Pre-planning often comes with a stigma rooted by fear and focused on death. The LegacyPath app is designed to change that.
Creator Damiana Franklin, with more than 20 years’ experience as a CPA, understands the challenges loved ones face when left to grieve amid the overwhelming responsibility of locating important documents, especially when a loss happens unexpectedly.
“We accumulate so much throughout our lives—bank and investment accounts, insurance policies, tax information, trusts, wills, property records, business interests, digital accounts and passwords,” Damiana says. “Most of us know where those things are, but the real question is: Would someone else know?”
With LegacyPath, the goal is to eliminate that guesswork. The secure app allows users to upload vital information for easy access while providing space to store treasured memories and personal letters.
During a time of uncertainty, LegacyPath aims to provide the clarity many seek early in their grief journeys. This, Damiana says, is a gift that anyone can leave behind for those they love. “Every answer you can provide in advance is one less decision your family has to make while grieving.”
LegacyPath exists in part because of Damiana’s experience with longtime husband-and-wife clients, David and Karen. After David’s sudden, unexpected passing, Karen was unable to grieve without also facing the overwhelming task of locating and managing the details of their life together that David had handled. Watching her navigate this challenge was the push Damiana needed to do something.
“I kept thinking, ‘Why do we leave our loved ones to figure all of this out during one of the hardest moments of their lives? What if David could have left Karen a roadmap?’”
These questions kept tugging at her heartstrings and ultimately helped Damiana shape LegacyPath: caring for loved ones even in one’s absence.
“To me, pre-planning isn’t focusing on death,” she explains. “It’s saying, ‘I’ve thought about you. I’ve prepared for you. And when the time comes, I don’t want you spending those first days searching through filing cabinets, phones and email accounts trying to piece together my life.’”
Damiana designed LegacyPath to make this act of love as easy as possible for everyone. She knew that the more user-friendly the app was, the more likely people would be to take advantage of what it offers: clarity, comfort and peace of mind.
The app’s organized system for finances and other important documents is a complement to Damiana’s background in accounting. But these logistical features, she says, do not fully capture the role that LegacyPath can play during a dark time.
“LegacyPath goes beyond finances. There is a very human side to it,” Damiana adds. “Financial documents matter, but so does hearing someone’s voice again or having a message from someone you love.” Having access to information that helps ensure bills are paid or an estate is settled is crucial, but the ability to listen to personal voice messages “can provide a completely different kind of comfort.”
One of the most unexpected gifts for Damiana in building LegacyPath has been a new perspective on gratitude. Like many, gratitude for her meant appreciating the things she had in the present. While that remains “incredibly important,” she now sees gratitude a little differently. “There’s another expression of gratitude: taking care of what we’ve been given and making things easier for the people we love.”
The idea of pre-planning can be scary, but with the right mindset and the people we love in mind, the practice can become an act of love.
“My hope is that people don’t open the app and think about dying. I hope they open it and think about living intentionally and making things easier for the people they love.”