When you die...

The death of forum member and friend Jeff makes this question important.
Jeff and I had discussed taking over each others client base in the event something happened to either one of us... This was informal and as we of course felt there was a lot of time to follow up on it, we did not take proper steps.
As most of us are small and posses the knowledge and skills needed to run our respective web hosting companies, what do you have in place for your companies when that time comes?
Unlike many assets, your clients rely on your knowledge to keep them going, like a lawyer, the business is very much depending on one person.
What are some solutions to this?
I am sure we all have that "special" feeling for our clients that make them more than just numbers and we all want to make sure they are cared for going forward.

It was very sad news that Jeff passed away.
I had written him a couple of times by pm, just nice conversation.

But to get back on topic, I have a reseller account. I do all server support and maintenance for my hoster, and if something was to happen to me, he will take over all my clients, so I'm sure they are taken good care of.
However, this might be one of the most easiest solutions if you have some friends in the hosting business.

It might be interesting to see what other possibilities there might be.

Jeff and I lived about an hour away from each other and would get together periodically for dinner. We helped each other out on many occasions and last week the day before he passed away he asked me if I was still interested in taking over the business as we had discussed before. I agreed to take over, thus I "inherited" the business from him but right now I am in the midst of dealing with some issues with a very UNETHICAL Rabbi that Jeff had given Power of Attorney. Hopefully I will have it resolved by next week

One thing that I would suggest to everyone is to have a will drawn up with specifics on what is to be done so that way whomever takes over may not have to go through all the aggravation that I am going through right now. Luckily I have access to the network his servers are on in the Los Angeles datacenter

It's good to read you had a good contact with him and could take things over. I've pm'med a bit with him and exchanged some talks. He could indeed tell interesting things, especially from the old days before there were computers. Never seen or talked to him in person, but I'll surely miss him, he was a great and nice guy!

Richard G said:

It's good to read you had a good contact with him and could take things over. I've pm'med a bit with him and exchanged some talks. He could indeed tell interesting things, especially from the old days before there were computers. Never seen or talked to him in person, but I'll surely miss him, he was a great and nice guy!

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Right now I am sorting all of the stuff out related to the business and updating the customer as well.

It is so cute...

It is so cute you used ETHICAL and Rabbi in the same sentence... and Jeff would have agreed!
Jeffs family is ill equipped to deal with the web hosting industry and his sons not responsible enough to provide the client support Jeff would have wanted.
We talked many times and Jeff felt the same way about his business as I do mine. Right or wrong, good or bad, legal or not, I am sure that Jeff would have wanted a stranger to continue to nurture and grow his business before he would want it to be devoured by his relatives.
Do you know if the ex wife took the cat?

Nexxterra.com said:

It is so cute you used ETHICAL and Rabbi in the same sentence... and Jeff would have agreed!
Jeffs family is ill equipped to deal with the web hosting industry and his sons not responsible enough to provide the client support Jeff would have wanted.
We talked many times and Jeff felt the same way about his business as I do mine. Right or wrong, good or bad, legal or not, I am sure that Jeff would have wanted a stranger to continue to nurture and grow his business before he would want it to be devoured by his relatives.
Do you know if the ex wife took the cat?

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I finally heard back from the Rabbi and he told me I could pick up the computer anytime and he gave me the passwords for Jeff's financial stuff as well. I might have someone pick up the computer this evening as it is a bit of a haul for me to go out to Riverside as I do not have a car and I would have to take a train but my boss has a second home out in Palm Springs and he is coming back into town tonight so he might make the stop in Riverside for me.

I do have to say that I feel like I have stepped into some extremely LARGE shoes and I pray that I will be able to fill them