Digital trusted person: what is it for?

In France, the term "trusted person" (personne de confiance) has a precise meaning in health law. Under Article L1111-6 of the French Public Health Code, a medical trusted person supports you in your healthcare decisions and is consulted if you are no longer able to express your wishes. This person is named in writing and deals only with health matters.

There is also the future protection mandate (mandat de protection future, Articles 477 and following of the French Civil Code), which lets you choose in advance the person who will manage your affairs if you can no longer do so during your lifetime.

A digital trusted person is something else: the role concerns your accounts, your data and your messages. It can be the same person as your medical trusted person, but it does not have to be, and naming someone for one role does not name them for the other.

Depending on the tools you use, their role can include:

• •Confirming the situation: saying whether or not you are all right when a service becomes concerned about your silence. This is what prevents anything being sent by mistake.
• •Carrying out your instructions: the French Data Protection Act (Article 85) lets you name a person responsible for carrying out your instructions about your data. After your death, this person is entitled to read them and to ask the services concerned to apply them.
• •Managing your profiles: on Facebook, the legacy contact looks after the memorialised account (pinned post, profile picture, friend requests), without reading your messages.
• •Recovering your data: on Apple, the Legacy Contact gets access to your iCloud data; on Google, the people named in the Inactive Account Manager receive the data you selected.
• •Guiding the family: knowing where the documents are, who to notify and which accounts to close.

They do not have to do everything themselves: their main role is to be the person others can reach, the one who knows what you wanted.

There is no single register: you have to name them service by service.

• •Facebook: in your settings, under "Memorialisation", choose a legacy contact (or ask for your account to be deleted after your death).
• •Apple: in your Apple Account settings, add one or more Legacy Contacts. Each one receives an access key to keep safe.
• •Google: the Inactive Account Manager lets you notify up to 10 people after the period of inactivity you choose, and share some of your data with them.
• •Password manager: some, such as Bitwarden, offer an emergency access contact (see How to Pass On Your Passwords to Your Family).
• •Your general instructions: in writing, naming the person responsible for carrying them out (see Digital Will in France: What the Law Says).
• •Laterly: a trusted person, included in the free plan, who is alerted before any of your letters are sent automatically.

Ideally, the same person (or a small number of people) appears everywhere: that way your loved ones know exactly who to turn to.

Laterly keeps your letters and your practical file, and regularly asks you whether everything is fine: a single button, "I'm doing well". If you stop responding after several reminders and a grace period, Laterly does not send anything straight away. It first writes to your trusted person, who has two choices:

• •"Everything is fine, don't send anything": you may simply be in hospital, travelling or without your phone. Nothing is sent, and Laterly will check in with you again 30 days later.
• •"Send the messages now": only if they know that you will no longer be able to respond.

If they do not reply, the messages are sent at the end of the period stated in the email. Your trusted person does not need a Laterly account: Laterly only keeps their name and email address. They do not read your letters; their only role is to confirm the situation.

This process is explained in detail on the How it works page. The trusted person is included in the free plan, as is the practical file (see pricing).

A few simple criteria:

• •Easy to reach: someone who reads their emails and whom your loved ones know how to contact.
• •Quickly informed of what happens to you: a spouse or partner, an adult child, a brother or sister, a very close friend, or a neighbour if you live alone.
• •Discreet and reliable: they will learn personal things about you.
• •Comfortable with technology, or at least willing to follow a simple procedure.
• •Younger than you or from another generation, if possible, so that they are still there when the time comes.

They do not have to be your heir, or the person who receives your letters. In fact, it is sometimes better for them to be a little removed from the emotion of the moment. If possible, plan a second person for the services that allow it.

A trusted person is only useful if they know they have been chosen. Take half an hour to explain to them:

• •that they have been named, and on which services;
• •what you expect from them: confirming your situation, having certain accounts closed, keeping others, passing on your messages;
• •where to find the information: your notary, your papers, your password manager and its backup access;
• •what you do not want: for example, that certain photos or conversations be kept.

For everything else, write it down. Your practical file brings together what your family will need to know, and your letters say what matters. If you are also preparing a letter for your children, our guide How to Write a Letter to Your Children After Death can help you get started.