One topic your will probably doesn’t cover, but should pertains to digital assets. What are they and what should you do with them?
While you may have completed an estate plan, with a will and powers of attorney for healthcare and finances, there is an often overlooked area of estate planning that is becoming increasingly important. That is, considering what will happen to your digital assets when you are no longer here or are no longer able to make decisions for yourself.
What are digital assets?
Digital assets include your emails, electronically stored photos, and social media accounts, among other things. Think of everything you have online, on your computer and stored in the cloud that is likely password protected. How do you want these accounts and their contents treated when you pass away?
Who should manage your digital assets?
Once you’ve considered what should happen to your digital assets after you pass, the next step is to consider who can actually follow through on your wishes. This person would naturally be someone you trust to go through the contents, but also someone who is tech savvy enough to know how to carry out your wishes. You can think of this person as your “digital executor.”
Making it Legal
In order for your digital executor to be able to legally access your accounts, you need to give them consent in writing. It is important that language be added to your will that gives consent for providers (Facebook, Google, etc.) to reveal the contents of your electronic communications to your digital executor. Additionally, be sure that your will specifically allows your digital executor/s to reset, or recover your passwords.
Accessing your Digital Assets
Even with the legal right to access your files, getting into your digital property can still be difficult if you don’t leave information about passwords for all of your accounts.
Many accounts now require additional levels of verification sent to a different device that can be virtually impossible to access or bypass if you don’t have the code.
To make sure your digital executor is able to get into your online accounts, it is best to make a list of all of your accounts with the corresponding password, security question answers (if your digital executor is signing in from a different device they may need to answer these questions) and the passcode to your phone. Many of the accounts that require additional verification, send the verification to your phone.
Once you’ve compiled the list, be sure to let your digital executor know where they can find the list. Alternatively, you could store all of your passwords in a centralized place by using a password management app like Lastpass or 1password.
Whatever you decide you want done with your digital property and regardless of who you appoint to manage this once you’ve passed, it is clear that in today’s world, with half of our lives (maybe that’s slightly exaggerated, but not much!) stored digitally, a plan for these digital assets is essential.
