Posted: 10/26/2011 9:46:43 PM EDT
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Hello all,
I was wanting to know what you guys do regarding your safe combination and what you plan for in case you passed on. I am sure that most of us here have large gun safes or firesafes, but what do you do to plan for the very unfortunate event that you are no longer around so that your "chosen" loved ones have access to your valuables that you would want to pass down to them? Of course this means without some tax man locking things up after you're gone before your beneficiaries can get to them. Basically I am going through a divorce. Once finalized I will be drawing up a new will to leave all my possesions to either my son (still only 2 years old), or my mother. I do however have a safe that houses some of my valuables, whatever they may be. I am trying to figure out what would be the best way to go about ensuring that what I do consider valuable to myself and potentially valuable to my son in the future, finds their way to him in the event that I "bite the big one". I realize that until he is older, it presents a problem, because at this point I am the only one that knows the combo to the safe. Wifey does not know it, nor does my mother. I was thinking about using the "free" safe deposit box that is included at my local bank due to the type of accounts I posses. Maybe I would only use it for some emergency petty cash, maybe another item or two (nothing too valuable), but mainly as a home for the only written combo to my safe. I don't really believe in safe deposit boxes, but perhaps if it's in my name with my son's name as the sole beneficiary, then perhaps if I pass on, he would be the only person with access to the combo to my home safe. My only concern is, which others have scared me into, is that safe deposit boxes are subject to seizure. If this happened, then someone else would have access to my combination. Perhaps I am over thinking this delema. Perhaps there is a simpler alternative, like entrusting my combo to my mother to pass along to my son. The problem with this, is that us survivalists are paranoid and weigh the pros and cons to every situation like this. What do you think? |
| A buddy of mine was the executor of his dad's estate when he passed, and the safe deposit box was opened in the presence of a bank officer and a representative from the county tax office, by law. Do what you can to limit your beneficiaries liabilities to the government. |
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Leave the following with the will in a sealed envelope and the key to the safe with your lawyer.
"In the event of my death please contact the following people: Steve phone/address Jeffery phone/address Sally phone/address Please let them know that I have died and tell them "TWO" is the SAFE NUMBER. Years prior you have given these friends/family members a letter which states the following: Steve - You have the first number of the safe which equal the following: 4 plus the SAFE NUMBER Jeffery - You have the second number of the safe which equal the following: 26 times the SAFE NUMBER Sally - You have the third number of the safe which equal the following: 38 plus the SAFE NUMBER The rest of the letter states that they are to contact the lawyer (with the key to the safe's combination lock) and meet up to open your safe and following the instructions that you have taped to the inside of the safe's door. Now you have your lawyer and three other people involved who by themselves cannot open the safe. Yes, I have been told that I "over think" things. But when I am told that, I respond that I have got a plan for a zombie-outbreak after an EMP event during a snow-hurricane, do you think I got everything else covered? |
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Leave the following with the will in a sealed envelope and the key to the safe with your lawyer. "In the event of my death please contact the following people: Steve phone/address Jeffery phone/address Sally phone/address Please let them know that I have died and tell them "TWO" is the SAFE NUMBER. Years prior you have given these friends/family members a letter which states the following: Steve - You have the first number of the safe which equal the following: 4 plus the SAFE NUMBER Jeffery - You have the second number of the safe which equal the following: 26 times the SAFE NUMBER Sally - You have the third number of the safe which equal the following: 38 plus the SAFE NUMBER The rest of the letter states that they are to contact the lawyer (with the key to the safe's combination lock) and meet up to open your safe and following the instructions that you have taped to the inside of the safe's door. Now you have your lawyer and three other people involved who by themselves cannot open the safe. Yes, I have been told that I "over think" things. But when I am told that, I respond that I have got a plan for a zombie-outbreak after an EMP event during a snow-hurricane, do you think I got everything else covered? ...and if just one of those folks gets into a car wreck on the way your house for the opening...they are all screwed. What's your plan now tough guy.  
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Leave the following with the will in a sealed envelope and the key to the safe with your lawyer. "In the event of my death please contact the following people: Steve phone/address Jeffery phone/address Sally phone/address Please let them know that I have died and tell them "TWO" is the SAFE NUMBER. A locksmith could have it open in a short time. Years prior you have given these friends/family members a letter which states the following: Steve - You have the first number of the safe which equal the following: 4 plus the SAFE NUMBER Jeffery - You have the second number of the safe which equal the following: 26 times the SAFE NUMBER Sally - You have the third number of the safe which equal the following: 38 plus the SAFE NUMBER The rest of the letter states that they are to contact the lawyer (with the key to the safe's combination lock) and meet up to open your safe and following the instructions that you have taped to the inside of the safe's door. Now you have your lawyer and three other people involved who by themselves cannot open the safe. Yes, I have been told that I "over think" things. But when I am told that, I respond that I have got a plan for a zombie-outbreak after an EMP event during a snow-hurricane, do you think I got everything else covered? ...and if just one of those folks gets into a car wreck on the way your house for the opening...they are all screwed. What's your plan now tough guy. |
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You are way too obsessed with this kind of thing. Give the combo in a sealed envelope to your lawyer or executor or someone else trustworthy and be done with it.
