The asset nobody claims
Nomination decides who an institution may pay. A will decides who is entitled. Neither operates on an account nobody knows exists.
The situation is entirely ordinary. An account opened for a first salary and never closed. A small folio from a one-off investment years ago. A policy bought through a relative. An old provident fund from two employers back. Each is individually forgettable, and collectively they are the reason substantial sums sit unclaimed across Indian institutions.
The family is not disputing anything. They simply do not know to ask.
This is the cheapest problem in personal finance to solve and the one most reliably left undone, because nothing forces it, no deadline applies, and it is not enjoyable.
Build an index, not an archive
The goal is not to gather every document in one place. It is a single document that says what exists and where to look.
An index is short, easy to keep current, and safe to store in a way an archive is not. It should let someone who knows nothing about your finances find everything within a day.
| Record | What to note |
|---|---|
| Bank accounts | Bank, branch, last four digits, whether joint, nominee |
| Deposits | Institution, maturity date, nominee |
| Mutual funds | Fund house or platform, folio reference, nominee |
| Demat and trading | Depository participant, client ID, nominee |
| Insurance | Insurer, policy number, type, nominee, premium due date |
| Retirement accounts | EPF UAN, PPF branch, NPS PRAN, nominee |
| Property | Address, where the title documents are, any loan against it |
| Loans | Lender, account reference, whether insured |
| Locker | Bank, branch, who is authorised, where the key is |
| Professionals | Names and numbers — CA, lawyer, adviser, agent |
| Digital | Which email address the accounts are registered to; which subscriptions recur |
What never goes on it
One rule, and it is absolute.
No passwords, no PINs, no OTP-receiving details, no card numbers. The index says what exists and where. It never says how to access it.
The reason is straightforward: a document safe enough to protect credentials is a document too inaccessible to serve its purpose, and one accessible enough to be useful is one you must assume could be read by someone you did not intend.
An index without credentials is close to harmless if it leaks — the accounts still require authentication. An index with credentials is a complete compromise of your finances, sitting in a drawer.
For credentials, use a password manager and make sure one trusted person can reach it — most offer an emergency access mechanism designed for exactly this. That is a separate system from the index, deliberately.
The digital layer
Increasingly the hardest part, because there is no paper trail at all.
Email is the master key. Nearly every financial account recovers through it, statements arrive there, and it is how an executor discovers accounts nobody mentioned. Recording which address is attached to what, and ensuring one trusted person can eventually reach that mailbox, does more than any other single step.
Also worth recording: recurring subscriptions and autopay mandates, which otherwise keep debiting an account for months; any digital wallets or balances; and where any cryptocurrency is held, noting that self-custodied holdings are permanently lost without the keys, which is a genuinely different problem from a forgotten bank account.
Several email and platform providers offer inactive-account or legacy-contact settings. They take minutes and are worth configuring.
Where to keep it
The index has to be findable by the right person without a legal process, and that rules out the obvious choice.
Not in a bank locker. Opening one after a death may itself require succession documentation, so the document that would have simplified matters is locked behind the process it was meant to shorten.
Reasonable options: a sealed copy with your spouse or executor; a copy with a trusted family member in another household; an encrypted file whose access one person can obtain. Two copies in different places is sensible — the failure mode is not theft, it is nobody finding it.
Tell at least one person it exists and where. An index nobody knows about is precisely the problem it was written to solve, reproduced one level up.
Keeping it current, in an hour a year
An out-of-date index is still enormously better than none, so this should not become a project.
- Pick a fixed date — the same week each year works.
- Add anything new and delete anything closed.
- Check nominations on each line while you are there, per nomination explained.
- Confirm the copies are still where they should be and the right person still knows.
- Reconcile against the will so the two do not drift apart.
Doing it alongside a will review is efficient, since the asset list is largely the same exercise.
It is not only for after a death
Worth stating, because the framing puts people off.
The same index is what you reach for during a hospitalisation when someone else must handle a payment, during a job loss when you are working out your runway, when tracing an old provident fund, or simply when computing net worth without hunting through six apps.
It is an operational document that also happens to solve an estate problem — which is a more accurate description than “something for after I am gone”, and a considerably better reason to spend the hour.
The investments part
Holdings across several fund houses are the section most likely to be incomplete, because they accumulate quietly and produce little correspondence.
A consolidated account statement lists every folio against your PAN and is the fastest way to find things you have forgotten. FNOTrader's Mutual Funds app values holdings against the full AMFI NAV history — around 34 million NAV rows — so the index carries current figures rather than remembered ones.
FNOTrader is not a law firm and this is not legal advice.
Common questions
Why do financial assets go unclaimed?
Usually not because of disputes but because nobody knew the account existed — an old salary account, a small folio from a one-off investment, a policy bought through a relative, a provident fund from two employers back. Nomination and a will cannot operate on an asset nobody can name.
What should a financial documents index contain?
What exists and where to find it: bank accounts and deposits, mutual fund folios, demat details, insurance policies, retirement accounts, property and title documents, loans, locker details, professional contacts, and which email address accounts are registered to.
Should I write down passwords in it?
Never. The index says what exists and where, not how to access it. A document safe enough to hold credentials is too inaccessible to be useful, and one useful enough is one you must assume could be read. Use a password manager with emergency access for credentials.
Why is email the most important thing to record?
Because nearly every financial account recovers through it and statements arrive there, so it is how anyone discovers accounts nobody mentioned. Recording which address is attached to what, and ensuring one trusted person can eventually reach it, does more than any other single step.
Where should I keep the index?
Somewhere findable without a legal process — a sealed copy with your spouse or executor, one with a trusted family member elsewhere, or an encrypted file one person can access. Not a bank locker, which may itself require succession documentation to open.
How often should I update it?
Once a year on a fixed date is enough. Add what is new, remove what is closed, check nominations while you are there, and reconcile it against your will so the two do not drift apart.
Is this only useful after death?
No. The same index is what you use during a hospitalisation when someone else must handle payments, during a job loss when working out your runway, when tracing an old provident fund, or when computing net worth without hunting through several apps.
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