Sorry to hear about your health problems Endomorph and get well soon.

It does bring it home and I have been thinking a lot more about it since turning 60 last year. My family are grown up and have moved on and I think if I was to die suddenly my wife would be OK financially. Our mortgage will be paid off this year and the small pensions that we have would just about cover things for her.

The other thing about what happens to the business has always been a concern to me and you're right. It has been discussed before. What you recommend is a good idea and one of these things that I am always going to do when I get a round to it.

My wife has no real interest in the business or in IT. I have tried to get her interested but every time I mention it her eyes start to glaze over. I have suggested to my son that he may want to get involved but he has a career of his own and once again no real interest in what I do. They don't seem to see the value of this, perhaps I should just sell up now and go on a long holiday. :)

Sorry to hear about the heart attack, but glad you're still here to post about it.

All good advice. The other thing I would add is to take out some life insurance specifically as a key man policy. As well as having all the information needed to hand, it may take some money to keep everything up and operational.

endomorph1 - There was a very good thread a couple of years ago about what to plan for. I can't find the exact one, well I'm fairly sure, however there is this one:

[webmasterworld.com...]

Could your family survive without you ?

Yes. They all are independent. I'm not married, so I'm not worried too much.

Adsense is not my main earner these day. It was use to be # 1 in 2007.

As far as life is concern, you need to enjoy it everyday and every movement. Relax and take a break.

Hope you will recover soon.. take care!

Fortunately my wife is a web developer like me, and she is very aware of all our websites and income streams. I even keep her copied on all my business e-mails so she is aware of what is going on in the event that she needs to take over the business for the family.

I also have automated as much of my business as possible. Every revenue stream from the websites get automatically deposited into my business account each month via direct deposit. Then I have an automatic transfer each month from my business account to our personal account as my "paycheck". It is enough for us to live on and pay the bills.

Should I "go away", this system will continue on collecting money from ad partners and distributing part of it to my family.

The remainder left in the business account(s) can be accessed via my business credit card, which my wife is aware of and we keep in lockbox.

Beyond that, all my sites are monitored and watched over by volunteer moderators, so worst case the site(s) would not just crumble and fade away without me. Heck, they would probably flourish without my iron fist looking over them... ;-)

One final note, I did add my wife as a "signer" on my business account(s) which allows her to do banking transactions for the business without taking on any of the liabilities of ownership (my wife has her own business, so we keep them separate for liability reasons).

When this topic was discussed a couple of years ago, the ASA at the time indicated they were working on some type of program to make the transition easier after a death. Anyone ever hear anything more about this?

----------------------

Yes. They all are independent. I'm not married, so I'm not worried too much.

You've worked to build your business. It's probably worth the effort to make arrangements so that you can leave it to someone in a will if you so desire.

-----------------------------------

Almost as unpleasant as planning for an untimely death is planning for a spouse walking away unannounced. I know people think "that won't happen to me" but I know two families, each with 20+ year marriages, who recently came home to find the spouse gone and a note on the kitchen table. Have a plan.

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If you have ignored the "Loose lips sink ships" advice and shared your AdSense secrets with a girlfriend/boyfriend, well ..., I hope you have a sound life raft.

FarmBoy

I'm not married, so I'm not worried too much

And what's with Your own future?

It's for me very important to continue to work with my domains in my next life time.

It's for me very important to continue to work with my domains in my next life time.

I know Google is good, but not that good ;)

Even if you are single, independent, unattached and all those fine things, consider this: your likelihood of becoming disabled (temporarily or permanently) is much greater at any given time than your risk of dying.

All it takes is a car going through a red light, a careless step off a curb, a tumble off a ladder or one of those pesky blood clots lodging in just the wrong spot in your brain -- and you are screwed. Royally.

Unlike being dead, which is relatively inexpensive once you complete the process, being disabled can be very expensive -- physical rehab, home health care aides, someone to help your spouse tote you around, etc. So not only can you not work but your cost of living goes sky high.

Sadly, most disability insurance in the U.S. is written to follow the rule of most insurance (i.e., it goes away when you need it).

