For clients
Decide now what your executor can open.
Your advisor has given you GuardKin. You record what you have, name an executor, and choose, one record at a time, what that person can open after you have died. Whatever you do not choose stays sealed.
Your advisor’s invitation comes first: it is how you make your account. Direct subscriptions are not open yet. Where a firm offers GuardKin, the firm pays for it.
The Handover page, in the app
What Sarah chose
Handover
What stays sealed
Balances
Documents and letters
A letter goes to Marcus Chen, whoever it is addressed to.
People
People Marcus Chen may need to contact.
Always sealed
Never on your executor’s page.
- Anything you have not markedNo key is sealed for it, so there is no way to open it
Try the switches. They show the choice; the app also seals a key on your device.Sample household. Names and figures come from the app’s own demo vault, not a real client.
Setting up
Five things to do, in this order.
You can stop at any point and come back. Nothing here asks you to finish in one sitting.
Accept your advisor’s invitation
You cannot open a GuardKin account on your own. Your advisor invites you, and you make your account from that invitation.
Make your Master Password and your Secret Key
The setup takes about fifteen minutes. Memorise the Master Password. Save the Secret Key somewhere safe. GuardKin holds neither, and cannot reset either.
Set up recovery, if you want it
Recovery is optional. You give 5 recovery cards to 5 people you trust. If you forget your Master Password, your Secret Key and any 3 of the cards get you back in. If you lose your Secret Key, GuardKin cannot give it back, and the app’s recovery asks you for it. The cards are not a copy of it: they are your key itself, split five ways, so any three open your records for whoever also holds a copy of the stored data.
The cards are a deliberate exception: an owner who loses everything still needs a way back. Three card holders alone cannot read your records, because GuardKin gives them none of your data. Three card holders and a copy of the stored data, such as a database dump or a backup, can read all of them. Choose the five with that in mind.
Record what you have
Add your accounts and who inherits each, what keeps going out each month, and where your documents are. The screens below show each one.
Name your executor, and choose what they can open
Mark each record you want your executor to be able to open. The rest stays closed. No key is sealed for it, so there is no way to open it.
Tell your executor yourself.
GuardKin does not send your executor a message, now or when a handover opens. They need their own GuardKin, with their own Master Password and their own Secret Key. Without those they cannot pick anything up. Tell them now that you named them, and where to look.
What the app holds
What is recorded, and what is still missing.
Keeping documents in one place is the easy part. The harder work is answering what a family has to settle in the first weeks: who inherits this, who to ring, what is still being charged. Four screens from the app.
Accounts
Everything they would have to go looking for.
10accounts and debts, each with who inherits it and who to call
Choose an account to see who inherits it, how it is titled, and who to call about it.
Look at a debt. On “Oakland home — mortgage” the app says “Not asked for a debt”. GuardKin does not count a debt as missing an heir.
Accounts
Your recorded accounts and assets, with current ownership and balance dates.
- Recorded assets · USD
- $605,350
- Recorded debts · USD
- $329,300
- Accounts to review
- 0 of 10
Entered balances, not live prices.
Accounts in this example vault. Choose one to see its details.
Assets · USD · 7
$605,350As of
Who inherits it
Jointly owned with Marcus Chen
Current ownership
Not recorded
How it is titled today. This is separate from who inherits it.
Document that covers it
No document recorded for this account.
Who to call
No contact recorded for this account.
As of
Who inherits it
Transfer-on-death / payable-on-death
Who receives it is not recorded here.
Current ownership
Not recorded
How it is titled today. This is separate from who inherits it.
Document that covers it
No document recorded for this account.
Who to call
advisor
Dana Okafor
As of
Who inherits it
No heir recorded
Current ownership
Not recorded
How it is titled today. This is separate from who inherits it.
Document that covers it
No document recorded for this account.
Who to call
No contact recorded for this account.
As of
Who inherits it
Named beneficiary: Marcus Chen
Current ownership
Not recorded
How it is titled today. This is separate from who inherits it.
Document that covers it
No document recorded for this account.
Who to call
No contact recorded for this account.
As of
Who inherits it
Named beneficiary: Marcus Chen
Current ownership
Not recorded
How it is titled today. This is separate from who inherits it.
Document that covers it
No document recorded for this account.
Who to call
No contact recorded for this account.
As of
Who inherits it
No heir recorded
Current ownership
Not recorded
How it is titled today. This is separate from who inherits it.
Document that covers it
No document recorded for this account.
Who to call
No contact recorded for this account.
As of
Who inherits it
No heir recorded
Current ownership
Not recorded
How it is titled today. This is separate from who inherits it.
Document that covers it
No document recorded for this account.
Who to call
No contact recorded for this account.
Debts · USD · 3
$329,300As of
Who inherits it
Not asked for a debt
GuardKin does not count a debt as missing an heir.
Current ownership
Not recorded
How it is titled today. This is separate from who inherits it.
Document that covers it
No document recorded for this account.
Who to call
No contact recorded for this account.
As of
Who inherits it
Not asked for a debt
GuardKin does not count a debt as missing an heir.
Current ownership
Not recorded
How it is titled today. This is separate from who inherits it.
Document that covers it
No document recorded for this account.
Who to call
No contact recorded for this account.
As of
Who inherits it
Not asked for a debt
GuardKin does not count a debt as missing an heir.
Current ownership
Not recorded
How it is titled today. This is separate from who inherits it.
Document that covers it
No document recorded for this account.
Who to call
No contact recorded for this account.
Every account, balance, and contact here is decrypted on this device — GuardKin never sees them.
Beneficiaries
Who inherits what, and where nobody is named.
3of 7
accounts have no heir recorded.
