How to Make Sure Your Family Can Access Your Safe and Valuables If Something Happens to You

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This article is general information, not legal advice. Estate, probate, and safe deposit box rules vary by state, and your bank’s rental agreement and each online service’s terms also apply. Talk to an estate planning attorney licensed in your state about your situation.

A good safe keeps people out, including your spouse, your adult children, and your executor. If you’re the only one who knows the combination, where the box key is, or how to get into your accounts, a sudden illness or death can lock your family out of what you meant to protect for them.

This guide covers the practical fixes: recording what you have, storing a combination so the right person can find it, writing a letter of instruction, understanding safe deposit box rules, and planning for digital accounts.

Step 1: Write down what you have and where it is

Nolo, the legal publisher, notes that family members may not know whether you have a will, what you own, or how to access it, and warns that disorganized assets can go unclaimed and end up with the state.

Nolo’s checklist asks whether you have a safe deposit box or other items in locked or hidden places. The New York State Comptroller’s guide suggests a file in a secure place at home listing your records, contacts, and the locations of accounts and safe deposit boxes.

For your safe and valuables, record:

• Every safe and hiding place, including diversion safes and anything in a car, office, or second home.
• The safe’s make, model, and serial number, plus the receipt and registration confirmation.
• What’s inside, at least by category.
• Any safe deposit box: bank, branch, box number, and where the key is.

Step 2: Store the combination where the right person can find it

A combination that’s easy for family to find is easier for a burglar to find too. Some ground rules:

• Never store it inside the safe. Nobody can reach it there if you can’t open the door.
• Don’t rely on a safe deposit box alone. An article published by the American Bar Association’s Senior Lawyers Division notes that it can be hard to get into a safe deposit box right after a death or during incapacity.

Options that work, alone or together:

1. A sealed envelope in a second secure location. The ABA article describes families using a sealed envelope with instructions in a home safe, plus a second sealed copy stored elsewhere. For a safe’s own combination, the “elsewhere” copy is the one that matters. A tamper-evident envelope, signed across the seal, shows whether anyone has opened it.
2. A password manager with an emergency access feature. The ABA article suggests a reputable password manager with an emergency-access workflow as one way to store recovery information. Our digital backups guide covers choosing and securing one.
3. Split knowledge. Give part of the instructions to one trusted person and the rest to another, so neither can open the safe alone. Write down who holds what, and make sure both people stay reachable, because one half is useless without the other.

Don’t assume your lawyer will hold the code. The ABA article advises lawyers not to keep clients’ passwords or recovery codes.

Make the backup route easy too. If the combination is lost, the manufacturer may be the only non-destructive option. Liberty Safe, for example, requires a notarized request, payment, and proof of purchase if your registration is under 90 days old. Without a receipt, it requires verification from law enforcement or a licensed, bonded locksmith. Keep the receipt and registration with your instructions. Our locked-out guide covers what to do if no one can open it.

What to look for: tamper-evident security envelopes.

See tamper-evident security envelopes (paid link)

Step 3: Write a letter of instruction

A letter of instruction is a plain-language guide for your executor and family. Ohio State University Extension’s fact sheet, co-written with an Ohio State Bar Association certified estate planning specialist, explains:

• It isn’t legally binding or required. It can be typed or handwritten, without an attorney, though you may want yours to know about it.
• It must never contradict your will, because the will takes precedence. If you expect someone to dispute a wish, put it in the will instead.
• People have to know it exists. The fact sheet says it’s imperative that the executor and heirs know about the letter and where it is.

Its suggested contents include the location of important papers, the location of a safe deposit box, and an inventory of its contents.

For a safe, add:

• Where each safe is, and where the combination or key is kept. Say where the instructions are, not the combination itself.
• What’s inside, and anything stored elsewhere, such as coins at a depository.
• Who services the safe or lock, and a warning not to drill or pry it.
• Which items you’d like to go to which people. Ohio State notes that sentimental items cause some of the biggest disagreements among heirs.

What to look for: an estate planning organizer binder.

See estate planning organizer binders (paid link)

Step 4: Understand how safe deposit box access works

While you’re alive. The FDIC says you can rent a box jointly with one or more people you want to have unrestricted access. It cautions that the bank likely won’t be responsible for anything an authorized person removes without your permission.

After death. The FDIC says access rules after a box owner dies depend on state law, which restricts entry to certain people and allows it only under controlled conditions. Two state examples show how different those rules can be:

• Florida. Once the bank has satisfactory proof of death, and if no court order has been served, a spouse, parent, adult descendant, or person named as personal representative in a copy of a will may examine a deceased renter’s box in front of a bank officer. The bank may release only a will (to the probate court), burial documents, and a life insurance policy (to the beneficiary), and keeps copies in the box.
• New York. The Comptroller’s guide warns your box may be sealed when you die, so don’t keep your will, trust, power of attorney, or burial instructions there. A joint lessee or someone you’ve specifically authorized can copy burial instructions. Otherwise it takes a court order or tax department authorization.

The FDIC adds that documents you might need quickly, such as original powers of attorney, don’t belong in a bank box. It also advises not keeping identifying information, like the box number or bank name, on or near the key. Our home safe vs. safe deposit box guide covers what belongs in each.

