Stewardship succession protocol
Hand on the responsibility.
Never hand over a password.
A family record is vulnerable when its files, decisions and access depend on one person. Succession means preparing another trusted steward to understand the record and exercise the role—not merely copying a login.
Name a primary steward and a continuity steward.
The second person should be able to recover the process and verify an independent copy without receiving unnecessary access or shared credentials.
Define stewardship before assigning access
A family steward maintains trust in the shared record. The role includes protecting living people, reviewing contributions in context, keeping sources and change history understandable, maintaining exports and preparing continuity.
The primary steward makes ordinary record decisions. A continuity steward is prepared to assist or succeed them. Neither role should imply ownership of relatives’ information, permission to publish it, or the authority to resolve family disputes alone.
Do not wait for an emergency
Plan the handover while the current steward can explain how the record works. Useful triggers include an annual archive review, a family reunion, a major software move, a change in the steward’s capacity or an agreed generational handover.
An emergency procedure can exist, but it should point to named people, current exports and a recovery route. It should not depend on discovering passwords in someone’s papers.
The seven-step handover
- 1
Inventory the record
List the working genealogy, most recent export, photographs and documents, source notes, unresolved questions and the applications needed to open them.
- 2
Review authority and access
Confirm who may view, contribute and steward. Identify sensitive or disputed material and the current approach to living relatives.
- 3
Create a clear handover point
Finish or defer pending reviews deliberately, record the date, create a current export and preserve the unchanged source from which the handover begins.
- 4
Verify an independent copy
Keep at least two complete copies in different places. Open the export and sample media instead of assuming that copying succeeded.
- 5
Write down the stewardship principles
Explain how the family distinguishes memory from evidence, handles names and scripts, reviews suggestions and records disagreement.
- 6
Transfer access without sharing credentials
Invite the successor through an individual account, give only the needed role and require the appropriate verification. Never hand over a password, email inbox or MFA secret.
- 7
Rehearse the role and set the next review
Have the successor find a familiar relationship, review a synthetic or agreed contribution, create an export and locate the recovery procedure. Record the next access and backup review.
Build a small, usable handover pack
The pack should explain the record without becoming a second uncontrolled archive. Keep credentials and recovery secrets in their approved custody system, not in the pack.
Test continuity, not only backup
At least once a year—and after a major import, role change or provider move—confirm that the independent export opens, sample media remains readable, the continuity steward can sign in through their own account, obsolete access is removed and the current recovery contact is known.
Digital-preservation guidance consistently separates storage copies, integrity checks, access control, metadata and usable formats. A copied file that no one can locate, open or interpret is not a successful handover.
Sources and Kinonicle scope
Preservation sources
NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation — storage, integrity, security, metadata and file formats.
The National Archives: Digital preservation — inventory, responsibility, multiple copies and ongoing readability.
Kinonicle implementation reviewed: guided launch, export, member roles, MFA, recovery, closure and private-beta operating standards as at 3 August 2026.
This protocol is practical product guidance, not estate-planning or legal advice. A family with disputed authority, incapacity concerns or formal estate requirements should obtain appropriate professional advice.