Personally, I would not be passing on a safe full of guns to someone who I did not trust to have the combination in the first place. |
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Leave the following with the will in a sealed envelope and the key to the safe with your lawyer. "In the event of my death please contact the following people: Steve phone/address Jeffery phone/address Sally phone/address Please let them know that I have died and tell them "TWO" is the SAFE NUMBER. Years prior you have given these friends/family members a letter which states the following: Steve - You have the first number of the safe which equal the following: 4 plus the SAFE NUMBER Jeffery - You have the second number of the safe which equal the following: 26 times the SAFE NUMBER Sally - You have the third number of the safe which equal the following: 38 plus the SAFE NUMBER The rest of the letter states that they are to contact the lawyer (with the key to the safe's combination lock) and meet up to open your safe and following the instructions that you have taped to the inside of the safe's door. Now you have your lawyer and three other people involved who by themselves cannot open the safe. Yes, I have been told that I "over think" things. But when I am told that, I respond that I have got a plan for a zombie-outbreak after an EMP event during a snow-hurricane, do you think I got everything else covered? ...and if just one of those folks gets into a car wreck on the way your house for the opening...they are all screwed. What's your plan now tough guy. You of all people would have thought that I would have thought of this. Also in the lawyer's letter is instructions for a scavenger hunt.and Surf' trivia contest so that when each item is found/remembered it is one of the numbers. Actually, I may make this the primary method just to know my heirs will be all over the New England area and quizzing each other to remember stuff only to end up finding part of combo written under a large rock on top of a mountain. You know, you might want to hope that the GPS system still works so that you can scuba dive for the the second number. Just think of it as my final opportunity to screw with my heirs which would be more then likely drilling the safe before I am lukewarm. |
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Leave the following with the will in a sealed envelope and the key to the safe with your lawyer. "In the event of my death please contact the following people: Steve phone/address Jeffery phone/address Sally phone/address Please let them know that I have died and tell them "TWO" is the SAFE NUMBER. Years prior you have given these friends/family members a letter which states the following: Steve - You have the first number of the safe which equal the following: 4 plus the SAFE NUMBER Jeffery - You have the second number of the safe which equal the following: 26 times the SAFE NUMBER Sally - You have the third number of the safe which equal the following: 38 plus the SAFE NUMBER The rest of the letter states that they are to contact the lawyer (with the key to the safe's combination lock) and meet up to open your safe and following the instructions that you have taped to the inside of the safe's door. Now you have your lawyer and three other people involved who by themselves cannot open the safe. Yes, I have been told that I "over think" things. But when I am told that, I respond that I have got a plan for a zombie-outbreak after an EMP event during a snow-hurricane, do you think I got everything else covered? ...and if just one of those folks gets into a car wreck on the way your house for the opening...they are all screwed. What's your plan now tough guy. Too complicated=human error=fail My Wife and Mother have the combination and my wishes are inside. The manner in which there are redundant backups for these relatives are proprietary
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Do you have a safe or do you have a serious safe? I have been studying up on security lately and I am past the gun locker stuff. If lined with drywall you can take a few shallow cuts with a circular saw and a diamond blade and cut through the side or back pretty easily. And yeah I have a diamond blade back from when I was cutting up some 5ft by 4ft pieces of marble. A local locksmith shop has a small square office safe from walmart they pried open on display as well. Anyway, since you are talking a kid and what not I can see talking to some lawyers and seeing what it costs for them to hold onto a letter. You leave the lawyers name where someone can find it and call em and they hand over the letter. I have a friend who has my letter. It is unopened in his safe and I got his letter unopened in my safe. If something happens to one of us we will open the letter and go from there. It is nice having a friend you can trust to do what you want. I think a letter is needed so all bank accounts and mason jars in the yard and storage units and hiding spots are mentioned in one area. My friend has a similar concept on safes as I do these days as well so my letter is reasonably safe and I am happy because I don't see much point in having a lawyer involved if I don't need one involved. Check laws for wills and what not of course, might need a lawyer to help draw up one that will hold up in court. As far as safe deposit boxes, I don't use em. Don't care if you just had a single envelope in it, banks have proven they are not to be trusted in my book. I use em as a clearing house for my direct deposit checks but they are not the trusted banks of old I grew up with as a kid in the 70s and 80s. They want to act stupid and run poorly I won't trust em. You can run searches about how some banks in cali went through safe deposit boxes and from what I recall it was not from the person stopping payment on the safe deposit box. Find a local law firm and talk to em. I have found many will talk for a cheap price if I just have a few questions and tell em I am flexable on time and mostly looking for ideas and advice and not even sure if they are the best route to accomplish what I want to do. I do trust a lawyer firm more than a bank. But I also can get local recomendations and talk to the lawyer in person and make an opinion that way. Banks swap people around a lot and I have been annoyed a few times with pretty high up folks saying something will be done and then they don't get it done exactly as they said they would. Oh, figured I would also mention the thumbdrive and trucrypt thread since it has some good ideas on hiding info and keeping it secure. |
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my father has the combo for his safe written on the underside of a drawer in his desk... and yes, he's a fan of the movie "Wargames" that's why it's on the underside.
