What about your online accounts? In a July 19 article posted on the Wall Street Journal Online, columnist Andrea Coombs cited the new estate planning dilemma posed by the popularity of online banking. Many people, Coombs pointed out, now use password-restricted sites for secure online banking, bill paying, stock purchasing and even the storage of such personal mementos as photos and videos. These accounts, she said, can be easily overlooked when making estate disbursements. "Online accounts can be very difficult to ascertain, and even more difficult to access, when the owner of the account passes away," local elder law and estate planning attorney Gina Barry agreed. In light of how much of people's financial lives now take place online, Coombs said it is critical that this list of assets and especially, the log in and password information, be included somewhere accessible to heirs or executors such as in a safe deposit box or in a list given to a lawyer or trusted friend. "Maintaining a list of accounts with passwords makes sense, but it is also important to ensure that the list itself is properly safeguarded," Barry said. "In my list, I don't include the actual passwords, but I do provide a hint that someone close to me would recognize and be able to easily ascertain." "Recently," Barry continued, "I have heard of a company that provides you with an online 'vault,' where you can put all of your information, including copies of your estate planning documents, in one place. Of course, even with a service such as this, it will only be as good as the information put into it."