How can we help?

Nothing is wrong yet. It is just not set up. Do three things. Add one person you trust, save one note and choose them as its recipient, then press Check in now to turn check-ins on. The setup guide on the dashboard does this with you.

Plan check is the full answer. It lists everything that would stop your plan from reaching someone, such as a person who has not confirmed, an item nobody is assigned to or a letter left as a draft. Your plan is finished when Plan check shows no problems.

If you have not confirmed your email yet, open the email we sent when you signed up and press the button in it. If you already confirmed your email and still cannot sign in, this is our fault. Write to a person and choose the topic My account. A person switches your account on by hand after reading your message.

Write to a person

Look in Spam or Promotions. The button in the email works for 60 minutes. If it has expired or never came, open Send the confirmation email again, type the address you signed up with and wait a few minutes. It works without signing in.

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Press Forgot password? on the sign-in page and type your email address. We send a link that works for 60 minutes. If it does not arrive, look in Spam. Choosing a new password signs you out on every other device.

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Open Security, then Two-step sign-in. Type your password, then choose an authenticator app or a code by email. You also get backup codes. Keep them somewhere safe, away from this device. Each one works once, for the day you cannot get a code.

Type one of your backup codes where the sign-in code goes. Each one works once. Once you are in, make new backup codes in Security. No backup codes? Write to a person and choose the topic Security. We check that it is you, then turn two-step sign-in off and remove the lost passkeys, so you can set them up again.

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If you want a copy, download it first from Export Data. Then open Profile, choose the Danger Zone tab and press Delete Account. We ask for your password. Your account is removed after 30 days, and until then you can sign in and cancel. While the deletion waits, check-ins stop and nothing is sent to your people.

Open Profile, type the new address and your current password, and save. We send a link to the new address that works for 24 hours. Open it while you are signed in. Until then your old address stays in use, and we write to it to say a change was asked for.

Open Email preferences in Settings and switch off what you do not want. Every newsletter has an unsubscribe link at the bottom. Some emails cannot be switched off because they protect you. They are security alerts, password changes, a missed check-in and emergency access requests.

No text messages. Reminders, invitations and everything else come by email, so keep your email address up to date.

Open Check-in and press End pause now. Pressing Check in now does not end a pause. A pause also ends on its own on the date you chose, and can last up to 90 days.

Press Check in now on the Check-in page, or the check-in link in a reminder email. Signing in to the website counts as a check-in too once your check-ins are on, at most once an hour, and it never switches them on. While a case is open, every sign-in counts and closes the case. That is true for anyone who signs in with your password, so keep it to yourself. One thing is different. If someone you trust has told us you died and nobody has confirmed it yet, signing in closes nothing, and the next page asks whether you are alive. There are no text message check-ins.

We remind you by email 3 and 1 days before your check-in is due. After the due date you have 7 days of grace by default. As soon as you are late, we write to you again and ask your check-in buddies, if you named any, to look in on you. We also try any other ways you set up for us to reach you, one at a time. If you are still quiet when the grace ends, we ask your verifiers whether you have died. Nothing is released just because you are late. Your verifiers must confirm, and then we wait 48 hours more. If you named none, or nobody answers, a person on our team checks the facts instead. If they confirm your death, we still wait 48 hours, and you are told and can confirm with your password to cancel.

You choose, from 2 days to 365 days. The default is 30 days. The Check-in page shows the range your account allows. A longer cycle means a longer silence before anyone is asked.

Use Pause check-ins before you go, for up to 90 days, or check in from any device while you are away. While check-ins are paused, nothing is watched. Pressing Check in now does not end a pause. To end it early, press End pause now on the Check-in page.

Your account may be set to a different time zone. Change it in Profile, and every date on the site follows it.

One press tells us you are fine. Use Check in now on the Check-in page, or the link in our reminder email. Signing in to the website counts as a check-in too once your check-ins are on, at most once an hour, and it never switches them on. While a case is open, every sign-in counts and closes the case. That is true for anyone who signs in with your password, so keep it to yourself. One thing is different. If someone you trust has told us you died and nobody has confirmed it yet, signing in closes nothing, and the next page asks whether you are alive. You check in once every 30 days by default, and we remind you 3 and 1 days before it is due.

