Keyholders®

A "Keyholder®" is a person who has been identified by one of our members here at LegalWills.ca to be given the trust and power to unlock their wishes when the time is right (i.e. when the member has passed away or has become mentally incapacitated).  In most cases, Keyholders® are members of the family or close friends who can be trusted to protect the member's privacy.  Each Keyholder® is given a unique, secure " Keyholder® ID" by the member, which allows them to login to access the member's wishes when the time is right.

Each member can designate several Keyholders® and can even specify, for each Keyholder® , which specific services they can unlock.

Each member here at LegalWills.ca has the option of documenting one or more of the following items:

• MyFuneral™ - The member's personal wishes regarding their funeral arrangements
• MyMessages™ - Unsent messages the member has prewritten to their family/friends
• MyWill™ - The member's Last Will and Testament
• MyExpatWill™ - The member's Expatriate Will for assets held in a foreign country
• MyLivingWill™ - Directions regarding the member's medical care if they are unable to communicate this themselves
• MyPowerOfAttorney™ - Directions regarding the handling of the member's finances if they are incapacitated
• MyLifeLocker™ - Personal information critical to be passed on to the member's family and executor
• MyVault™ - Important files and documents to be passed on to the member's family and executor

As a Keyholder®, you may not be able to unlock and view all of the above items.  This is because the member has specified in advance which particular items can be accessed by each of their Keyholders®.  As a result, each Keyholder® may in fact be given different powers.  Once you have logged in as a Keyholder®, you will be able to see which of the above items you have been given the power to unlock.

If you are a Keyholder® you may have received an email or a letter identifying you as a Keyholder® of a named LegalWills.ca member.  This email or letter would have described your responsibilities and also assigned you a unique, secure, "Keyholder® ID".  Alternatively, the member may have asked you to be their Keyholder® more directly and provided you with a Keyholder® ID themselves.  If you have never been informed of your Keyholder® responsibilities and have never received a Keyholder® ID then you are not a Keyholder® .

Yes.  It is possible for a member to designate more than one Keyholder® for their wishes.  If they wish, they can even communicate that the same Keyholder® ID be used by more than one person, although this is discouraged.

Yes.  There is no limit to the number of members that may have asked you to be a Keyholder® for their wishes.  In this case, you will be assigned a different Keyholder® ID for each member.

Only the member knows for sure if they have designated more than one Keyholder® for their wishes.

It is possible for a single member to designate a number of Keyholders® , each with the power to unlock their wishes.  Furthermore, each Keyholder® may have been given the power to unlock the same wishes, or the member may have distributed responsibilities for different wishes across different people.

In any event, the process is the same.  As a Keyholder®  when the member has become either mentally incapacitated or has passed away, then you should login with your Keyholder® ID and request to unlock those wishes for which you have been granted access rights.  It is possible that one or more of the member's wishes have already been unlocked by another Keyholder® , in which case they may already be visible to you, or you may need to wait (along with the other Keyholders® for that member) until they can be accessed.

If you have been designated to be a Keyholder® for more than one member, then you will have been given a unique secure Keyholder® ID for each member.  When the time comes that you need to login to access a member's wishes, be sure to use the Keyholder® ID associated with the member that you are accessing.  After entering your Keyholder® ID, you will be asked to confirm the name of the member in question, and this will reaffirm that you are using the correct Keyholder® ID.

If you have misplaced your Keyholder® ID for a member who is still alive and competent, then you should ask that member to generate a new Keyholder® ID for you, and to disable the previous Keyholder® ID.  If the member has passed away or has become mentally incapacitated, and you know that you were once assigned a Keyholder® ID for this person, but have since misplaced it, then you should contact us.

As a Keyholder® you have been given the responsibility to unlock one or more items which have been created by a LegalWills.ca member.  This member has put their trust in you to unlock these items only when they have become mentally incapacitated or have passed away.  These items could include their funeral wishes, their Will, Living Will, Power of Attorney, uploaded files and documents, or messages to friends or loved ones.

In addition, it is possible that you have been designated by the member to carry out some instructions in these items, but this will be made clear in their wishes.