What are Digital Assets and Why Should I Worry About Them in My Estate Plan?
Digital assets are increasingly important to plan for, yet they are often overlooked. Increasingly our personal information, financial information, and business information is stored digitally. Not long ago, such information was captured on paper and stored in a file cabinet or safe. Now it is located on hard drives or in the “cloud” and protected with countless different passwords. Failure to plan for these digital assets could leave the loved ones or business partners that you leave behind without access to critical information.
Digital assets can include a wide variety of things such as:
Online bank accounts, brokerage accounts or store accounts
Reward programs such as frequent flier miles or store points
Social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn
Websites or Blogs
Email accounts
iTunes or similar accounts
·Your smartphone, tablet, or other computer
If your representatives do not know the locations or usernames and passwords for your digital assets, they may struggle to access important and sometimes priceless digital information, photos, etc. Many stories exist of family members who have been denied access to email or other accounts of deceased loved ones. For example, if you have a mortgage that is just in your name, the bank may be unwilling to share information about the mortgage with your surviving spouse or children unless they file for probate. However, if they have your username and password, they can readily access the payoff and other information that may be important.
Fortunately, there are things you can do to make sure that your loved ones and associates have access to your important digital information. One important task is to create an inventory of your digital assets along with the username and password. It would also be a good idea to indicate any phone number associated with that account where authentication texts will be sent. Breaking the assets into categories can help make this task less daunting. Categories might include: hardware, software, social media, websites/blogs, online accounts. This inventory can be just on paper, or it could be on a spreadsheet or even with a paid provider such as LastPass. If the person you have named to be your trustee or executor is not computer savvy, make sure you appoint someone who can help with your digital assets. Make sure this information is kept in a secure place and that your representative knows its location. Make sure you do not forget to update this information as you change passwords.
One other important tip for those left behind is to wait to turn off smartphones. Often you will be prompted to add a code as part of the login process. That code will be sent to the phone identified on the account. If you do not have access to the phone, you will not be able to get into the account.
Like any other assets, the assets that now exist in the digital world need to be planned for in the event of our incapacity or death. Do not delay, start working today. Your efforts will preserve important records and simplify the task of those charged with managing your affairs.
This post is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact an attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing herein creates an attorney-client relationship between Hallock & Hallock and the reader.