If you are in danger right now, call your local emergency number. Gentle Handover cannot tell a check-in you were forced to make from one you chose. Starting a pause and cancelling a case both ask for your password, so do not share it. High risk mode shortens your check-in cycle for dangerous times. To tell us quietly, write to a person with the topic Security.

Write to a person

Open Contacts and press Add contact. Type their name and email address. They get one email asking them to confirm their address, and it shows nothing you wrote. Then choose what they get. Open an item and choose them as its recipient, or use Assign on the Contacts page.

Yes, you can add, remove, or modify your contacts and their permissions at any time. You can also change what items each contact has access to and when they receive them.

A recipient gets what you assign after your death is confirmed. A check-in buddy is only asked to get in touch with you if you go quiet, and sees nothing. A verifier is asked whether you died, and their answers are what can start a handover. One person can be all three.

They get one email saying you added them on Gentle Handover and asking them to confirm their address. It shows nothing you wrote. Until they confirm, they show as pending.

Check the address on their page and fix it with Edit if needed, then press Resend invitation. Ask them to look in Spam.

Yes. Everyone you name gets what you assigned at the address you gave, with a one-time code, whether or not they confirmed their email. Confirming only proves the address works, and lets a person you chose confirm what happened. Only a person whose access you revoked, or whom you removed, gets nothing. Nothing goes out while your account is suspended or waiting to be deleted. A wrong address means nobody receives it, so check it on their page.

Only if you send the invitation. When you add a person, Send verification invitation now is ticked. Untick it and nobody is emailed today. The invitation never includes your letter or anything you wrote. Everyone you name gets what you assigned at the address you gave, with a one-time code, whether or not they confirmed their email. Confirming only proves the address works, and lets a person you chose confirm what happened.

They must press the button in our email first. After that, come back to Trusted verifiers and choose them.

We ask for 2 confirmations. If fewer of your verifiers can answer, a person on our team must confirm as well, so one person alone never confirms your death. If any verifier says you are alive or that it is a mistake, the case pauses until a person on our team looks at it.

One email asking about you, with a personal link that works for 14 days. They can confirm a death, or say you are alive or that it is a mistake. They never see your things. The exact wording is in What to expect.

Nobody you chose can confirm your death yet. If you stop checking in, a person on our team checks the facts instead. If they confirm it, the same waiting period follows: we email you, and confirming with your password stops everything. Naming at least one person you trust is safer.

Only the people you chose for each item. Nobody receives a whole box, and an item with no recipient goes to nobody. Plan check lists every item nobody would get. What you store is released only after your death is confirmed. A letter with a date is different. It goes out on its date.

Then the box stays closed. After your death is confirmed, nobody sees anything in a box with approvals until the number of people you set approve. Your backup person can stand in for one missing approval, once the wait you chose has passed.

Any. The type is only a label that helps you find it again. Write a hint rather than a full PIN when a hint is enough.

An item goes only to the people you assign. Open the person's page and assign it to them. Assigning sends nothing now.

After your verifiers confirm, we wait 48 hours. Then each item follows its own timing. An item set to Standard opens about 24 hours later, plus any extra wait you set for that person. Plan check shows the real timeline for your account.

Passwords, crypto wallet details, logins and money items wait for a death certificate by default. Such an item opens only after a person on our team reads the certificate, or 180 days after the release starts if none arrives. Notes, files and documents do not wait by default. You can change the check on each item.

There is nothing to choose there. Everybody you name for an item can read it and download its file once it reaches them. Leave the extra delay at 0 unless this item should wait longer than the rest. You can change it later.

A folder. One is enough for most people. Nobody is ever handed a whole box, only the items you assign to them.

Only if it is scheduled. Drafts are never sent. Open the letter and schedule it. For an "upon my passing" letter, scheduling just means it is ready to send.

Yes. A letter with a date is sent on that date. For a letter that should go only after your death, choose "Upon my passing".