i have a friend who has the combo to one of his safes written in a book. it's a book that mentions the combination to a safe in the story, but you'd have to be a literary genius to know the book title. he has more than a few books in his house. simply giving it to your attorney in a sealed envelope would be good. my parents had a friend who died at a fairly young age. he had a safe but nobody know the combo. his widow had to call a locksmith. i dunno if the safe was serviceable after it was opened or not. some safes would need a lot of work to get in them, others... not so much. i laugh every time there's something on TV where a Marine has a safe that nobody knows the combo to.... then someone realizes "he's a Marine" and the combo is 10-11-75 that's been on several TV series. if you're a jarhead and that's your combo... CHANGE IT, it ain't no secret.
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Both of my sons live in other states. They each have a copy of my firearms inventory and the combination to the safes. I provided them a copy on paper and thumb drive. They are each willed one safe and specific firearms. Your goal should be to make it difficult to obtain the combination, not impossible. |
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Just leave a footlocker with your mother, with instruction to her to get it to your son in the event the unthinkable happens.
Inside leave a bunch of stuff of no real value along with your "now that Im gone" letter buried among it all. In the event of a break in, they will open it and see "junk" and let it alone. Im assuming your going to out-live your mother, so the box can then just be left in your attic/basement/ other trusted persons hands and left to be found for your son. Maybe when he gets older just explain to him its a box of stuff you want him to have when you pass away (leave out the fact your safe code is in there). If my parents told me that, I would not look forward to opening it up, even prematurely. Very interesting thought OP, never even crossed my mind. I hope whatever you come up with works well for you. |
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When we bought our first safe I agonized over this.
The wife knows the combo to safe #1. The locksmith I bought it from told me it would take him about 3 hours to open it. Inside that safe is the combo to safe #2 Adult son who lives elsewhere has the combo to #1. My best friend has a sealed envelope with the combos to both, and I to his. We closed out the safety deposit boxes years ago. I don't want the attorney or the tax collector snooping through my stuff looking for their cut when I am gone. |
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What do you think? If you don't trust your wife with the combo, put $100 in the safety deposit box so she can hire a locksmith to break into your safe. Problem solved. He's going through a divorce, so the wife is completely out of the question. But, the "$100" is the right solution. Just determine what a locksmith would charge to drill the safe [maybe $300-$1000?], and leave that amount in the safe in a clearly marked envelope. This drill-fee can also serve as an emergency fund for you, so don't worry if it turns out to be the better part of a thousand bucks. OP, you should look into setting up a trust for your son, naming a trustee and alternate trustee. The trustees can choose to hold onto the assets until your son is a certain age, or based on their discretion, they can liquidate some/all of the assets on an as needed basis, based on your son's best interests. This way, your assets stay out of the hands of your ex-wife (wife via your son). Your son is young, and you've got many years ahead of you to build up a sizable estate. You can amend and change the trust at any time. You usually just need to identify the trust, rather than the individual, as the beneficiary of your insurance policies, etc. I'm not a lawyer, just relaying the general idea of what I've set up for my daughter, due to pretty much the same circumstances. |
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...and if just one of those folks gets into a car wreck on the way your house for the opening...they are all screwed. What's your plan now tough guy. You should give each friend the formula for an N-dimensional hyperplane. By calculating intersection of a sufficient number of these planes, the combination can be reconstructed. Individually, each friend's data is useless. But any N of them can get together and reconstruct the combination. That way, if one of them gets in a wreck, you're still OK. (Well, you're still dead I guess, but at least the combination isn't lost.) Naturally, this assumes you chose friends who are cryptographers or math geeks. It also would be best if they drive separately. Quoted:
Too complicated=human error=fail Wait, what?
