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It seems that every day we conduct more of our daily activities online. We increasingly all have a digital presence on our PCs and the Internet. To complete your estate planning, you need to consider how to deal with your digital assets.
Without a clear plan in place, it can be a major headache for your family when you pass away, says The Street in the recent article, “Estate Planning in a Digital World.”
Estate planning for digital assets uses the same basic process as planning for physical assets, but it has some unique challenges:
- The information in which a digital asset resides may be owned by another entity;
- Digital assets can change; and
- Legal issues like intellectual property and privacy laws can complicate things.
Some online services haven’t created clear policies for how digital assets are to be managed when a user has died. In some situations, it may be sufficient to make sure the person you’ve named as executor or given power of attorney has access to your passwords. However, there are some companies that may say that another person accessing an account is a violation of their terms of use. They may freeze or close the account. Therefore, you can see why careful planning and research is critical when adding digital assets to your estate plan.
Some states have proposed standard governance guidelines for estate planning and digital assets, such as the revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. This standard guideline gives clear rules regarding how an executor can manage digital assets after the owner’s death.
Talk to one of our experienced estate planning attorneys to be sure your digital plan is set up correctly in your estate plan.
Do an Inventory of Your Digital Assets. Begin with a list of all of your digital assets.
Designate a Person to Handle Your Digital Assets. This person will address your online accounts and files after you pass.
Maintain a List of Your Passwords. A big help to your heirs and advisors is to have ready access to your accounts at your death. Keep this list updated, and store it in a secure location. You should also put a copy with your estate planning documents.
Leave Detailed Instructions. The better the instructions you leave, the easier it’ll be for your family to know what to do and to be certain that your final wishes are fulfilled.
Including information on how to access and manage your digital assets in your estate planning documents is a critical step to ensuring that your heirs can more easily manage your affairs when you are gone. To make sure digital assets are included in your estate plan, we invite you to request a consultation with one of our estate planning attorneys.