escendant

Trustees Guide

What are Trustees?

A Trustee is a user you have invited to take care of your Escendant and it's associated Engrams should you not be able to do so in the future. Because you are always the owner of your data on Escendant it's important that you select a Trustee to manage your data for any future events. Should you die or become unable to manage your own account, your Trustee will become the owner of your data, not Escendant or a third-party. A Trustees main role is to report your death to Escendant! It’s not a always a pleasent thought but a key part of Escendant's offering is about helping you to plan your digital legacy for when you’re no longer around. Many people use Escendant to prepare themselves and their loved ones for the years after their death. Trustees play a pivitol role in not only reporting a death to Escendant but also in managing the deceased users legacy.

Who can be a Trustee?

A Trustee is as the name suggests should be a person you can trust. A Trustee should also be someone that you've known for a long time, they should be dependable and you should have at least semi-regular contact with them (once a month). Trustees must have and Escendant account and they need to be one of your Connections. Just like in the real world a Trustee is someone you've given the power to manage your affairs.

Invite someone to be your Trustee

Inviting a user to be your Trustee is done via an invite system that works much like the Connections system on Escendant. While you could potentially have hundreds of Connections we recommend you only have three or four Trustees.

Send a Trustee request

  1. Once signed in, tap the Trustees button on the home screen.
  2. From the Trustees overview screen tap the + (plus) button at the bottom of the screen or the button "Invite a new Trustee"
  3. Select from your list of Connnections the user you would like to invite. Use the search bar to refine your selection. You cannot select multiple contacts to invite at one time
  4. Once you tap the "Add" button a confirmation modal will give you the opportunity to check your selection before you confirm by tapping "Send request"
  5. A notification bar will be displayed if your invite has successfully been sent
  6. The invited Connection will recieve a notification informing them that you have invited them to be your Trustee. Once accepted the invite recipeint will be your Trustee.

Accepting and declining Trustee requests

If you are honoured with a Trustee request it means someone thinks you're a good and trustworthy sort, however you are not obliged to accept the request, you have the option to accept or decline. Accepting or decling a Trustee request is a simple process:

  1. Once signed in, tap the Trustees button on the home screen.
  2. From the Trustees overview screen you will see a button titled "Received Trustee Requests" if this button has a red indicator then you have pending Trustee invites.
  3. Tap the "Received Trustee Requests" button to see a list of pending invites
  4. Tap the "Decline" or "Accept Request" button depending on your decision for each request.
  5. A confirmation bar will be displayed confirming your decision has been successfully actioned.
  6. If you have accepted a request then that users Escendant will be in your care and they will be moved into your In your Care list.
  7. Declined users will be removed from your Received Trustee Requests list

Revoking a Trustee request

If you have second thoughts about a Trustee invitation you've already sent it can be revoked if the recipient has not already accepted or declined.

  1. Once signed in, tap the Trustees button on the home screen.
  2. From the Trustees overview screen tap “Sent Trustee Requests”
  3. Select the invite you would like to revoke from the list presented on the next screen
  4. Tap "Revoke request" on the invite you would like to revoke
  5. Confirm by tapping "Revoke request" on the following modal
  6. A confirmation bar will be displayed confirming your invite has been successfully revoked.

Resigning as a Trustee

You can resign as a Trustee for an Escendant in your care.

  1. Once signed in, tap the Trustees button on the home screen.
  2. Tap on the button title "In your care"
  3. Select the Escendant you wish to remove from your care and tap on their card.
  4. On the Escendants profile tap the link titled "Resign as Trustee", you may need to scroll down to the "Trustee information" section
  5. Confirm your resignation on the following modal.
  6. For security reasons the user of the Escendant you have resigned from will be notified of your resignation.

Removing a Trustee

You can remove someone from your Trustee list. We recommend that users have at least two Trustees in place to make sure notification of death can be confirmed.

  1. Once signed in, tap the Trustees button on the home screen.
  2. Tap on the button title "Caring for you"
  3. Tap the Users card you wish to remove from your Trustee list.
  4. On the Escendants profile tap the link titled "Remove Trustee", you may need to scroll down to the "Trustee information" section
  5. Confirm remove on the following modal by tapping "Remove".
  6. Users removed from your Trustee list will not be notified that they are no longer your Trustee

Reporting Death

If a Trustee learns that someone they are a Trustee for has died then it’s important that they report the death along with supporting evidence. Reporting a death can be done from the Trustee overview screen or the Trustees in your care listing screen.

  1. Make sure that you have proof and evidence before reporting of death.
  2. Once signed in, tap the Trustees button on the home screen.
  3. Tap on the button title "Report a death"
  4. From the list of Escendants in your care tap the button "Report death" on the specific card. It’s not possible to report multiple deaths in one session.
  5. On the Escendants profile screen tap the button at the bottom of the screen titled "Report death"
  6. The report death form requires a date of death, evidence of death - idealy digital scan of a certificate of death and any other supporting evidence (published obituary etc).
  7. Tap "Submit" and then confirm your report on the confirmation modal.
  8. Any other Trustees for the reported Escendant will be asked to corroborate the death.
  9. Escendant will begin a process of checking and confirming death.

If a user that has been reported dead has more than one Trustee then they will all be notified and asked to confirm the death. Reports with multiple Trustee confirmations will help speed up validation process.

Once Escendant has been able to officially verify the death, the Escendant will be marked as deceased. Trustees for a deceased Escendant remain as Trustee even after the reported death has been confirmed.

Revoking a report of death

As Mark Twain once said: "the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated"! If you have reported a death and discover that it was a mistake you are able to revoke your report of death.

  1. Make sure that you have proof and evidence before revoking a report of death.
  2. Once signed in, tap the Trustees button on the home screen.
  3. Tap on the button title "In your care"
  4. Select the Escendant you had previously reported dead from the list of Escendants in your care.
  5. On the Escendants profile screen tap the button at the bottom of the screen titled "Revoke report of death"
  6. Tap "Revoke Report" on the resulting confirmation modal
  7. Any other Trustees for the reported Escendant will be asked to corroborate the living status of the User originally

What happens after a death has been confirmed

Once a User has passed away and their death has been officaly confirmed their Escendant is marked as "Golden". Ownership of Golden Escendants is transfered from the deceasd owner to any Trustees in place. Trustees of a Golden Escendant do not have the ability to add or edit anything about the Escendant or it's Engrams.

Golden Escendant

Any Time Capsules that the Golden Escendant had are released to their recipients and/or security groups. Any Engrams in the Golden Escendants "Trustee Documents" Security Group are released to their Trustees. A Golden Escendant will still remain active on the Escendant Platform and will remain in other users Nexus and Connections list.