What's the answer to this? Beats me, but I just thought I would bring it up to brighten everyone's day.

AdSense is not reliable, as in the literal meaning of RELIABLE. You can not RELY on AdSense. Neither can your family or heirs.

You can not rely on AdSense for years into the future. So when you say that AdSense "pays" your mortgage you are assuming an ongoing relationship with AdSense as it "pays" your mortgage. Your mortgage might be 10-20-30 years, your AdSense revenue does not have this long term quality attached to it, it is month by month. So connecting the two is lulling into false security.

You are at any time at the mercy of Google policy changes or AdSense employees who might find you objectionable for any reason.
A transfer of the account is from the TOS not possible, you have to move the traffic to a new account.

An AdSense revenue stream can therefore not be viewed as an "asset". It is a temporary revenue stream. What you get every month is what you get, end of story. More like an temporary employment salary, without any form of security to it.

Anyone making a good revenue on AdSense should therefore take out the best health insurance and life insurance possible. Anything else is extremely irresponsible.

The more you diversify your income from many different sources, the more of an "asset" class it becomes. Your heirs will be able to keep some of it.

Google could change this by implementing better policies.

Keeping passwords and instructions for loved ones is a great idea if you can make sure it remains secure in the interim.

An important point however is that from the day you die onwards your income and assets are viewed differently than when you are living. Your creditors instantly have a claim against some of your assets in some cases and revenue sources, like adsense, cannot continue paying a deceased person...

Your loved ones need to create accounts of their own and know how to replace the code. You can save a great deal of trouble by adding your spouse as co-owner of your accounts where possible. Protecting your income sometimes means declaring it's shared BEFORE you pass away.

This is an easily avoidable nightmare, great post.

Your loved ones need to create accounts of their own and know how to replace the code

Much to complicate.

200 chanels

More than 100 ads with proper colors and channels.

No, that's to complicate!

It has to function with the same code.

Only the owner name has to be changed.

Here it would be nice, when ASA would state about this problem.

Can the same code be used, same publisher id, only the owner name changes?

JS Harris makes a good point. In actual fact any Google income paid after death should go to the estate of the deceased's estate. And death duties / taxes should be paid (if applicable) on that income and the value of the asset. Interfering with that income or the asset may well be a criminal offence.

But here is a thought. If your website generates a significant income, let's say £50,000 p.a for example, then what is the value of that asset? My guess is that a website generating a proveable and steadily increasing £50k a year on the open market is only worth about £50k. Not much more and maybe less.

If you have dependants that can keep the site ticking over then make sure that they are aware of the real value of that site and don't allow it to be sold to anyone other than themselves.

Before my web host stopped charging a massive premium for PHP I used to use a third party provider for email forms. That was a one man band and he had an untimely demise. Luckily the widow was able to access his email list, tell us what was happening and leave the service on autopilot until his hosting contracts expired.

The official Google response to all this is along the following lines:

- Rest assured Google will cooperate and work with your loved ones to make the transfer process easy (seamless is not mentioned)

- Google will require from your spouse/heirs official documentation on your demise as well as who legally gets what before they can work with them and transfer ownership, I'm guessing fax will be the medium of choice here but perhaps even express mail too.

- Your spouse will have to re-apply for a new account and replace the code on site(s), non negotiable same code is not an option, so document well how this can be done on your site, easier if you use templates or have a friend that can help.

- Keeping the same channel names and settings by default as per the above is also not an option.

- From the moment Google is notified of the account holder's demise all earnings will be put on hold but like in maintenance, ads will continue to be served, the payment hold will be removed once Google changes the name of the beneficiary(s) and can resume payment.

I once requested this and will repeat:
(ASA take out a pencil and paper for this one)

Adding one or two more contacts to our account and giving us the ability to change their different access rights via check boxes should make the transfer of account settings seamless, various rights can include but not limited to:
- Login
- View Reports
- Change Account holder name
- Change Account Holder contacts
- Modify other account settings
- Edit/Modify/Remove/Add Channels

But it is important to make sure original account holder is notified by email on any changes.

