It seems daunting to think of all things that someone else may need to know and deal with.
But as @mark_m said earlier, don’t try to eat an elephant in one go.
Start small with recording, say, bank account and investment details in some manner like a spreadsheet, and then other items like social media accounts will come.
You will become used to updating the record as changes occur, and become used to backing it up in some way. And notifying someone else of where this record is to found.
We’ve found bank accounts and investments are generally relatively simple as there is usually a paper trail and there are established processes and procedures which have been around for a long time. Once we finally get the death certificate, things will proceed.
It’s the digital footprint which has been challenging as there is no consistent approach, and every service has their own rules and requirements. Many don’t even have a process, are based overseas and therefore not subject to Australian laws, or are very difficult to contact and deal with.
The key thing is to make sure that your executors know where and how to access the spreadsheet / record, and that there are backup copies in different physical locations.
The better advice is to ensure if you choose biometrics, to always have a reliable backup of the alternate access method - typically a password and email or other form of access. Biometrics suit some users. It’s convenient and as likely to cause loss through misadventure as the everyday 4 number pin.
If one is really paranoid or protecting substantial assets there are better ways to do so.
Unusual for it to be taking so long. Progressing settlement can be further delayed/complicated by the need to subsequently obtain a grant of probate, if only to satisfy just one institution.
What one can do legally in the interim, hopefully there is sound legal advice on what the executor can and cannot do pending a grant being agreed by the court. For the several estates we have had responsibility for, a great deal of the not so professional suggestions we received turned out to be unreliable, or could place the executor at legal risk. Observations suggest there are many actions which family or the executor reputedly take for convenience that a legally qualified executor would not.
Your experiences suggest the need to consider the exit options for any plan or agreement when about to sign up. It should not be left to the family/executor to stumble because the service is unresponsive to your needs.
I had no idea how much legal and personal liability an executor is exposed to until recently. If most people knew this I doubt they’d take on the role.
Unusual for it to be taking so long.
We’ve been told by the funeral director that Queensland Birth, Deaths and Marriages is currently experiencing a lot of delays. It is very frustrating as most things are dependent on obtainign the certificate.
A very interesting discussion with very good suggestions. As a 79yo senior I am looking for any guidance to improve on my ‘pencil’ (now computer) and paper system to shed a light on this difficult topic to make it easier for any family member that survives me and has to rummage through my paper work. I read the Choice article about Digital Estate Planning but put it aside in to the too-hard-basket. However, this discussion opened my eyes to the importance of it all again. Sorry that I can’t contribute much but I am certainly looking forward to @smithwj template.
Cheers and wishing you all a long and healthy life 
And if you get it wrong, this is what you are up against: Telstra 'unnecessarily harasses' woman about dead husband's account for nine years - ABC News
Thanks, Telstra.
Bear in mind that with the nightmare that is Capital Gains Tax … you need more than just a record of what the assets are.
You need to maintain sufficient records for your poor executor in order to cover CGT requirements such as the date of acquisition, cost of acquisition, any costs associated with the acquisition, in the case of real estate a whole mass of records relating to any capital improvements, records relating to any “transactions” applying to the asset (such as capital returns, AMIT shortfall and excess, tax deferred income, dividend reinvestment, corporate restructures, share splits and consolidations), in the case of real estate records relating to periods of unoccupation, renting out, changes of ownership, …
Just so that Telstra can prove the above was not a one-off: A call for help: Families plead for Telstra to stop distressing contact about dead loved ones - ABC News
An interesting snippet of information in that article, and something I hadn’t been aware of, is the existence of The Australian Death Notification Service.
Let organisations know that someone has died
A free government initiative to help people get in touch with multiple organisations using a single online notification.
You notify the service about the death, providing the relevant documentation, and they notify their participating organisations. In principle, that should mean all the relevant organisations already know about the death and that the executors / family / business partners don’t need to prove it to them.
The ABC article says that “usage [of the service] is limited”, and I suspect that’s because few people know about it.
Telstra’s a ‘participating organisation’ of that service, so should take note when told of a customer’s death by that service.
I suspect you are right. I didn’t know about it either. However …
because of the need to tear down the services of a deceased person in a careful order, I really don’t think it’s safe to use the service unless you have much more detail about both which are the participating organisations and how they will respond when they receive such a notification.
In other words, if all Telstra does is tame its marketing department so as not to send insensitive marketing then that would be excellent. But if, in response, Telstra disables access to a mobile service operated by the deceased that then means that you might lose access to a bank account or anything else using 2FA via SMS … and that could mean that it all falls in a heap - and becomes more difficult not less difficult.
The “death notification service” is certainly well-motivated but … I have questions. 
Oh, yes, I agree entirely! The executor/s of the deceased person’s estate would still need to know where the person has accounts, the details of those accounts (eg, bank accounts, mobile phone plan, Google / Microsoft / DropBox / etc), what else each account is connected to (such as mobile phone number for SMS MFA), and what action each organisation will take when notified of a death.
But once all those ducks are lined up, the Death Notification Service could at least make it simpler for the executor to notify all those entities.
And also: in situations like those described in the ABC article, maybe the organisation would be less likely to keep harassing the deceased’s family once the service has formally notified it of the death.