No. The words never travel in the email. One of your people gets an email saying a letter is waiting and reads it after signing in. An email address that is not one of your people gets a private link that opens that one letter for 30 days. To attach files, add them as one of your people.

Save it as a draft before you leave the page, and save often while you write.

We will not know. A conditional message goes out when you press Send now. If you might die before that day, choose “Send it after my death” on the message. It then goes to them once your death is confirmed, so they have it for the day. For a set date, use a letter with a date or a time capsule.

Open Letters and press Write a letter. Choose who it is for and when it goes, after your passing or on a date, such as a birthday. A letter with a date goes out on that date, even while you are alive. Drafts are never sent, so schedule it when it is ready.

Only people you allowed to ask for emergency access, and only if they were added at least 7 days ago. If you do not say no within your waiting period (from 24 hours to 168 hours, 48 hours by default), they can read the items assigned to them, read only, for 7 days. While your check-ins are paused or high risk mode is on, they can read them only if you approve the request. You can revoke it at any time.

We email you first, and one tap from you says you are alive and stops it. If you do not object, only what cannot wait opens, each part only to the people you named for it. That means your funeral wishes, organ donation, pet care, your children's Tonight plan, the care handover and the notes on how your home works. That happens after 12 hours by default, and you can set the window from 1 hour to 48 hours. A late check-in, a death certificate sent with the report or a case someone else opened never makes it shorter than 12 hours, unless you chose a shorter window yourself. Items, money and letters still wait for your verifiers.

Press Check in now. Until a death is confirmed, one check-in closes an open case. After that, confirm with your password on the check-in page. Your items, letters and money records are not released while a case is open. If someone reported your death by mistake, also write to a person and choose Stop a release. Those requests are read first.

Write to a person

Denied means our team checked and found no death, and nothing was shared. Write to a person with the date if you want to know more.

Press Check in now. That stops an open case. Then write to a person so someone on our team reviews it.

There are four ways, and being late never sends anything by itself. The first is your trusted verifiers. We ask for 2 confirmations, never counting whoever reported the death, then wait 48 hours. With only one verifier, a person on our team confirms as well. The second is a death certificate. A contact who confirmed their email can send one, and a person on our team reads it. The third is a person on our team, who can confirm a case that is already open. After a confirmation from our team or an accepted certificate, we also wait 48 hours. The fourth is a report from a contact you allowed. If you do not object within 12 hours by default, only what cannot wait opens, each part only to the people you named for it. That means your funeral wishes, organ donation, pet care, the Tonight plan, the care handover and the notes on how your home works. We email you when a case opens and again when it is confirmed, and confirming with your password cancels it. What to expect lists every path with your own numbers.

No. The Tonight plan is for the first hours. It says who picks the children up, who to call, the allergies and the routines. It has no legal force. Name a guardian in your will as well. The printed sheet works today, even before anyone confirms.

Household entries say how the home works, such as where the main water shut-off and the fuse box are, and who fixes the boiler. Codes and passwords, like the wifi or the alarm, go in your box as an item, where you choose who receives each one.

They have to confirm their email from our invitation. Resend it from their page. The printed sheet works today, whatever their status.

Edit the entry and fill Who to call. Pick a person or type a name and number. The description box does not count.

Not while you are alive. They can open it on their private page once your death is confirmed, or earlier if a contact you allowed reports your death and you do not object in time (12 hours by default, and never less than 12 hours unless you chose a shorter window yourself). It opens only when the plan lists at least one child. The printed sheet works today, so you can give them a copy now.

Make the Tonight plan together and name the same people in both plans, so whoever takes the children finds the same answers. The Tonight plan covers the first hours and days. It does not make anyone the legal guardian, so name a guardian in both of your wills.

We hold the keys to your box, kept in a separate key service, so our team is trusted with what is inside. We hold them so that what you left reaches the people you chose without your password, and so a forgotten password does not erase what you saved. Your items, your photos, your business documents, the files attached to your letters and most of what you write are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before they are stored. Our team's tools have no page that shows what is inside your box and cannot sign in as you, and every sensitive staff action goes into a sealed audit trail that is checked every night. Some things are not encrypted by the application, such as contact names, box names and file names. The privacy policy lists them all.