I understand Google is limited legally with what options it can provide us, but here's an easy solution:

If the above is not possible to implement, just make sure that when an account is terminated and a new one is opened by the heirs for the same domain, they can have the exact same pub id and channel and account settings.

If pub id is non transferable, then at least keep everything else and allow them to just modify the account pub ID on the pages without touching anything else in the code.

Since the old threads on this topic, I have documented all my logins and created a text "work manual" of all I do, also trained a very reluctant wife and mother on my CMS, son will be trained when he grows out of teenage stage and can be more trusted.

An old member of this Forum (Ann) unfortunately passed away July last year, and her son took over her sites, perhaps if he reads this he can tell us more about the transfer process, he has his own account and sites and it must have made it much easier for him.

Ann was irreplaceable, but one can only hope to have friends and and relatives that are able to take over like she did.

AdSense is not reliable, as in the literal meaning of RELIABLE. You can not RELY on AdSense.

Adsense is a revenue stream. It is one of many for folks. Adsense is not most folks "business", it is the website that is the business.

That said, Google's ad program has been a more reliable income stream for me over the past 6 years than any "real job". Plus it pays me multiple times over what my old corporate six-figure job ever paid me... and I don't have to work for the man. ;-)

As for the future, no business or job can guarantee income forever... But in today's market, Google is about the safest bet out there for the next few years, and when something else comes along, we'll all jump on that band wagon.

Websites change, businesses change... income streams change... it doesn't take away from the fact that many of us are building very viable, long-term business models that may carry well into the future... and for those of us that this applies to, we do need to think about the future and plan for it.

I am glad that other people are thinking the same way as I. I was thinking about it and I was not sure if this is the right topic here to post. Although I am 31 years old with 14 months old son and a lovely wife. It was making me worried that what if? Because you never know.. and you seriously don't want your kid or wife to starve while they all are dependent on you.

I have planned to teach my wife a little bit about my earnings.. (Adsense is NOT the only earning i have). I know it will be hard for her to maintain our sites the way I do.. but atleast she can keep it running for the rest of her life.. if anything happens to me.

When I was alone.. I was least bothered about my gone or anything like that but since I got married and had a son.. it made me weak. I am surprised that I have started thinking this way.. huh

But the fact is fact.. and we have to face it.. so it is better to take care of the things.

"endomorph1" My wishes are with you buddy. Pls take care of yourself.

i have bought all types of life and accidental insurance for this; but i definitely should do more to facilitate a transition, God forbid.

i am a bit of a health nut myself, and i have cured many ailments eating right; that said, endomorph1, you may want to consider looking up <Dr. Sears Diet>

sears put out his diet to keep himself from suffering from heart issues, to which he was almost destined due to his family history of heart disease. sears argues that a primary factor in heart disease can come from over-stimulating insulin by eating too many unfavorable carbohydrates - breads, starch, pasta. sears found that one could live a longer healthier life, free of heart disease and diabetes, by following a diet similar to what ancient humans ate - meats, fruits and vegetables and mono-unsaturated fats. they've got a great forum if you have any questions; or pm me.

good luck, bro!

[edited by: martinibuster at 9:00 am (utc) on Mar. 28, 2009]
[edit reason] Removed link. [/edit]

Get well soon.

One more thing I like to add is to write a will and an advance health care directives [a living will ].
In case both parents die in an accident, the will can secure the little ones future to some extent, and a living will can save a lot of assets and misery of the family.

Let's prepare for the worst, and expect the best.

Regards,

Subhankar Ray

You could also make a video, where you look into the camera and film the screen.
Show the hosting accounts, show the AdSense account, show the stuff. Also show where you keep your passwords written.
Tell her about the business, how it works. How she should proceed should you go away.
Burn a DVD of this film.

Also - make sure you have a hosting provider that does not cut of all your service if you miss one months payment.
Some hosting providers are strict (may I say stupid) and cut 5 year+ client after one months missed payment (you could be hospitalized in a coma state - they don't care).

I don't think mine could survive without me, at least I try to teach them everything I can now.

Cheers,