Estate Planning Checklist: Property and Digital Assets
TimeWill · Updated 2026-06-24
A complete estate planning checklist has three sections: physical property such as real estate, savings, vehicles, and insurance, noting where each asset is and where the deeds are kept; digital assets such as WeChat and Alipay balances, cryptocurrency, social accounts, and cloud storage, noting account clues and what you want done with them, with sensitive credentials stored separately in an encrypted vault; and final wishes such as messages to family, memorial preferences, and charitable intent, kept as letters or voice recordings. Update it once a year and name a trusted contact. A single page is enough; the value is in writing it down.
The hardest part of estate planning is getting started — most people don't know where to begin. This checklist breaks it into three sections you can just fill in. Once it's done: keep the paper part somewhere your family knows about, and store the digital part encrypted in TimeWill. For more, see Digital Will and How to Write a Will and End-of-Life Planning.
Section 1: Physical Property Checklist
- Real estate — Address + property deed number + where the deed is kept. If there's a mortgage, note the monthly payment and the lender.
- Bank deposits — Bank name + last four digits of the account number + whether it's wealth management, a term deposit, or current. Don't write the balance — it changes constantly.
- Insurance — Insurance company + policy number + customer service hotline. Your family needs the policy number when they file a claim.
- Vehicles — License plate number + where the registration certificate is + insurance expiry date.
- Other — Company equity, collectibles, copyrights, patents — anything with a registered certificate.
Section 2: Digital Assets Checklist
- Payments — WeChat Pay, Alipay, Apple Pay — account + password hint. Don't write the password in plaintext.
- Crypto assets — Exchanges, wallets — account name / wallet address + where the private key or seed phrase is stored. Don't write the private key itself (store it encrypted in the password vault).
- Social — WeChat, QQ, Weibo — account + password hint + linked phone number. Note how you want each one handled (keep / delete / memorialize).
- Storage — iCloud, Baidu Netdisk, Google Drive — account + password hint. Flag which service holds your photos and files.
- Subscriptions — Video memberships, music, cloud storage — list expiry dates and renewal method. At least let your family cancel them.
Section 3: Final Wishes
- Funeral preferences — How you want your body handled (cremation / burial / donation), memorial style, music choices.
- Organ donation — Whether you're willing to donate, registered with the China Organ Donation Administrative Center.
- A letter for each person — Write a few short letters. Don't worry about the prose — sincerity matters more than elegance.
Once the three sections are filled in, lock the paper copy in a drawer and store the digital copy encrypted in TimeWill. Then forget about it and get on with living.
FAQ
Q: Should I write exact amounts in the estate checklist?
No need to write exact amounts — they go out of date. Just record where each asset is: which bank, which brokerage, which policies, which platforms. Your family looks up the current balance when the time comes.
Q: What's the difference between a checklist and a will?
A will is a legal document that decides who owns what; a checklist is a supporting document that tells your family what you have, where it is, and how to find it. They work together: the checklist helps your family locate the assets, the will decides how they're distributed.
Q: Where should I keep the checklist once it's done?
Two copies: one on paper with a trusted family member or lawyer, one encrypted in a digital vault. Don't leave it alone in cloud storage (privacy risk), and don't hand the paper copy to everyone (easily lost or tampered with).