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...and if just one of those folks gets into a car wreck on the way your house for the opening...they are all screwed. What's your plan now tough guy. You should give each friend the formula for an N-dimensional hyperplane. By calculating intersection of a sufficient number of these planes, the combination can be reconstructed. Individually, each friend's data is useless. But any N of them can get together and reconstruct the combination. That way, if one of them gets in a wreck, you're still OK. (Well, you're still dead I guess, but at least the combination isn't lost.) Naturally, this assumes you chose friends who are cryptographers or math geeks. It also would be best if they drive separately. Quoted:
Too complicated=human error=fail Wait, what? I like the way you think. My one relative is an actuary and would defeat this method. It is that part of the family that I need to keep away from any and all of my stuff. |
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Leave the following with the will in a sealed envelope and the key to the safe with your lawyer. "In the event of my death please contact the following people: Steve phone/address Jeffery phone/address Sally phone/address Please let them know that I have died and tell them "TWO" is the SAFE NUMBER. Years prior you have given these friends/family members a letter which states the following: Steve - You have the first number of the safe which equal the following: 4 plus the SAFE NUMBER Jeffery - You have the second number of the safe which equal the following: 26 times the SAFE NUMBER Sally - You have the third number of the safe which equal the following: 38 plus the SAFE NUMBER The rest of the letter states that they are to contact the lawyer (with the key to the safe's combination lock) and meet up to open your safe and following the instructions that you have taped to the inside of the safe's door. Now you have your lawyer and three other people involved who by themselves cannot open the safe. Yes, I have been told that I "over think" things. But when I am told that, I respond that I have got a plan for a zombie-outbreak after an EMP event during a snow-hurricane, do you think I got everything else covered? ...and if just one of those folks gets into a car wreck on the way your house for the opening...they are all screwed. What's your plan now tough guy. You of all people would have thought that I would have thought of this. Also in the lawyer's letter is instructions for a scavenger hunt.and Surf' trivia contest so that when each item is found/remembered it is one of the numbers. Actually, I may make this the primary method just to know my heirs will be all over the New England area and quizzing each other to remember stuff only to end up finding part of combo written under a large rock on top of a mountain. You know, you might want to hope that the GPS system still works so that you can scuba dive for the the second number. Just think of it as my final opportunity to screw with my heirs which would be more then likely drilling the safe before I am lukewarm. 
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When I get a safe I plan for me and my wife to know the combination. I'll probably write it down in an envelope kept in my FIL's safe 250 miles away with no other description, and tell one or two family members that that's where it can be found. I'll revise the plan later when we have kids. For anyone interested in distributing the combination as Surf suggested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_sharing The other benefit of a trust over a will, is that a will becomes public record, and a trust remains private. |
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wouldnt worry so much about getting the number out to others, most safes can be popped open given enough time. This here. I told my wife I will keep the safe combination. If something happens to me she can call a locksmith. Safes only keep people out who do not try to defeat them; they cannot prevent a determined person from getting in. The security of a safe is rated by the amount of time it will keep someone out. Some safes can be compromised in minutes, others may take hours. The primary reason I have a safe is to keep my kids and their friends away from the firearms. It would deter most thieves who will only take what isn't bolted down. If a thief wants to pry my safe out of the concrete and force the door open, they will probably succeed if they have enough time and the proper tools. As with anything, opsec is your best deterrent. Don't tell others about your safe and keep it well hidden. If they don't know what you have or where to look for it, chances are they will never find it. |
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Leave the following with the will in a sealed envelope and the key to the safe with your lawyer. "In the event of my death please contact the following people: Steve phone/address Jeffery phone/address Sally phone/address Please let them know that I have died and tell them "TWO" is the SAFE NUMBER. Years prior you have given these friends/family members a letter which states the following: Steve - You have the first number of the safe which equal the following: 4 plus the SAFE NUMBER Jeffery - You have the second number of the safe which equal the following: 26 times the SAFE NUMBER Sally - You have the third number of the safe which equal the following: 38 plus the SAFE NUMBER The rest of the letter states that they are to contact the lawyer (with the key to the safe's combination lock) and meet up to open your safe and following the instructions that you have taped to the inside of the safe's door. Now you have your lawyer and three other people involved who by themselves cannot open the safe. Yes, I have been told that I "over think" things. But when I am told that, I respond that I have got a plan for a zombie-outbreak after an EMP event during a snow-hurricane, do you think I got everything else covered? ...and if just one of those folks gets into a car wreck on the way your house for the opening...they are all screwed. What's your plan now tough guy. You of all people would have thought that I would have thought of this. Also in the lawyer's letter is instructions for a scavenger hunt.and Surf' trivia contest so that when each item is found/remembered it is one of the numbers. Actually, I may make this the primary method just to know my heirs will be all over the New England area and quizzing each other to remember stuff only to end up finding part of combo written under a large rock on top of a mountain. You know, you might want to hope that the GPS system still works so that you can scuba dive for the the second number. Just think of it as my final opportunity to screw with my heirs which would be more then likely drilling the safe before I am lukewarm. 
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