Who Will Pay Your EMIs If You Are Hospitalised? Why Every Family Needs A Financial Index

By Vikram Subburaj

The first financial problem a family could face after a medical emergency can be surprisingly ordinary. A home-loan installment is due next week, but nobody else knows which account pays it. The insurance premium is on auto-debit, though the family cannot say when it will be charged. The household may have enough money, but it lacks the knowledge to keep it running.

Could Your Family Manage Your Finances For 30 Days?

This is the test every family should try: suppose the person who manages the finances cannot answer questions for 30 days. He or she is alive but in a hospital and is unable to handle the finances due to health issues. Could somebody else identify the payments due that month? Would they know which accounts can be operated legally? Could they find the insurance policy without searching for an old phone?

The distinction matters because much of what passes for financial preparedness is designed for death. A nominee may help after the account holder dies. It does little when that person is alive but incapacitated. A spouse who knows the phone password may be able to open an app, but that does not necessarily give the spouse authority to transact through the account. The immediate requirement in such a situation is not a grand estate plan. It is a clear record of how the household’s finances work.

I would call it a simple financial index rather than a financial map. A map suggests that every rupee must be plotted and constantly updated. That would turn a useful exercise into an accounting chore. The family needs an index that points towards the assets, liabilities, and documents that matter. At a larger scale, businesses and companies use such indices. 

For each institution, the index should record the account or product and a masked identification number. It should say whose name the asset is held in, whether there is a joint holder, and whether a nominee has been registered. It should identify the mobile number and email address linked to the account. These details are often more useful during a claim than yesterday’s balance. 

The index must also show where the original documents are kept and whom the family should contact. This could be a bank branch, an adviser, a chartered accountant, or a lawyer. Loans deserve equal space. If an asset is pledged, or if an insurance policy supports a loan, that connection should be visible. Otherwise, a family may find the investment and miss the obligation attached to it.

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Rs 1.10 Lakh Crore In Unclaimed Assets: Why Financial Records Matter

The scale of unclaimed money in India shows what can happen once the connection between an owner and an asset weakens. A March 2026 Lok Sabha reply placed unclaimed financial assets across major regulated categories at more than ₹1.10 lakh crore. This is not a count of failed succession plans. Accounts become unclaimed for several reasons. Yet the figure shows how difficult money can be to trace after contact details, documents, and family knowledge fall out of date. A government campaign had returned ₹5,777 crore through 22.95 lakh claims by February 2026. Each successful claim meant someone eventually had to do a lot of paperwork. 

Keep Your Financial Records Useful To Family, Useless To Thieves

A good financial index should be almost useless to a thief. It must not contain banking passwords, UPI PINs, CVVs, OTPs, or recovery codes. It should never carry the private key or seed phrase for a digital wallet. Its purpose is to establish that an asset exists and show the family how to approach the institution through a legitimate process.

Nominees, Passwords And Legal Access: What Families Need To Plan

Passwords and recovery material require a separate arrangement. Some families may use a password manager with emergency-access provisions. Others may prefer encrypted records or sealed instructions held by a trusted professional. Whatever the method, information about the asset and the means of controlling it should not sit in the same document.

Nomination details still need careful attention. The Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025, permits up to four successive or simultaneous nominations for bank accounts. That flexibility is useful only when people exercise it and revisit their choices. A nomination can ease the claim process. It does not settle every question of inheritance. The will, the ownership structure, and the applicable succession law may still determine who ultimately receives the asset. 

Temporary incapacity needs its own arrangement. Depending on the family’s circumstances, this may involve appropriate joint operating instructions or a properly executed power of attorney. It is worth obtaining legal advice before granting such authority. Sharing a login is not a substitute.

My own industry makes the problem particularly visible. Money held with a regulated digital-assets platform leaves records that a claimant may be able to establish through KYC details and transaction statements. Self-custodied assets are different. There may be no institution for the family to approach. A recovery process must therefore be planned in advance, but without exposing the credentials during the owner’s lifetime.

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A 30-Day Financial Checklist To Prepare For Emergencies

This need not become an elaborate weekend project. Begin with the next 30 days. Record what must be paid and which accounts support the household. Then add the institutions holding longer-term assets, the nominee status, and the location of the documents. Review the index once a year and whenever the family takes a large loan or makes a major investment.

The family should not be able to impersonate the account holder. It should know what exists, what is owed, and where the lawful claim process begins. In an emergency, those few pages can turn a roomful of unanswered questions into a manageable sequence of calls.

(The author is CEO, Giottus.com)

[Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.]