Letter of Instruction

A letter of instruction is a non-binding document that accompanies a will, providing an executor or heir with practical details about where assets are held, how to access them, and what you want done with personal effects. It is not legally enforceable the way a will is, but it is often the difference between a quick, smooth estate settlement and months of confusion.

Why a formal will alone leaves your executor guessing

A will specifies who gets what and designates an executor—the person charged with dividing your estate. But a will is a legal instrument, typically brief, that addresses distribution of assets, not logistics. It answers “Who inherits my house?” but not “Where is the deed?” It names an executor but does not tell them the password to your brokerage account, the location of your safety deposit box, or your wish to be cremated. An executor faced with a blank slate often has to contact banks, investment firms, utility companies, and family members to piece together where everything is. This can take months and will certainly frustrate them.

A letter of instruction fills that gap. It is not a legal document and cannot override the terms of your will, but it provides the intelligence an executor needs to act on the will efficiently and honour your wishes in matters a will cannot address.

What should go in a letter of instruction

The core content is factual and practical:

• Bank accounts and investment accounts: Institution name, account number, type (savings, checking, brokerage), approximate balance (a snapshot, not a promise; balances change), and whether the account has a beneficiary designation.
• Digital assets: Email accounts, social media, cryptocurrency wallets, cloud storage. Include usernames and either passwords (in a sealed envelope) or instructions for how to reset access.
• Insurance policies: Life, health, property, auto. Policy number, insurer contact, beneficiary named, and whether the death benefit is payable to your estate or directly to a named beneficiary.
• Debt: Credit cards, mortgages, loans, home equity lines. Let your executor know what is owed and to whom; they will need to settle these from estate assets.
• Property: Real estate deeds, vehicle titles. Where you have stored them and whether they are held in your name alone or jointly.
• Business interests: If you own any equity in a business, specify where operating agreements, cap tables, or buy-sell agreements are stored.
• Professional advisors: Names, phone numbers, and email addresses of your accountant, attorney, financial advisor, and insurance agent. Your executor should contact them early.
• Healthcare wishes: Do not put advance directives or a living will in this letter (those have their own legal form), but you can clarify your thinking in plain language, which can guide family conversations.
• Funeral and burial preferences: Cremation or burial? Which funeral home do you prefer? Do you want a service, and if so, where and how large? Should you be buried in a family plot or scattered?
• Personal bequests: Jewellery, art, vehicles, or family heirlooms you want specific people to have. A will handles this formally only if the items are valuable; a letter can informally record your wishes for everyday keepsakes and avoid feuds.
• Sentimental instructions: Which photo albums to give to whom, where family letters are kept, or which friend should have your book collection.

How to write one

The tone is direct and conversational. You are not writing for a lawyer; you are writing for someone who needs to know what to do.

• Address your executor by name early: “Dear Sarah, here is what you need to know to settle my estate.”
• Organize by category (bank accounts, property, digital assets, etc.) rather than mixing everything together.
• Be explicit. “The deed to the house is in the safe deposit box at Second National Bank; the keys are with my attorney” is infinitely more useful than “You’ll find the deed around here somewhere.”
• For digital accounts, either write the password in a sealed envelope and store it with the letter, or give instructions on how your executor can request a password reset. Never leave passwords in plain text for long periods.
• Use tables or numbered lists to keep things clear.
• Update the letter every year or whenever you open a new account, buy property, or change your wishes. An outdated letter is nearly useless.

What it does not do

A letter of instruction cannot override your will or create new legal obligations. If you own the house jointly with your spouse, your spouse inherits it automatically by operation of law—a letter saying “give it to my son” will not change that. If you name a beneficiary on a life insurance policy, the policy pays that beneficiary, regardless of what your will or letter says. Conditional gifts—“my house to Alice if she graduates from university, otherwise to Bob”—require a will or trust, not a letter.

A letter is also not the place to express anger, exclude family members, or hand down ethical judgments. Executors and heirs will read it, and a letter full of recrimination can wound people at the moment they are grieving you. If you have a reason to exclude someone, your attorney can help you draft a will clause that does so; a letter is not the vehicle for that message.

Digital-asset instructions deserve special care

Modern estates are partly digital. You probably have email, cloud storage, social media, bank portals, and possibly cryptocurrency. Most of these accounts have terms of service that prohibit sharing passwords with other people. Your executor cannot legally log in to your Gmail account even if you leave the password.

Instead, write instructions: “My email address is [email]@gmail.com. Go to the Google Account Recovery page, click ‘Forgot your password?’, and follow the prompts. Google will let you reset the password if you have access to my phone number or recovery email.” For cryptocurrency, if it is held in a hardware wallet or cold storage, you can give the seed phrase in a sealed envelope and tell your executor where it is and what to do with it (sell it, transfer it to a beneficiary, etc.).

For social media and lesser accounts, you can specify whether you want the account memorialized (Facebook’s term for an inactive account preserved as a tribute), deleted, or downloaded for the family. Some platforms have a legacy contact feature; you can designate someone in advance to manage your account after death.

Updating and storing your letter

You should treat a letter of instruction like you treat your will: review it every one or two years and update it whenever your life materially changes (new account, new house, different executor, changed wishes). Tell your executor, spouse, or trusted family member where the letter is kept. Many people keep it in a fireproof safe at home, or with their attorney alongside the will, or in a safe deposit box. The worst place to keep it is somewhere no one knows to look.

Some people maintain a digital version and update it in a cloud document shared with their executor, but printed and signed copies tend to carry more weight. If you update it frequently, keep the most recent version and destroy the old ones to avoid confusion.

A letter of instruction is not a substitute for a will, a trust, or professional estate planning. But it is the difference between an executor who can act immediately and one who is paralysed by uncertainty. Taking a few hours to write one, honestly and completely, is one of the kindest things you can do for the people you leave behind.

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