The Death-Proof Money Access Checklist

If you died tomorrow, would your spouse be able to pay the mortgage? Would your kids be able to cover your funeral? Or would they stand at a bank counter, grief-stricken, only to hear "I'm sorry, this account is frozen"? Most people think a will covers everything. It doesn't. Your will has zero power over beneficiary designations, joint accounts without survivorship rights, or retirement funds. Families lose access to six-figure accounts because a single form wasn't filed. Widows get locked out of joint checking accounts they used every day. Life insurance payouts go to an ex-spouse because no one updated a beneficiary card from fifteen years ago. This checklist walks you through every account type—checking, savings, brokerage, life insurance, retirement, real estate—and tells you exactly which free or low-cost form to file, what language to use, and what traps to avoid. Each item explains why it matters (the legal mechanics banks and courts actually follow) and how to execute it (step-by-step, no law degree required). You'll know which accounts need a POD or TOD, when a trust makes sense, and how to audit your beneficiary designations so your money goes where you intend—not where a decades-old form says it should. I'm Pamela Garrett, America's Money Lawyer. I've spent my career helping people build wealth and protect it, and I've seen too many families lose tens of thousands of dollars and months of their lives because simple paperwork was never completed. This checklist is the system I wish every client had before tragedy struck. It's the same framework I use to death-proof my own accounts, and now it's yours.