Guidance
Short, careful guides on how different accounts and policies are generally found and claimed — written for families, in clear language. They explain how things usually work, so the people you love aren’t left guessing.
A small, growing library, grouped by where things are held. Each guide covers one kind of account or decision, in the time it takes to read a letter.
Employer plans
Workplace retirement and stock plans are among the hardest assets for families to find — and the paperwork on file can quietly override a will. Here’s how they generally work, and what to look for.
Retirement
An IRA passes by the beneficiary form on file, not the will — and the rules for inheriting one changed recently. How they generally work, and how to find the custodian.
Bank accounts
Payable-on-death designations, FDIC and NCUA insurance, and what happens to an account that goes quiet — plus how a family claims what’s there.
Investments
Transfer-on-death registration, how a custodian moves holdings to a beneficiary, and what records a family needs to locate the account.
Savings bonds
Paper vs. electronic bonds, when they stop earning, and how families find forgotten or matured bonds now that Treasury Hunt has closed.
Real estate
How you hold title often matters more than the will — survivorship and transfer-on-death deeds, and what happens to the mortgage.
Vehicles
With a car, the title — not the will — usually decides who gets it. Joint and transfer-on-death titles, DMV transfers, and what happens to the loan.
Life insurance
The beneficiary form pays out, not the will — how to find a lost policy with the free NAIC locator, and how to file a claim.
Digital assets
Exchange-held vs. self-custodied crypto, the lost-seed-phrase problem, and how the law lets an executor reach online accounts.
Unclaimed property
The catch-all final sweep — how the state unclaimed-property system works, and how a family systematically searches every source above.
The quieter way
Most of what these guides describe gets simpler if the people you love already know where to look. That’s the whole idea behind Trust Relay — a quiet map of where your accounts live, kept ready.
