Ask an American who has lived abroad for a while how many financial accounts they have, and the honest answer is often “I’d have to think about it.” There’s the checking account in the US that you kept for your credit history, the local bank where your salary goes, an old 401(k), maybe a pension from a job in your new country, a money transfer app, a brokerage account you rarely look at. You know roughly where it all is. The question is whether anyone else would.

This guide is about making sure the people you trust could find and deal with your accounts if you were seriously ill or died while living abroad. It’s general information rather than legal or financial advice, and the details depend on your banks and on the laws of the countries involved.

The usual problem is not knowing, rather than not having access

When families struggle after a death, it’s often less about passwords and more about simply not knowing what exists. Statements go to an email inbox nobody can open. A pension from a job ten years ago never sends anything on paper. Accounts in a country the family has never visited, in a language they don’t read, may never come to light at all, or only after a long search.

So the most useful single thing you can do is make a list. For each account, write the institution, the country, the type of account, the last four digits of the account number, whether it’s joint or has a named beneficiary, and where statements or online access information can be found. Do the same for investments, pensions, insurance policies, loans and credit cards, and the regular bills someone would need to cancel or move.

Leave out passwords, PINs and full account numbers. The last four digits are usually enough for a relative to identify an account to the bank, and a list without credentials is much less dangerous if it’s ever lost.

Beneficiaries on US accounts

Many US banks and brokerages let you name a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death beneficiary, and retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs, along with life insurance, are generally paid to whoever is named on the beneficiary form. These designations often work separately from a will, which can make things simpler for your family. It also means an out-of-date form can quietly override what you’d want now.

It’s worth logging into each account, or calling, to check who is named, especially after a marriage, a divorce, the birth of a child or a move. Ask your bank or plan provider what they would need from a family member, and write the answer down. If your spouse is not a US citizen, raise that with your adviser too, because there are some special US estate tax rules for non-citizen spouses that we cover in our expat estate planning guide.

Accounts in the country where you live

Banks abroad follow local law, and the rules on joint accounts, frozen accounts and what happens after a death vary a lot between countries. In some places a joint account passes straight to the surviving holder; in others it may be frozen, at least in part, until the estate is dealt with. Don’t assume your local bank works the way a US bank would.

The simplest approach is to ask your bank directly what happens to your accounts if you die or lose capacity, and whether it offers anything like a beneficiary nomination. A local lawyer can tell you how that fits with your will and local inheritance rules.

If you’re ill rather than gone: powers of attorney

Thinking only about death misses a situation that is arguably more likely: being alive but unable to manage your own affairs for a while after an accident or illness. That’s what a financial power of attorney is for. It lets someone you choose act on your behalf. In the US, a power of attorney generally stops working when the person dies, at which point the executor or administrator of the estate takes over.

Living abroad complicates this. A power of attorney drafted under one country’s law isn’t always accepted in another, and some US banks and brokerages prefer their own forms. Many Americans abroad end up with one document for the country where they live and one for the US, prepared with a lawyer in each. Whatever you have, note where the original is kept and who you’ve named.

Phones, security codes and a US address

Two-factor authentication protects your accounts, and it also locks out anyone trying to help you. If your US bank sends a code to a US phone number that sits in a drawer, or to a phone that can’t be unlocked, your family may be stuck until the bank’s formal process catches up.

Write down which phone numbers are used for security codes, where the phones are kept, and where unlock information can be found. It’s worth asking your family to keep those numbers active for a while after a death, because a lapsed number can be hard to recover. Many expats also keep a US mailing address for banks and the IRS, perhaps a relative’s house or a mail service. Note which address each account uses and who checks the mail.

Password managers and legacy contacts

A password manager is one of the better ways to make your digital life findable, provided someone can get into it. Many offer an emergency access or legacy feature; check what yours offers and set it up for a trusted person. Then record where the emergency kit or recovery instructions are kept.

The large tech companies have their own tools. Apple lets you add a Legacy Contact to your Apple Account; after your death, that person needs an access key you generate when you set it up, plus a death certificate, to request access to data such as photos, messages and files. Google’s Inactive Account Manager lets you choose up to ten people to be notified, or to receive some of your data, if your account has been inactive for a period you choose. These only take a few minutes to set up, and they spare your family a much slower process later.

If you use an IRS Identity Protection PIN, don’t write the PIN itself anywhere; just note that you use one and where the IRS notice is kept.

Records your executor will want

US citizens abroad often have reporting obligations that continue after death. An estate is itself a “U.S. person” for FBAR purposes, according to the IRS, and the IRS says FBAR records should generally be kept for five years from the FBAR due date. Your executor and tax preparer will have a much easier job if they know where your past US returns, FBAR confirmations and foreign tax returns are kept. The IRS has an overview of the FBAR rules, and its page on a deceased person’s final returns is the starting point for survivors.

You don’t need to understand the rules yourself to make this easier. Just note who prepares your returns in each country, how to reach them, and where the paperwork lives.

Proof of death across borders

When the time comes, every institution will ask for proof. Abroad, that starts with the local death certificate, and for Americans it usually continues with the State Department’s Consular Report of Death of a U.S. Citizen Abroad, which the State Department says can take four to six months. We explain that process in what happens when a U.S. citizen dies abroad. Knowing that the delay is normal can stop families from panicking when a US bank says it needs a document they don’t have yet.

Putting it in one place

None of this requires a big project. An afternoon with your banking apps and a few old statements will get most of the list done, and an annual check keeps it current. What matters is that it ends up somewhere secure that a trusted person knows about.

Just in Case, Abroad: US Edition was built for exactly this list. Its “Money in two countries” section has space for bank accounts in the US and where you live, investments, pensions, transfer services, income, debts and bills, and the US pages cover retirement accounts, Social Security, and your tax and FBAR filing history, all without ever asking for a password.

A fillable binder for Americans abroad, in US Letter and A4, with a matching spreadsheet. See the pages.

Official sources