Avoiding troubles of bereaved families by organizing digital relics What should I do at least?

There are an increasing number of cases where the deceased's smartphone cannot be unlocked while it is locked and various digital relics cannot be taken over.

The "Nikkei Trendy March 2022 Issue" released on February 4, 2022 features "Inheritance to Gain". I don't know the password of the smartphone left by the deceased, and the bereaved family cannot unlock it and cannot access the smartphone. Trouble with such digital relics has increased rapidly in recent years. What should I do at least for my family? Along with the troubles that bereaved families often fall into, we will introduce the trendy way of "organizing digital relics". [Related image] Checklist of "7 major digital relics" that you want to write down * Part of the article in the March 2022 issue of Nikkei Trendy is posted. For details, refer to this magazine. A huge amount of data is left in the smartphones and personal computers left by the deceased. These digital devices will be treated as a common property of legal heirs before the heritage division talks are completed. For this reason, even when checking the data stored internally in an offline form for the purpose of preservation, we would like to make sure that all other legal heirs agree before implementing it. "However, in recent years, there has been a rapid increase in troubles in which family members do not know the password of their smartphone and cannot access it because they cannot unlock it." Atsushi Iseta, a lawyer and representative of the Japan Digital Lifestyle Association, said: In fact, there are many scenes where a family wants to retrieve specific data of digital relics immediately after their death. Typical examples are "I want to find a photo to use for the deceased", "I want to know the contact information of a friend who should be called to the funeral", and "I want to find a clue to the property left behind". ● Trouble that bereaved families often fall into However, unlocking a smartphone is not straightforward. In the case of iPhone, depending on the settings, if you fail to enter the password 10 times, all the data will be automatically erased, so there is a risk that your digital relics will be lost forever. Although there are companies that undertake unlocking, "Most of them are success fees and the average fee is 300,000 yen. It may not be possible to unlock after a long period of time," said Yusuke Furuta, a journalist who is familiar with digital relics. For this reason, it is important to take measures before life to ensure that the family can receive the digital relics that should be left after their death. Given the potential for sudden death and dementia, which you do not know when to visit, you should start now. Nikkei Trendy recommends two main patterns for organizing digital relics. Pattern 1 is to create a simplified ending note that describes financial services that need to be investigated in connection with property division talks and internet services that you want to cancel so that you do not incur charges. The easy way is to make it in Excel and print it, or use copy paper to handwrite the list and hide it somewhere in your house. If you keep it on your computer or in the cloud, you can't open it without a password, so it's quick to rely on analog. If you keep it in your passbook, wallet, or life insurance policy that your family always looks for for inheritance, it will be easier for you to see it after you die. However, considering the time and effort to update when the content changes, it is smarter to pass the data as it is to the family. For example, if you use the digital end-of-life service "See You All" that can send a message in the form of a file, you can send it to a specified person at a specific timing. The "7 major digital relics checklist" of related images shows the criteria for how much to write on the list. Basically, if you write down these, you can reduce the number of situations where your family has trouble in proceeding with various procedures. Regarding the balance of cashless payments and corporate points, miles and Suica will be inherited, so I would like to write them down.