- 4 have an answer recorded
- 3 have none
- 3 are debts, which are not asked
Of the 4 that are answered, 2 name a beneficiary, 1 is jointly owned and 1 passes by transfer-on-death.
An answer on file is not a check. This is what you have told us, not a check with the institution.
Your estate
Beneficiaries
3 of 7 accounts have no heir answer recorded
- Named beneficiary
- 2
- Jointly owned
- 1
- TOD / POD
- 1
- Unassigned
- 3
- Worth checking
Who inherits each account, unassigned first Account Who inherits How Status Coinbase — self-custody wallet — not set Unassigned No answer Fidelity 401(k) — Studio Pottery LLC — not set Unassigned No answer Wells Fargo — checking — not set Unassigned No answer Fidelity Roth IRA Marcus Chen Named beneficiary Recorded Wells Fargo — high-yield savings Marcus Chen Named beneficiary Recorded Oakland home Marcus Chen Joint owner Recorded Vanguard — taxable brokerage — TOD / POD Recorded Computed on your device — GuardKin never sees your records.
Obligations
What keeps going out, and what stops coming in.
$1,996
a month short, once the income that stops has stopped and what can be cancelled is cancelled.
Social Security ($2,910 a month) stops. Fidelity pension ($1,760 a month) falls to 50%.
The 3 outgoings marked must not lapse come to $2,876 a month. The 1 marked cancel on death is $16 a month. A bill does not stop because someone died. Only cancelling it stops it, and somebody has to do that.
Obligations
- Monthly income today
- $4,670
- Monthly income after
- $880
- On the conservative reading — see below
- Monthly outgoing
- $2,892
- Survivor shortfall
- $1,996
After cancelling what you’ve marked cancellable, about $1,996 a month is still unaccounted for — roughly $21,956 across the 11 months an estate typically takes to settle.
Arithmetic on your own entries. Not tax advice, and it says nothing about what anyone may be entitled to.
Monthly lines, and what happens to each when the person dies What Per month At death Status Mortgage — Wells FargoOutgoing $2,480 Must not lapse Covered Term life — Example MutualOutgoing $184 Must not lapse Covered Social SecurityIncome $2,910 Stops Gap Fidelity pensionIncome $1,760 Reduces Gap PG&EOutgoing $212 Must not lapse Covered Streaming subscriptionOutgoing $16 Cancel on death Cancel Computed on your device from your encrypted records — GuardKin never sees an amount or a payee.
Documents
Every document, and where it is.
17records in 7 categories
Choose a category above the list to narrow it. Choose Letters to see where each one goes: sealed until handover, then to Marcus, the executor.
The app also searches by title, type or category and sorts by latest updated, document name and category. Both work on this device, over the titles already open on it.
A record whose title cannot be shown stays in the list as Untitled instead of dropping out. One the app cannot read at all is marked Needs a look.
Your estate
Documents
- Documents
- 17
- Legal
- 4
- Letters
- 2
- Access
- 5
17 of 17 documents
4 of 17 documents
2 of 17 documents
3 of 17 documents
5 of 17 documents
1 of 17 documents
1 of 17 documents
1 of 17 documents
Your documents, latest updated first Document Category Updated Family term life — Example Mutual Insurance Oct 20, 2026 David Choi — family attorney Contact Oct 19, 2026 1Password vault Digital Asset · Access Oct 11, 2026 Apple ID Digital Asset · Access Oct 11, 2026 For Eduardo — about the studio Personal Letter · Letters Sep 24, 2026 For Marcus, when the day comes Personal Letter · Letters Sep 24, 2026 What I want for the studio Instruction Sep 24, 2026 Last Will and Testament — 2024 revision Will · Legal Sep 21, 2026 Chen Family Living Trust Trust · Legal Sep 7, 2026 Durable Power of Attorney — financial Power of Attorney · Legal Sep 7, 2026 Funeral preferences Instruction Aug 23, 2026 Hazel (the cat) Instruction Aug 23, 2026 Healthcare directive + DNR Medical Directive · Legal Aug 23, 2026 Safe deposit box — Wells Fargo branch 0418 Other May 25, 2026 studiopottery.com — registrar + DNS Digital Asset · Access Apr 25, 2026 studiopottery.com email + admin Password · Access Apr 25, 2026 Untitled Password · Access Mar 16, 2026 - For Eduardo — about the studioSealed until handover · goes to Marcus
- For Marcus, when the day comesSealed until handover · goes to Marcus
Encrypted on this device before it ever reaches us — GuardKin never sees a title, a scan, or what any of these say.
Sample household. Names and figures come from the app’s own demo vault, not a real client.
Your advisor
What your advisor can see, and what a contact is.
Your advisor sees the outline, with your consent.
Only what you consent to, and only planning metadata: the shape of the estate, readiness gaps, and document status. The content of your records is not part of the advisor view. You can end an advisor’s access yourself, from your account.
A contact is not a permission.
Adding an attorney, an advisor or a family member does not give them access to anything. Sharing is a separate choice, made record by record.
What GuardKin does not do
Five limits, and what to do about each.
So that nobody finds them out on the worst day. Each has something you can do now.
GuardKin cannot reset your Master Password or your Secret Key.
What to do: Save the Secret Key when it is made. Recovery is optional, so set it up.
GuardKin does not send your executor a message.
What to do: Tell your executor now that you named them, and where to look.
A handover opens for a death only.
What to do: Ask your attorney about a power of attorney.
A copy kept in GuardKin has no legal authority.
What to do: Record where the original is kept.
A handover cannot open without an advisor of record.
What to do: Ask your advisor to confirm they are your advisor of record.
Not invited yet?
Direct subscriptions are not open. Tell us about your situation and we will point you the right way.
Here to find what someone else left? That is a different page, written for the people who will be looking.