What actually goes in one
There's no template for this — but the people who finish one usually cover the same ground. A few short paragraphs, said plainly, land harder than a polished essay.
The values you lived by
What mattered to you — shown through a story or two, not a list of rules. A memory that explains one is worth more than the rule itself.
What you're grateful for
Name the people and the moments, plainly. This is usually the part a legacy letter is remembered for.
One piece of practical advice
A single thing you'd want them to carry — said once, said clearly. Not a lecture, a line they can return to.
Keep it short
One page beats ten. Brief is what actually gets read — and read again, years later.
Where it needs to live
Don't attach it to your will. Once probate is granted, your will becomes a public record at the Probate Registry — and anything filed with it can become public too. A legacy letter is personal correspondence, not a legal instruction, and it belongs somewhere else.
Today, that "somewhere else" can be a sealed message — held with your records and released through the same handover, to the person you name. Not on a public register. Not in a drawer only you know about.
Write it, say it, or both
A legacy letter doesn't have to be written at all. Some things land better spoken than typed — and a sealed message can hold either, kept exactly as it was given.
Written
The classic form — typed or handwritten and photographed, kept as the words you chose.
Spoken
Recorded as audio or video, kept exactly as spoken — never rewritten, never smoothed into someone else's sentences.
With enclosures
A photograph, a document, a keepsake — travelling alongside the letter as one sealed bundle, not a separate thing to lose.
Sealed, scheduled and time-capsule messages — unlimited, held with the rest of your records
Every legacy letter you write or record lives inside the same system as your will, your Trusted Persons and your other 33 records — one handover, not a separate thing to remember.
See what's included→Common questions
If this was useful, you might also need —
Letters to my children
The same idea, timed to a birthday or a milestone
A memory book that's kept
Capturing more than one letter, over time
Letter of Wishes
The instructions version — guardianship, funeral, executor discretion
Tiers & pricing
Where sealed messages live — included, unlimited
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