Your Instagram account has 12,000 followers. Your Shopify store generates revenue every month. Your podcast has three years of episodes.

None of that has a built-in plan for what happens when you die or are in the hospital and can’t work.

When a creator or business owner dies or is incapacitated, their digital accounts don’t automatically transfer to anyone. Platforms freeze. Revenue stops. Passwords go with them. And unless someone knows exactly where to look and what to do, months of legal process stand between your successor and everything you built online.

This is not a theoretical problem. Patreon has no ownership transfer mechanism. YouTube channels sit abandoned for years while AdSense balances go uncollected. Domain names expire and get bought by strangers. Email lists—sometimes worth more than any physical asset—vanish because nobody has the login.

The Digital Graveyard Prevention Kit is a two-part planning resource that helps you document what you have and make a plan before it becomes someone else’s hot mess emergency.

What’s in the kit

Part 1: The 3-Page Action Guide (PDF)

• Page 1: What this kit is and the three things it covers
• Page 2: Why your digital accounts need a succession plan and what actually happens when they don’t have one
• Page 3: How to use the spreadsheet, where to store it, and how to keep it current

Part 2: The Account Inventory Spreadsheet (Excel / Google Sheets)

A fillable inventory with 12 tabs:

• Instructions — how to use the spreadsheet and what not to put in it
• Proactive Checklist — 11 actions you can take right now, before anything happens, with a done/in-progress tracker
• 10 inventory tabs covering 40+ platforms across these categories:
  • Foundation (phone carrier, device, Apple ID, Google Account, Microsoft Account)
  • Social media (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram + Threads, TikTok, X/Twitter, BlueSky, Mastodon)
  • Creator monetization (Patreon, Substack, Buy Me a Coffee, Ko-Fi, OnlyFans, Medium)
  • Streaming and community (Twitch, Discord)
  • Messaging and other (WhatsApp, Telegram, Reddit, Snapchat, Pinterest)
  • Domain and websites (registrar, hosting, CMS)
  • Email lists and newsletters (Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Klaviyo, Flodesk, Substack)
  • Online stores (Shopify, Amazon, Etsy, Gumroad, Teachable, Podia, Thinkific, Kajabi)
  • Podcast and audio (hosting platform, directories, Descript, Riverside)
  • Crowdfunding (Kickstarter, Indiegogo)

Each tab has built-in dropdown menus for 2FA method and account preferences. The spreadsheet is designed to be completed with your password manager entry names—not your actual passwords—so it is safe to store with your estate documents or share with your attorney.

A note on what this is (and isn’t)

This kit is a planning resource, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It gives you the framework to document what you have and make decisions about what you want. If you have questions about how digital assets fit into your estate plan, work with an estate planning attorney, ideally one who understands that much of your business lives online.

Who this is for

This kit is for you if you are a creator, founder, freelancer, or small business owner who:

• Has accounts that generate revenue: subscriptions, courses, affiliate income, ad revenue, store sales
• Has built an audience or community that has real value
• Has ever thought “I should figure out what happens to all this” and then moved on to something more urgent
• Does not want to leave this as someone else’s problem.

I’m Julie King, an patent, other IP, and business attorney with over 25 years of experience helping creators and small business owners understand and protect what they’ve built. I made this kit because I kept seeing the same gap: people with real, valuable digital businesses who had estate plans for their physical assets and nothing for the accounts that actually generated their income. This is the resource I wish existed sooner.

Have questions about your IP strategy or other business legal issues? I help clients with business legal matters in Illinois, and I help clients with IP matters nationwide. Book a consultation at kingpatentlaw.com.

This checklist is for general educational purposes only, is not legal advice, and does not form an attorney-client relationship. Laws vary by state and contract terms vary widely. For advice specific to your situation, consult a licensed attorney. Julie King | King Patent Law, PLLC | 301 N Neil St Ste 400, Champaign IL 61820. Contains attorney advertising material.