Cookie Policy

Last reviewed on May 7, 2026.

What Cookies Are

Cookies are small text files that a website places on your browser to remember information about your visit. Similar technologies — including local storage, session storage, and pixel tags — work the same way for the purposes of this policy.

This Cookie Policy describes the categories of cookies and similar technologies that ForWidows.com uses, why we use them, and how you can control them. It supplements our Privacy Policy.

Categories of Cookies We Use

1. Strictly Necessary

These are required for the site to load and display correctly. They do not store information that identifies you. Disabling them would break basic site functionality.

2. Preferences and Local Storage

Our interactive tools — the survivor benefits calculator, the budget calculator, and the 30-day checklist — use your browser's local storage to remember the values you have entered and your checklist progress. This data lives only on your device. It is not transmitted to our servers and we cannot read it.

Clearing your browser's site data removes this information. There is no recovery.

3. Analytics

We use Google Analytics (gtag.js, property G-V9SVXQB3G6) to understand which articles readers find useful. Analytics cookies record information such as the pages you view, time on page, referring source, and approximate location derived from IP address. The data is aggregated for reporting and not used to identify individual users.

Common Google Analytics cookies include _ga, _gid, and _gat. Their lifetimes range from a few minutes to two years.

4. Advertising

This site participates in Google AdSense. Once ads are active, Google and its certified ad-tech partners may set cookies to:

  • Show ads that may be relevant to your interests, based on your visits to this and other sites
  • Limit how often you see the same ad
  • Measure ad performance and detect fraudulent clicks

Common Google advertising cookies include IDE, NID, __gads, and __gpi. They expire from a few months to two years depending on type and jurisdiction.

For users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, Google's certified consent management partner displays a consent prompt before non-essential advertising cookies are set, in line with the EU User Consent Policy.

How to Control Cookies

Browser controls

Every modern browser lets you block all cookies, block third-party cookies, clear cookies on exit, or delete specific cookies. Look in your browser's privacy or security settings. Blocking all cookies will affect the way many websites work, including this one.

Opt out of personalized advertising

Opt out of Google Analytics

Install the official browser add-on: Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Global Privacy Control (GPC)

If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising in jurisdictions where that right applies.

Do Not Track

Most browsers offer a "Do Not Track" setting. Because there is no industry-wide standard for how sites should respond, we do not change behavior based on the DNT header. We do honor the controls described above.

Third-Party Cookies

Some cookies on this site are set by domains other than forwidows.com — primarily Google services. Each third party governs its own cookies under its own privacy policy. Helpful starting points:

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time as our use of cookies changes. The "Last reviewed" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

Contact

Questions about this Cookie Policy? Email [email protected]. For broader privacy questions, see our Privacy Policy.