How It All Works

We'd like to help ensure that your last instructions are available to those you designate. Here's how things will work here.

Your messages sent to those you designate

You have instructions or messages that you want to send to people, when you are Not Here Anymore. A simple form is used to identify the recipient (their first and last name, and their email address), along with your instructions or information, You can have as many instructions or messages to different people as you need. All of it is fully encrypted when stored. Only you (with your user name and password that you define) have access to it.

"Are You OK?" Messages

About once a month, we will email (to your primary and backup email accounts) a short "Are You OK?" message to check that you are still here. We will include a unique link in the email that you should click on to acknowledge that you are also still around and healthy. You just need to click on that special link to let us know that you're still here so we don't send out your instructions too soon.

If you don't respond within four days, we will send another message to your primary and backup email addresses, again with a unique link to respond. A third message will follow two days later.

If you don't respond to any of the "Are You OK?" messages, we will assume that you are Not Here Anymore. We will then send your final instructions, along with our condolences. It is up to them to follow your instructions.

It's very important to respond to those "Are You OK" messages, or your instructions will be sent out too soon.

What are some types of instructions?

There are many things that you might like to have as instructions to those you designate.

• Instruct someone how to access your on-line presence; such as your social media accounts, or your email accounts.
• Tell someone where you secret stash of music is kept, so they can have it.
• Send a final message to your friends and family.
• Tell someone where your formal instructions are (such as a will), in case it is not found..
• Allow someone to have access to web sites that you own so they can continue your efforts, or notify your web site visitors.
• Place a final message on your social media account, so that your friends will have some closure.

There are any number of Instructions that you might want to send when you are Not Here Anymore.

How we keep your information and instructions safe

All of the information you submit is stored in a fully encrypted database. Your access to your information is protected by your user name (email address) and password that you control. The data (instructions, your information, etc) is always encrypted; if a person managed to get a copy of the database, they would not be able to view any legible information. You are responsible for ensuring the safety and security of your user name and password.

Why Not a Will?

It is true that a will is legally binding; that's why we strongly advise that you have a legally prepared and valid will. But there are some things that may not need to be in a will, and there is some expense to continually making changes to a will.

So NotHereAnymore.com is an alternative way to send some last instructions and thoughts to others. For instance, asking someone to take care of your pet, or letting them have your extensive on-line music collection.

In our case (speaking as the owner of this place), we wanted a place to put access instructions for our various web sites. We have some family-centered web sites that we want to ensure will continue after we are gone. So by providing information about that to our family via NotHereAnymore.com, we can keep the access information confidential while we are here.

And we wanted to send out a final note or encouragement to our family members.

So this place was a personal effort. We then thought that others might find the place useful, so we went 'public' with the NotHereAnymore.com web site.

But we want others to use it -- which is why it is free (although donations would be helpful to offset our expenses).

Some legal stuff

Please note that we are only providing a place for you to keep your informal final instructions. The laws in various states and countries may not allow your instructions to be legally binding. We suggest that you consider using appropriate legal counsel to prepare legally binding instructions that may include the instructions you keep here.

We will use our best efforts to protect your information, and to send out notifications to you and those you designate. We will not provide access to your instructions unless legally required. We will monitor the use of this site, and may inspect the databases for proper operation, although the data (content) are encrypted. We cannot log into your account, since your password is stored with one-way encryption.

We are not responsible for any damages due to loss or exposure of any information submitted to this site, or for any failure of any email messages to you or those you designate, or any premature disclosure of your instructions because you didn't respond to our "Are You OK" messages or other reasons.

Please also see our Terms of Use. By using this site, you agree to those Terms of Use.

Questions?

We invite your questions or comments. Just use our Contact form, and we will respond as soon as we can.

Get started now. Sooner is better than later.