Secure Family Document Sharing

What this guide covers

This guide is written as a practical reference for New Zealand families organizing private records before they become urgent. It focuses on the details that make a plan understandable to someone who may need to act quickly and carefully.

• Share by responsibility, not by folder.
• Keep the full vault private unless someone truly needs it.
• Review access before trust assumptions get stale.

Share by responsibility

A relative, executor, advisor, or business partner may only need one part of the plan. Section-based sharing keeps access aligned with the job they are trusted to do.

• Family members may need emergency and household instructions
• Executors may need legal, financial, and document references
• Advisors may need only the records tied to their role

Keep the full vault private

The owner should retain control over the complete profile while sharing selected sections and document context as relationships and responsibilities change.

• Avoid broad shared folders for sensitive records
• Review the contents of each shared section
• Keep high-risk information out of email threads

Review and revoke access

Trusted people change. A secure sharing model should make it clear who has access and make revocation part of normal maintenance.

• Review recipients after family or advisor changes
• Remove access when responsibility ends
• Keep a record of why access exists

How this fits in Legacy Toolkit

Use this guide as a working checklist inside the desktop vault. Create or review the relevant profile sections, attach the documents that support each record, add reminders where information can go stale, and share only the sections a trusted person needs for their role.

The goal is not to turn a private life into a public folder. The goal is to keep the plan legible, current, and controlled so the right person can find the right information without receiving the whole vault by default.

• Profile sections keep the plan readable instead of turning it into a loose notes file.
• Document attachments keep proof beside the account, asset, policy, or instruction it supports.
• Trusted access lets you prepare a handoff without exposing the full vault by default.

Sharing checklist

Treat this as a first pass, not a final legal packet. Review the items, fill in what is missing, and return to the plan whenever a provider, account, advisor, family role, or document changes.

• Choose recipients by role and responsibility.
• Share only the sections each person needs.
• Keep document context with the related record.
• Review access after family, advisor, or business changes.
• Revoke access when responsibility changes.

Official New Zealand references

These links are included for context. Legacy Toolkit helps organise records and does not replace legal, financial, tax, medical, or court advice.

• Own Your Online: Protect your privacy online
• Own Your Online: Protect yourself from online identity theft