A Digital 'Green Box': Preparing Your Family for the Unexpected

10/30/2025 • Scott Love

Written by Scott Love

Recently, I lost a client unexpectedly. Among the many challenges their family faced, one of the most difficult was trying to access their various online accounts and systems. Thankfully, a few years ago, we had set up some good practices together — so we were able to help. But it was a powerful reminder to me: I need to make sure my own life is in order, too.

Years ago, I attended a talk that introduced the idea of a “Green Box” — a physical place where you’d store key documents, passwords, and instructions for your family in case something happened to you. It’s a wonderful concept, but I’ll admit: I’m a paperless person. I can easily imagine putting that box together once… and then letting it sit, slowly going out of date as it sits collecting dust on a closet shelf.

I also didn’t like how the thing was set up for only one purpose. My wife and I need to coordinate all sorts of stuff, some of which will be relevant if something happens to me, but much of which is also important to manage day-to-day.

So, as a tech person, I decided to create a version of the “Green Box” that actually fits the way I live.

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Our Family’s Digital System

My family and I use 1Password religiously — not just for website logins, but for storing driver’s licenses, social security numbers, and shared notes or instructions that deserve special care. The beauty of this system is that it’s always accessible across both my and my wife’s devices and always up to date, because we use it every day.

We’ve been intentional about naming conventions and tags, and we’ve organized different vaults for categories like Financial, Digital, and Blue Raven (for business ownership / continuity details). I also keep a living note called “Read Me” in 1Password with reminders, context, and small updates that might be useful down the road.

In one vault — which we literally named GreenBox — I’ve even stored some video messages for my family. I’ve set reminders to review and update them each year. It’s not morbid; it’s grounding. It gives me peace of mind knowing my loved ones could find everything they need — and a few words from me — without having to guess.

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For the Business

On the business side at Blue Raven, we maintain a dedicated Office 365 account specifically for ownership of IT platforms — not tied to my personal login. That account holds keys to systems, vendors, and infrastructure, and it’s carefully restricted. But if something ever happened to me, my spouse or partners could use it to access what’s needed to keep the business steady.

I also took the time to review life insurance, key person insurance, and bank access — making sure my spouse has what she needs to manage both family and business finances without friction.

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A Gift, Not a Task

Setting up a system like this isn’t about expecting the worst. It’s about giving your family a gift: clarity in a time of chaos. Watching my client’s family scramble through grief and confusion was heartbreaking — and it reminded me that one of the kindest, most responsible things we can do is prepare thoughtfully, before it’s ever needed.

If you’d benefit from step-by-step instructions and some help on setting up a system like this, we’ve created a GPT on OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform to serve as a guide. Check out the Blue Raven Legacy “Green Box” Planner and hope it’s useful.