What Your Family Needs to Know If Something Happens to You

TL;DR: If something happens to you suddenly, your family needs four things fast: where the main water, gas, and electrical shutoffs are, who your trusted contractors and service providers are, where the maintenance history and warranty paperwork lives, and how to get into the house and its systems. A single one-page sheet, kept somewhere obvious like a kitchen drawer or a shared digital folder, covers all four and takes about 30 minutes to build.

_Last reviewed: August 2026 · 6 min read_

Most homeowners carry every detail of their house in their head. Which breaker feeds the kitchen. Who fixed the water heater last spring. The code for the side door. None of that helps anyone if you're in the hospital, or worse, and your spouse or adult kids are standing in the driveway not knowing where the water main is while a pipe floods the basement.

Okoniq Property Hub keeps a running log of your home's systems, service dates, and contractor contacts in one place, so that record already exists before anyone has to go looking for it.

Where are the shutoffs and safety systems?

Your family needs the exact location of the main water shutoff, the gas shutoff, and the electrical panel, written down and posted somewhere they'll actually look. Not "in the basement somewhere" but "left wall of the basement, behind the water heater, red handle."

A burst pipe can dump 200 gallons of water an hour into a house. If nobody can find the shutoff in the first ten minutes, that's 30+ gallons already on the floor before anyone reacts. The same urgency applies to the gas shutoff during a smell of gas, and the electrical panel during a short or a flooded outlet.

While you're documenting the panel, note whether the home has 100 or 200 amp service and label which breakers control which rooms. If the house still has older two-prong outlets anywhere, flag that too, since 2-prong outlets need special handling during repairs. Also list where every carbon monoxide and smoke detector is and when the batteries were last changed. Bedrooms and rooms near fuel-burning appliances need working detectors most, and a family member won't know to check them if they don't know they exist.

Who are your trusted contractors and service providers?

Your family needs a short list of the plumber, electrician, HVAC tech, and roofer you already trust, with phone numbers, not a search for "emergency plumber near me" at 11pm. If you've used the same HVAC company for 8 years, that relationship and repair history disappears the moment nobody remembers the company's name.

Write down the utility companies too — electric, gas, water, internet — with account numbers if you have them handy. If the home has an alarm or security monitoring service, include that account number and the password needed to disarm it, since first responders and family members both need fast access. A $60/month monitoring contract is useless to your family if they can't log in to cancel or transfer it.

If you've made any DIY security additions, note those as well. Simple additions like smart locks or camera systems under $100 still need instructions for how to reset codes or hand off app access.

Where is the maintenance history and warranty paperwork?

Your family needs to know where the roof warranty, appliance manuals, and repair records are physically or digitally stored, because a house with no maintenance paper trail becomes a house nobody trusts to sell or insure quickly. A roof replaced in 2019 with a 25-year warranty is worth nothing to your heirs if they can't produce the paperwork when a buyer's inspector asks.

The same goes for foundation repairs, water heater replacement dates, and any structural work. If a slab leak was repaired two years ago, or foundation cracks were assessed and cleared by a contractor, that documentation protects your family from redoing work or explaining a mystery repair to a home inspector.

| Paper Records (filing cabinet, folder) | Digital Records (app, cloud folder) | |---|---| | Easy to grab in an emergency | Accessible from anywhere, any device | | Can be lost in fire or flood | Backed up automatically | | No login required | Needs a shared password or account | | Good for warranty cards, deeds | Good for photos, dated logs, receipts |

Most families do best with both: a physical folder with the essentials, backed by a digital copy somewhere a spouse or executor can reach without your phone unlocked.

How do you pass along access codes and passwords?

Your family needs a written list of door codes, wifi passwords, alarm codes, and any smart home app logins, stored somewhere secure but accessible. This sounds obvious until you consider how many homes now run on smart thermostats, keyless entry, and app-controlled garage doors that lock everyone out the moment the account holder is unavailable.

Keep this list separate from your general paperwork, maybe in a small fireproof box or a password manager shared with one trusted person. Update it every time you change a code, not once a year. If you're not sure the home's electrical setup is even safe enough to add smart devices to, check for old knob-and-tube wiring first, since that affects what you should be automating in the first place.

FAQ

What's the single most important thing to write down for my family?

The location of the main water shutoff. A burst pipe or failed water heater can cause thousands of dollars in damage within an hour, and stopping the flow is always the first move, before calling anyone.

Should I keep this information on paper or in an app?

Keep both. Paper works when the power is out or nobody can unlock your phone; a shared digital record, like a maintenance log in a property app, works when family members are remote or need to search old records quickly.

How often should I update this information?

Review it twice a year, ideally each time you change the clocks. Update it immediately any time you switch contractors, change a lock code, or complete a major repair like a roof or water heater replacement.

Does this replace a will or estate plan?

No. This is a practical home operations sheet, separate from legal documents like a will, power of attorney, or deed. Both are needed, and they serve different purposes.

What if I rent out the property instead of living in it?

Landlords need the same information plus lease terms, tenant contact info, and security deposit records, so a property manager or family member can step in without a gap in communication with tenants.

This is educational information, not legal or financial advice. Consult an estate attorney about wills and powers of attorney, and talk to a CPA about how home records affect taxes or inheritance.