Vault guide

Build your vault for the person who will receive it

Your vault is most useful when another person can understand it without guessing. Add the information, contacts, documents, and next steps your recipient would need if you were unavailable.

What makes a vault genuinely useful

Tell your recipient who to contact

A name and a phone number for your attorney, accountant, insurance agent, or executor saves more time than any document does.

Explain what each document is for

"Will — signed 2024, original held by Ramirez & Co." tells someone what to do. A file called "will.pdf" does not.

Say whether an account should be closed, transferred, or kept

This is the question your recipient cannot answer on their own, and the one most likely to be got wrong.

Include where physical documents and keys actually are

Deeds, titles, safe keys, and safe-deposit boxes are useless if nobody can find them.

Record final wishes clearly

Being specific is a kindness. It removes a decision from people who are already carrying a lot.

Do not assume shared knowledge

Write for someone who has never seen your filing system, your accounts, or your handwriting.

Keep it current

Revisit it when you move, change banks, change jobs, or change your mind. Out-of-date instructions can be worse than none.

Only add what you have the right to share

Do not upload information belonging to an employer or another person without the right to pass it on.

A short checklist

Where your vault is organised

Everything lives under four categories. If you are unsure where something belongs, pick the closest one — you can move it later, and a note in the wrong place is far better than a note you never wrote.

What EternaKeys is and is not

EternaKeys is a secure information and handoff platform. It is not a law firm, a financial adviser, an executor, or a substitute for professional advice. Talk to a qualified professional about the legal and financial decisions themselves — use EternaKeys to make sure the right person can find and understand the results.

How to build your vault | EternaKeys