Step 5: Plan for incapacity, not just death

The same problems arise if you’re alive but can’t act. The New York Comptroller’s guide describes a durable power of attorney as letting someone you trust manage your affairs if you can’t. If the original is in your home safe, that person needs a way to open it. Ask your attorney where originals should live.

What to look for: a fire-resistant document box for originals you need at home.

See fire-resistant document boxes (paid link)

Step 6: Plan for digital accounts

Many states have enacted versions of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), which the ABA article describes as distinguishing the content of communications from other digital assets. A Uniform Law Commission summary explains the key rules:

• Content needs your consent. Fiduciaries don’t get the content of your emails and messages unless you consented. By default, they can get a catalogue showing who you communicated with and when.
• Online tools come first. A direction you give through a provider’s online tool overrides a general direction in your will, trust, or power of attorney. Those documents, in turn, override the terms of service.

The Oklahoma Bar Journal explains that a personal representative typically has to send the provider a request, a certified death certificate, and letters testamentary, and that the provider may still require a court order.

The ABA article warns that legal authority isn’t the same as access: a two-factor prompt sent to a phone no one can unlock can stall a well-prepared executor. It suggests an account recovery inventory that lists your primary email, mobile carrier account and PIN, the authenticator method you use, your trusted devices, your password manager, and where printed recovery codes are stored offline. It also recommends testing the plan once a year or after a major change. The State Bar of Wisconsin’s digital assets worksheet makes the same point, telling you to note which accounts use two-factor authentication and how to reach the second factor.

For setting up Apple’s Legacy Contact and Google’s Inactive Account Manager, see our digital backups guide.

Step 7: Tell people, then review

Nolo advises telling those closest to you where your estate planning documents are, and the New York Comptroller’s guide recommends updating your information regularly. Review it whenever you change a combination, open or close a box, get a new phone, or update your will.

Quick checklist

• Inventory of safes, hiding spots, boxes, and contents
• Combination stored outside the safe, in two secure places
• Safe receipt, serial number, and registration kept with the instructions
• Letter of instruction written, and your executor knows where it is
• Will, powers of attorney, and burial instructions kept where they can be reached
• Provider legacy tools set up; account recovery inventory done
• Reviewed after every change

Bottom line

Protecting valuables and making them reachable aren’t opposites. Keep the combination out of the safe but findable by your chosen person, write a letter of instruction that points to everything, learn your state’s box rules, and set up digital access while you can. Then tell the people who matter where to start.

Sources

1. Nolo — How to Organize Your Estate Planning Documents (family may not know what you own or how to access it; unclaimed assets turned over to the state; safe deposit boxes and locked or hidden items; tell those closest where documents are). https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/practical-estate-planning-organize-documents-29660.html
2. Office of the New York State Comptroller — Life Changes: Getting Your Affairs in Order and A Guide for Survivors (secure file at home; safe deposit box may be sealed; documents not to keep in the box; joint lessee access to burial instructions; court order or tax department authorization; durable power of attorney; review regularly). https://www.osc.ny.gov/retirement/publications/getting-your-affairs-order-and-guide-survivors
3. American Bar Association, Senior Lawyers Division — The New Digital Estate Issue for Lawyers, Businesses, Families, and Individuals (June 3, 2026) (authority vs. access; account recovery inventory; password manager emergency access; sealed envelopes; safe deposit box access delays; lawyers shouldn’t hold credentials; annual testing; RUFADAA). https://www.americanbar.org/groups/senior_lawyers/resources/voice-of-experience/2026-june/new-digital-estate-issue-for-lawyers-businesses-families-indivduals/
4. Liberty Safe — Combination/Key Request (notarization, payment, proof of purchase if registration under 90 days, law enforcement or locksmith verification). https://libertysafe.com/pages/combination-key-request
5. Ohio State University Extension — Basic Estate Planning: Letter of Instruction (Fact Sheet EP-5) (not legally binding; typed or handwritten; executor must know location; never contradict the will; suggested contents; sentimental items). https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/EP-5
6. FDIC — Five Things to Know About Safe Deposit Boxes, Home Safes and Your Valuables (joint renting; bank not responsible for authorized removals; post-death access depends on state law; powers of attorney; no identifying information near the key). https://www.fdic.gov/consumer-resource-center/five-things-know-about-safe-deposit-boxes-home-safes-and-your-valuables
7. Florida Legislature — Florida Statutes § 655.935, Search procedure on death of lessee. https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0600-0699%2F0655%2FSections%2F0655.935.html
8. Uniform Law Commission — RUFADAA vs. UFADAA – What Changed? (content requires consent; catalogue access; three-tier priority of online tool, will or trust, terms of service), as posted by the Kentucky Legislature. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/CommitteeDocuments/8/11391/Jun%201%202018%20Revised%20Uniform%20Digital%20Assets%20Act%20Berry%20Revision%20Summary.pdf
9. Oklahoma Bar Association — Access to a Deceased’s Digital Accounts (Oklahoma Bar Journal, Feb. 2021) (request, death certificate, and letters testamentary; custodian may require a court order). https://www.okbar.org/access-to-a-deceaseds-digital-accounts/
10. State Bar of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Lawyer — Digital Assets Inventory Worksheet (note which accounts use two-factor authentication and how to reach the second factor). https://www.wisbar.org/NewsPublications/WisconsinLawyer/Documents/wl-2021-03-101-estate-planning-pitfalls-avoid-digital-assests-inventory-worksheet.pdf