Private banks and trust companies
Estate readiness without holding your clients’ secrets.
A bank or trust company carries a fiduciary duty, and a review process to match. GuardKin gives your relationship managers a record to invite clients into, and your committees a short list of things to check.
Your part in a handover
Two of the people who sign are yours.
When a client dies, a handover cannot open until the client’s advisor of record and an administrator at the advisor’s firm have each signed. They have to be two different people. If a client has no advisor of record, nothing opens.
A death is reported
Someone files the death certificate. Without it, staff cannot approve.
GuardKin checks who it is
A member of staff confirms who the report is about.
Your institution
The advisor of record signs
The client’s advisor, at your institution.
Your institution
A firm administrator signs
Someone at the advisor’s firm, and not the advisor.
72 hours pass
Nothing is open. The owner can cancel, if they are alive.
The executor accepts
On their own GuardKin, in their own words. Then they open what was released.
What happens after a death.
Records put in order, a handover that waits before anything opens, and an executor who opens only what was released, in 27 seconds.
No sound. Sample household: names and records come from the app’s own demo vault, not a real client.
Read the film as text
GuardKin: what happens after a death
A 27-second silent film. It has no audio track. Everything it says is on screen and is written out below.
[0:00 to 0:04. Light ground. A real screen from the GuardKin app, with sample data: a list of documents, including a family term life policy, the family attorney's contact, a password manager, an Apple ID, and a letter for Marcus. Then a card from the same app: "Anything you have not marked. No key is sealed for it, so there is no way to open it." and "Master Password and Secret Key. Nobody gets these, GuardKin included."]
Sarah kept her records in one place.
GuardKin cannot read them.
[0:05 to 0:10. The Handover page of the app, sample data. A list of ten balances and the heading "0 of 10 balances released". Every row says "Not released" and has a switch that is off. A blue outline marks "0 of 10 balances released".]
She chose what her executor may open.
Nothing is released unless she chooses.
[0:10 to 0:20. Dark blue. A white sheet headed "After a death" lists four steps. Then the number 72 with the word "hours", and 72 small marks fill in one by one, the last taller than the rest.]
After a death:
1. A death certificate is on file.
2. GuardKin confirms who it was.
3. The advisor signs off. Then the firm.
4. Final approval.
72 hours. Nothing opens until then.
[0:20 to 0:24. Light ground. A card reads "Write, in your own words, that you accept this role." and a line is written in it: "I accept this role, for Sarah." Marked "Example wording".]
Marcus signs in to his own GuardKin and accepts the role.
[0:24 to 0:27. The executor's view, sample data: a record titled "Last will and testament" with "Where the original is: With David Choi, Esq." and "Where to take this: Take this to the attorney named on the original instrument. The bank may also accept a certified copy."]
He opens only what Sarah released.
Notes for the reader
- Sarah and Marcus are the sample household built into the app's demo mode. They are not real people.
- The film is about a death. Handover for incapacity is not available, and the film does not mention it.
- The film does not say the executor is told when a death is reported. GuardKin does not send the executor a message; the owner has to have told them.
Your review
Five questions, and where the answers are.
The material your security and legal teams can start from is public. What does not exist yet, such as a SOC 2 report, is said so.
What can GuardKin read?
Saved vault content is stored as ciphertext. GuardKin can tell that an item exists, what kind it is and when it changed. Account and operational information is handled separately, and the architecture page says how.
Security architectureWho at our institution can read a client’s record?
An advisor sees only their own clients, and with the client’s consent only an outline of each item. An administrator at your firm cannot read a client’s records either.
What your firm cannot seeWhere is it held, and by whom?
Data is stored and processed in US regions. The subprocessors are listed, so your vendor-risk process has something to assess.
SubprocessorsWhat assurance exists today?
We hold no SOC 2 report. No auditor is engaged, so there is no date to give. Ask what can be shared under NDA. A data processing addendum is published for legal review.
Trust CenterWhat does it cost?
$1,500 per advisor per year, billed annually, with unlimited clients per advisor. Pilot terms are agreed with each institution in writing.
Pricing
What your relationship managers should know
Three limits to tell clients first.
A handover opens for a death only.
A copy kept in GuardKin has no legal authority.
A handover cannot open without an advisor of record.
Start with the review your team would run anyway.
Tell us what it asks for. We will say what GuardKin covers today and what it does not.