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Gentle Handover encrypts your items, your photos, your business documents, the files attached to your letters and most of what you write with AES-256-GCM before it reaches the database. Some things are not encrypted by the application, such as contact names, box names and file names, and the privacy policy lists them all. We hold the keys, and the answer to “Can you read what I store?” explains why.

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Make a Continuity kit. It is one locked file with the text of the boxes you choose, and your letters and wishes if you add them. It opens offline in a browser with your passphrase. Files are named in it, not copied. Whoever has both the file and the passphrase can read everything in it, whatever you assigned. We do not keep the passphrase.

While you are alive, nobody you know can open your items. After your death is confirmed, each item goes only to the people you chose for it, and passwords, logins and money details wait for a death certificate by default. We hold the encryption keys, kept in a separate key service, so that your items can be opened for the people you chose after you die, and our team's tools have no page that shows what is inside your box. Write a hint, not the number itself, when a hint is enough.

The company that runs Gentle Handover. Its name, its address and your rights are in the Privacy Policy. For a question about your data, a copy of it or a correction, write to a person and choose the topic Privacy.

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Yes. You can ask for your money back within 14 days of your first payment, monthly or yearly, and of every yearly renewal, and you get the whole payment back. Monthly renewals are not refunded. The Refunds and cancellation page, linked at the foot of every page, has the details. This money-back guarantee can be used once per account.

The free plan costs nothing and has no time limit. The Pricing page lists the paid plans, what each one holds and what it costs. If a usage number looks wrong, your letters are still safe on the Letters page.

The records you were given show what they owed and what was owed to them. They are records only, and nothing here moves money. The executor of the estate usually settles or collects them. We never ask you for money.

A fake email can look just like ours, so check it yourself. We never ask you to send us a password or a code, and we never ask for money. Our links open pages on gentlehandover.com and nowhere else. If you are not sure, do not press the link. Type gentlehandover.com into your browser yourself and use Family sign-in, or write to us.

Start with the letter. If you were asked to look after children, open the Tonight plan next. What was left for you stays on your private page, so you can come back any time. If the code from our email stops working, the family sign-in page can email you a new one.

Open the family sign-in page and type your email address. If you chose a password there before, use it. If not, press Get a sign in link by email and we email you a new link that works for 60 minutes. Still stuck? Write to a person and we will help.

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Red means your plan would stop there, and nothing would reach the people it names. Amber means it would still run, but less would arrive than you think. Grey is optional. Your plan is finished when nothing is red or amber.

No. Gentle Handover is not a legal will and nothing here replaces one. Last wishes records your funeral and other wishes for the people you love, and your ethical will is a letter about your values. Who inherits your property, and who you would like to look after your children, belongs in a will made under the law where you live. Without one, that law decides. A lawyer or notary there can help you make or change it.

A funeral home cannot read anything you stored. A lawyer or an advisor has no way into your account either. To let one read your funeral wishes, add them as a contact and choose them where you choose who can read those wishes, or print your wishes and give them a copy.

Nobody while you are alive, and nobody is told about it. Once your death is confirmed, the family guide shows what you wrote on the important documents, property and vehicles pages to the people who share it. They are your executor unless you take them off, and anyone you add on the family guide page. Nobody else sees it.

No. The wallet pages never ask for a recovery phrase or a private key, and we recommend you never type one here. Write where the phrase is kept (a safe, a hardware wallet, an exchange account) and who to contact instead. A wallet goes only to the person named on it, never to an executor, and waits for a death certificate by default, or 180 days if none arrives.

No. We never sign in to an account or post on it. A final post is handed, with its account, to the person you named, once you marked the post ready. They publish it themselves. With nobody named, the account goes to your Executor contact, and with no executor nobody gets it.

A visitor can open a page only while it is active and set to public or unlisted. Public means anyone, search engines included. Unlisted means anyone with the link. Private means only you. A page left as a draft opens by itself once your death is confirmed, with the visibility you chose.

