Digital Assets and Estate Planning
What Happens to Your Online Life After Death?
When most people think about estate planning, they think about their home, bank accounts, investments, or personal belongings.
Increasingly, however, many of our most valuable assets - and memories - now exist only in digital form.
From online banking to family photographs stored in the cloud, digital assets have become an important part of modern estate planning.
Yet they are often overlooked.
What Are Digital Assets?
Digital assets can include a wide variety of online accounts and electronically stored information, including:
online banking and investment accounts;
cryptocurrency and digital wallets;
email accounts;
social media profiles;
cloud storage services;
digital photographs and videos;
domain names and websites;
loyalty and rewards programs; and
online businesses or digital content.
Some digital assets have significant financial value.
Others have tremendous sentimental value for surviving family members.
Why Do They Matter?
After a person dies, family members often know that digital accounts exist but have no practical way of accessing them.
Important financial information may be stored exclusively online.
Family photographs may exist only in cloud storage.
Automatic subscriptions and recurring payments may continue long after death if no one knows they exist.
Without proper planning, locating and managing these assets can become unnecessarily difficult.
Make an Inventory
One of the simplest steps you can take is to prepare a list of your important digital assets.
This might include:
the types of accounts you maintain;
the institutions or companies involved;
where important information is stored; and
how your executor can locate those assets.
For security reasons, many people choose not to include passwords directly in their Will, as a Will may eventually become part of the probate process.
Instead, passwords and access information can often be stored securely elsewhere and updated as needed.
Consider Your Digital Legacy
Estate planning is not only about financial assets.
Many people have thousands of family photographs, videos, emails, or personal writings stored electronically.
You may wish to consider whether these items should be preserved, transferred to family members, or deleted after your death.
Likewise, many online platforms now allow users to designate a legacy contact or provide instructions regarding what should happen to their account after death.
Reviewing these options as part of your estate plan can provide additional peace of mind.
Talk to Your Executor
Your executor cannot administer assets they do not know exist.
Providing your executor with sufficient information about your digital life can make the administration of your estate significantly more efficient.
The goal is not necessarily to provide every password in advance, but to ensure that your executor knows what exists and where to find the information they will need.
Final Thoughts
Our lives are increasingly lived online.
As technology continues to evolve, digital assets have become an important part of every comprehensive estate plan.
By taking the time to organize your digital information today, you can make it much easier for your loved ones to manage your affairs tomorrow.
If you would like assistance preparing or updating your estate plan, Tonelli Estate Law would be pleased to assist - BOOK A FREE CONSULT TODAY.
This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
