Beneficiaries transfer the accounts. Lastnote gets the family in.
Your clients' beneficiaries are named and their accounts titled. But the email, the passwords, the records, the held-away assets — none of that transfers by designation. Lastnote is a multi-key vault that closes the gap, with you holding one of the keys.
You hold one key, never client credentials · Nothing to install · Works even if we're gone
Titling, designations, the estate documents — where the wealth goes.
Getting the family into everything the designations can't reach.
The heirs decide fast. Most advisors never get a vote.
You know the industry numbers on heir retention. When a client dies, the family's next advisor is chosen in the fog of that first month — while they're locked out of the email, hunting statements, and discovering what nobody mapped.
The advisor who planned for that week — who literally holds one of the keys — isn't a line item the heirs re-evaluate. They're the person who had it handled.
- The email account that resets everything else
- Held-away accounts nobody mapped for you
- Insurance policies filed in a drawer somewhere
- The password manager only the client could open
- Crypto — gone permanently if the keys are
You're already the family's first call. Now you can answer it.
One key certificate lives in your file. When it matters, you're structurally part of the recovery — not waiting to hear about it. And unlike anything else you could hold for a client:
- No custody, no credentials. Your key alone opens nothing, and you can't read the vault — there is nothing of the client's in your possession.
- No single point of you. If your copy is ever lost, the vault still opens — the design tolerates a missing key.
- Nothing to run. A sealed envelope in the file, an email when it matters. No software, no account, no IT review.
Any two, together, open it. No one alone — including you, including us.
Set up in one review meeting.
The client seals the vault
On their own laptop, in your office or at home. What goes in never leaves their device — neither you nor Lastnote can see it.
The keys are distributed
Printed key certificates, one per trustee. One to your file; the others to the spouse, the attorney, the people the plan already trusts.
The booklet joins the estate file
Every vault prints a recovery guide — plain instructions that tell whoever opens the file, years from now, exactly what to do.
Then — nothing
Check-ins run themselves. You hold an envelope, and it becomes one reassuring line in every annual review: still sealed, still current.
Familiar principles, applied to digital access.
Access, designated like a beneficiary
The same idea as naming beneficiaries — applied to everything a designation can't reach: email, records, credentials, the full picture.
You hear promptly, not eventually
If a client stops answering their check-ins, recovery begins in an orderly, notified way — and you're one of the first to know.
Recovery, brought together
Each trustee receives a private link and contributes from their own device — or the family gathers around your conference table.
Paper for the estate file
Key certificates and a printed recovery booklet. Documents, not logins — they live wherever the estate documents live.
Nothing you custody
You never hold client credentials or contents — one key, always below the threshold, that opens nothing alone. A clean story for compliance.
Outlives firms and vendors
The recovery method is published and works with open tools. The vault opens decades from now — whatever happens to Lastnote, or to us all.
Your key opens nothing alone. Neither does ours. Only the client's chosen trustees, together, can ever open the vault.
The fine print, up front.
Does holding a key give me custody of client assets or data?
No credentials, no contents, no access ever pass to you. Your key is one piece — always below the threshold — so it opens nothing alone, and you cannot read the vault at any point. What you hold is a printed certificate: a document in a file, like the estate documents beside it. Your compliance team can read the full security model at lastnoteapp.com/security — it's short, and it's precise.
What if I change firms, retire, or lose the certificate?
The vault tolerates a missing key — the threshold means recovery still works without it. To replace you specifically, the client reseals with a fresh split: new certificates print for every trustee and the old ones become void — a short errand, not a crisis. Updating the vault's own contents is separate and simpler still: if the client kept their own set of keys, they reopen and edit it themselves, and no trustee is touched.
What happens when a client passes away?
Recovery begins — triggered by the family, or automatically when the client's check-ins go unanswered. Each trustee receives a private link and contributes their key from their own device; when the threshold is met, the person the client designated opens the vault. The family's worst week includes one professional who was visibly ready for it: you.
Do I need software, an account, or IT approval?
No. Your key is a sealed envelope in a file. If recovery is ever triggered you'll receive an email with a link that works in any browser. Nothing to install, nothing for your firm's IT to review beyond a web page.
What does it cost my client?
The vault itself is free — the encryption is never paywalled. Paid plans add the living service: Secure ($195/yr) runs the check-ins and brings recovery together; Concierge ($795/yr) adds a human who sets it up live and reviews it twice a year.
Can Lastnote run the setup meeting with my client?
Yes. Concierge was built for exactly this: we walk the client through sealing the vault on a live call — you stay in the room, keep the relationship, and leave holding your key certificate.
Bring Lastnote to your practice
Tell us a little about your practice and we'll be in touch — a short call, a walkthrough with a sample vault, and everything you need to offer it in your next review meeting.
Prefer email? team@lastnoteapp.com