key, you may also wish to keep a copy of any Access Key with your own personal papers and estate planning instructions. And you may wish to send a letter of instruction to your attorney to pass along to your Legacy Contact(s) letting them know your wishes for the handling of any sensitive materials on your phone. A copy of this letter can also be stored with your personal papers.