# DIGITAL LEGACY LETTER
## Status and important distinction
This is a fictional worked letter made in Leeds, England, on 14 March 2027. It is an instruction and information record for the people who may need to administer my digital affairs if I die or lose capacity. It is not a will, codicil, lasting power of attorney, trust, gift, assignment, nomination, authority to access another person's account, or instruction that overrides a provider's contract. It does not dispose of property or create a beneficial entitlement. Any valid will or codicil governing my estate controls regardless of its date in relation to this letter. This letter can never amend, revoke or supplement a will or codicil. A person using this example must obtain advice about their own will, inheritance tax, probate, capacity and digital property.
I deliberately do not write any password, passcode, recovery phrase, private key, security answer, one-time code, biometric information or encryption key in this letter. No password is hidden in an address, date, reference number or acrostic. My chosen attorney or personal representative must use a separate securely managed record and the provider's lawful recovery process. This letter must not be treated as permission to bypass multi-factor authentication, defeat encryption, impersonate me or access communications unlawfully.
## Author and document control
I, Harriet Louise Fenwick, of 22 Moorland View, Headingley, Leeds LS6 3QA, email harriet.fenwick@example.test, born 9 November 1981, write this letter for my family and for the executor of my estate. My National Insurance number, full bank details and account credentials are not included. My document reference is HLF-DL-014-2027. The version date is 14 March 2027, and I reviewed the contents on that date. A signed paper original is kept in the blue fire-resistant document box at my home. My brother Daniel Robert Fenwick of 8 Oakwell Avenue, Horsforth, Leeds LS18 4LA, email daniel.fenwick@example.test, knows where that box is. He is my preferred information contact, not automatically my executor or attorney.
If I am alive but unable to manage an account, the person acting must first check whether a valid lasting power of attorney or deputyship order gives them authority. If I have died, the executor or administrator must first obtain the grant of probate, letters of administration, or other authority required for the estate and for each account. A person should not assume that being my relative, knowing my device PIN or finding this letter gives authority. Providers may require a death certificate, grant of probate, letters of administration, proof of identity, a court order or their own form.
## Immediate practical sequence
If I die, Daniel should tell the executor where this letter and the separate credential inventory are stored and should not open, delete or forward my private messages merely out of curiosity. The executor should secure my laptop, phone, tablet, external drives and paper records without changing data, photograph the condition of devices, note the date and obtain specialist advice if a device is encrypted. The executor should check the will and funeral instructions before distributing any item. A device may contain another person's confidential information, work material, legally privileged information or special-category personal data.
Within seven days of receiving lawful authority, the executor should make a dated inventory of each account, its provider, account-holder name, type of data, likely value, preservation need and proposed action. The executor should then contact the provider using its published bereavement or legal-representative route, retain copies of requests and record whether the provider supplied, memorialised, suspended, exported or deleted anything. No instruction in this letter requires a provider to disclose content contrary to its terms, a court order, data-protection law or the rights of another person.
## Account and asset schedule
The following schedule identifies categories and lawful objectives without giving credentials.
1. Fenwick & Co. bookkeeping cloud, customer reference FC-88214: this is my sole-trader archive for invoices and tax records. Preserve records for the period required by HMRC and any contract, download an ordinary readable copy if the provider permits, and give relevant records to my accountant, Maya Singh of Calder Ledger Services, 41 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5AB, email maya.singh@example.test. Do not continue trading in my name without authority.
2. North Pennine Bank current account ending 1937 and savings account ending 4420: these are financial accounts, not digital gifts. Notify the bank through its bereavement team, freeze or operate them only as the law and probate process permits, and include balances and digital statements in the estate accounts. The final four digits are identification only and are not payment instructions.
3. Leeds Film Archive membership LF-29018 and personal cloud photographs: preserve family photographs and home videos. Daniel may receive a copy of personal photographs after the executor has checked that the collection does not contain third-party confidential material. The executor may ask the provider for an export, but must not assume that an export transfers copyright or ownership of a photograph taken by somebody else.
4. Harbourlight Games account HL-77104 and digital music subscriptions: these are licences or contractual access unless a provider says otherwise. Do not describe them as inheritable property. Cancel recurring subscriptions after checking for refunds, saved payment methods and records needed for tax or disputes. Do not sell or transfer an account in breach of the provider's terms.
5. Professional and social profiles: my LinkedIn profile and the public account using the name Harriet Fenwick may be closed or memorialised in accordance with each provider's process. The executor should not publish a death announcement until Daniel and my partner Oliver James Reed, 5 Stannary Close, Leeds LS12 2DL, email oliver.reed@example.test, have been consulted and the family has agreed a factual wording.
6. Domain name fenwick-studio.example.test and website files: preserve the site and renewal invoices for six months after the grant, then decide whether renewal is proportionate. The domain is not being transferred by this letter. Any transfer, sale or gift must be made by the executor under the will or other lawful instrument.
## Wishes about content and devices
I wish personal photographs, letters and voice recordings with clear family value to be offered first to Oliver, then Daniel, before any deletion. This is a preference only. It must not be read as a gift or as an amendment to my will. I wish private conversations, draft journals and medical correspondence to be reviewed cautiously and deleted only after the executor has checked retention duties, litigation holds, tax requirements, safeguarding concerns and the wishes of people who communicated with me.
Please do not publish my private messages, contact list, location history or cloud notes. Preserve evidence if a fraud, identity-theft, employment, family or criminal matter is suspected and ask a solicitor or the relevant authority what may lawfully be accessed. If I own cryptocurrency or another asset requiring a private key, the executor should use the separate secure recovery process. The key is not in this letter and must not be guessed, reconstructed from this text or requested from an unverified caller.
My preferred approach to devices is to preserve the original state for fourteen days after lawful authority is available, unless a security risk requires earlier isolation. After the inventory, the executor may reset or recycle a device only after obtaining any permitted export, removing my personal data securely and checking whether it belongs to another person or my business. Recycle certificates, provider closure confirmations and an account ledger should be retained with the estate papers.
## Review, reliance and contacts
I ask Daniel to tell the executor if this letter is more than twelve months old and to give priority to a later signed letter clearly marked as replacing reference HLF-DL-014-2027. A later letter still cannot amend my will or codicil merely by saying so. Any valid will or codicil controls regardless of whether it is dated before or after this letter, and if this letter conflicts with such an instrument, a court order, a valid power of attorney or mandatory provider procedure, the legally controlling instrument or rule prevails.
Questions about the estate should go to Ruth Ellison, solicitor at Ellison Vale Legal, 17 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL, reference EVL-55309, email ruth.ellison@example.test. Questions about my records should not be sent to every contact in my address book. Use a verified address and keep a log of every disclosure. This letter is intended to reduce uncertainty, not to authorise access beyond the authority actually held.
Signed by me, Harriet Louise Fenwick, on 14 March 2027:
Signature: ______________________________
Witness signature: ______________________________
Witness name: Priya Nanduri
Witness address: 6 Rosebank Terrace, Chapel Allerton, Leeds LS7 3QW
Witness occupation: Librarian
The witness confirms that Harriet Louise Fenwick signed or acknowledged this information letter in the witness's presence. This witness block records authenticity of the letter only; it does not turn the letter into a will or codicil and does not make any preference above a testamentary disposition.