Nobody while you are alive. After your death is confirmed, a story goes to the people named on it, or to every contact who confirmed their email if you named nobody. Your family tree goes to every confirmed contact. Medical information goes only to the people you ticked, and to nobody if you ticked nobody.

After a death is confirmed, your named successor gets one email and a read only copy of the plan on their private page. It does not transfer ownership of the business. With nobody named, nothing is sent and the record stays with you.

Export gives you a file of what you keep here, opened so you can read it without us. Anyone who has the file can read it too. For a copy the people you love can open offline, make a Continuity kit. Import reads a file from a password manager or another source. You match its columns and preview it before anything is saved.

Search the answers first. Most questions are answered in a few lines. Still stuck? Write to a person. Signed in, use the Help button or the Support page. Signed out, use the Contact page. A person reads every request and answers by email.

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Choose a topic, write one line and what happened. A person reads every request, and the answer comes by email and on the Support page. Each request gets a reference. Requests to stop a release are read first. We never ask for your password or your items.

No. A rehearsal only shows what each person would receive if your death were confirmed today. Nobody is told, no letter goes out and no date moves. The only thing written down is that you ran it, in your own activity log.

Yes. It is written for them and shows none of your items. Press Print and give them a copy, so they know which emails to expect and what to do. Its numbers are your own settings today.

Gentle Handover keeps what the people you love will need when you are gone, such as account details and passwords, letters, your wishes and practical instructions. You choose who receives each item. Every so often we ask you by email to tell us you are fine, and once your death is confirmed, each item goes to the people you chose. It is not a legal will and does not replace one.

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In three parts. You write things down and choose who receives each one. You check in with one press, once every 30 days by default, and we remind you 3 and 1 days before it is due. If you go quiet, we try to reach you and the check-in buddies you named, and then ask the people you trust to confirm what happened. Nothing is sent just because you are late, and confirming with your password stops everything.

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Sign-up is not open yet, so nobody can create an account today. Join the waitlist and we will write to you on the day sign-up opens. Then you create an account, add one person you trust, save one thing for them, name someone who can confirm what happened, and check in once. A setup guide walks you through it.

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A missed check-in alone releases nothing. After the due date you have 7 days of grace, and in that time we try to reach you and your check-in buddies. Then your trusted verifiers are asked. Your death counts as confirmed only when 2 of them confirm it, or a person on our team does, for example after reading a death certificate. Even then we wait at least 48 hours and tell you, so confirming with your password can still stop it. Then each item goes only to the people you chose for it. A few wishes the people you love need in the first hours, such as your funeral wishes, can open earlier if someone you allowed reports your death and you do not object.

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While you are alive, nobody you know can open your items, unless you allowed someone to ask for emergency access and you do not say no in time. While your check-ins are paused or high risk mode is on, such a request opens only if you approve it. After your death is confirmed, each item goes only to the people you chose for it, and nobody receives a whole box. We hold the encryption keys, kept in a separate key service, so that what you leave reaches the people you chose without your password. Holding them means we are trusted with what is inside. Our team's tools have no page that shows what is inside your box, and every sensitive staff action goes into a sealed audit trail.

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Paid plans are not on sale yet, so nothing can be bought and nobody is charged today. The free plan costs nothing and has no time limit. The Pricing page lists the paid plans in US dollars. The Plus plan costs $9.99 a month or $89 a year. The Premium plan costs $16.99 a month or $149 a year. The Business plan costs $269 a year. Paying by the year saves up to 26%.

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Paid plans are not on sale yet, so nobody has paid anything and there is nothing to refund. From the first payment, the rule is this. Ask within 14 days of your first payment, monthly or yearly, or of a yearly renewal, and you get the whole payment back. Monthly renewals are not refunded. The Refunds and cancellation page has the details.

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The website, your account and every email we send are in English.

You do not need one. Gentle Handover works in the web browser on any phone, tablet or computer, with nothing to install.

Our servers, the database and uploaded files are in Amazon Web Services' Frankfurt region in Germany, and backup copies are kept in its Ireland region. The Privacy Policy and our list of service providers name every company that handles data for us.

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