Passwords and Shared Media During Divorce – How to Manage Accounts Properly

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Going through a divorce process has never been easy. At best, it can be stressful, yet overwhelming; at worst, it can turn into life-long court battles. Dividing property always raised a lot of questions and today nothing is different. However, while a few years ago asset division was more a matter of sharing living quarters, vehicles, money, etc. nowadays, spouses spend so much time online so that there are so many questions about what they are going to do with their joint Google calendar and who gets a Spotify family account after divorce.

Think about those many websites that you are registered with, how many profiles do you share with your soon-to-be ex-spouse today and how many of them you are going to use later on? While some ask “Why should couples share passwords after they break up?” many know for sure that they cannot go otherwise.

When a marriage ends, exes may still need access to their joint medical insurance accounts, local library system, their kids’ school system, investment accounts, etc. That is why they need to learn more about the possible ways of sharing a password with a spouse so that they can use joint accounts without undue stress in the future.

How to Share Online Profiles When a Marriage is Over

Unfortunately, we don’t yet have a law regulating this particular issue. Therefore, all divorcing spouses have to decide how they will share accounts after their marriage ends themselves. If there are accounts that they both will need to have access to in the future, they can either continue sharing a single login, or they can set up separate ones for the same accounts, or they can register new, individual accounts in different names. No matter what you decide, the below-mentioned tips will be helpful to you:

Start using a password manager

In today’s world, when it is hard for most of us to say exactly how many accounts are registered in our names, it is crucial to have a tool that will help us manage those many logins and password combinations properly. And if you haven’t installed one yet, then it is highly recommended to do so right away. The most popular solutions include Dashlane, LastPass, Bitwarden, and so forth. No matter which options you choose, it will help you manage your digital footprints as is right and proper with no doubt.

As soon as you and your partner start to use such a tool, you two will have two different password databases all encrypted for security. From this moment, you will be able to store login data for your shared profiles in your database. Also, you can think about registering a third shared database and use it for storing information only about accounts that you are going to share with your ex down the road for more convenience. Listing your all shared accounts and website profiles in your settlement agreement would be great, too.

Think about your digital legacy in advance

No matter whether it is a shared account or individual one, it will never die, unlike you. That is why you should make sure that in your estate papers there are instructions on what to do with your online accounts if something bad happens. In the case of your death or incapacitation, your login data will be transferred to someone you trust. Note that there are a few solutions that come with a transfer feature developed specifically to serve this goal.

Create your new digital life

Divorce is probably tough on you enough, and you surely don’t want to make your life even more complicated by having problems accessing your online profiles and accounts, do you? So, make sure you take your time to pick and use an effective tool that will help you organize your information properly.

Sharing passwords in a marriage is something different than doing so when you are divorced. When you cannot care less about your digital subscriptions and thus agree to transfer a Netflix account, having your ex accessing your private information is definitely not what you want. So, make sure that you have renegotiated your boundaries and clearly determined which profiles you are going to share with your ex and which ones you need to change login data for right away.

About the Author

Jack Morris
Jack Morris is a Chicago-based writer at OnlineDivorcer. He has written many pieces focusing mainly on various divorce-related issues that people commonly face before, during, and after divorce.