Yet, that's what numerous people do by not incorporating their digital assets and electronic lives in their estate plans. Clarify How to Handle Social Media and Email. To be thorough in your inventory, you might want to refer to our article on digital property, which outlines different types of digital assets you may own. Digital photos and videos.
Documents, photos, videos saved to a hard drive belong to the owner of the hard drive, but many social media sites take ownership of content that is uploaded to their servers. Formerly a women's business coach and Pink Cadillac driving sales director with Mary Kay Cosmetics, Kristen continues to educate and mentor women through her Women Empowered workshops and other speaking engagements. Lawmakers have begun to address the issue of allowing traditional executors or personal representatives to gain access to digital accounts. Often, this list needs ongoing maintenance as you remember other websites to add. And second, depending on the account, even if you want them to manage it, they may not be able to. Kristen Marks, a/k/a 'My Pink Lawyer, ' is a public speaker and Florida estate and special needs planning attorney who's been serving women and their families for over sixteen years. Give that Agent Authority and Direction. How can you protect your digital assets? Social media and estate planning commission. Even worse, funds available in financial accounts aren't available for distribution to beneficiaries. "You might not be comfortable making all digital assets accessible to your fiduciaries. You probably don't want your heirs to have to engage in legal battles for the right to access your various electronic assets or hire technology experts to crack them. Anything that's not on paper and that you access with the computer is a digital asset.
Access those accounts or the information in those accounts. Photo credit: ©, ©, ©. This is important because a traditional will becomes public when it's submitted to the court. To support their refusal to provide access or information to the estate or surviving family members, many providers cited a federal electronic privacy law making it a crime to access someone else's online accounts. There are instances where you may have thought you purchased a digital asset, but in fact you purchased a nontransferable license to use the asset. Not every online account you have will allow you to do this internally, and as long as that's the case, you need to designate someone in your will. Another planning option is to add language in the specific bequest section regarding digital assets and refer to an addendum for the specifics of the distribution plan. Kristen has been married to her law school sweetheart for 16 years and they have two (2) children. Any content that is stored in digital format can be considered a digital asset. A digital executor may be a person that you choose to act on your behalf if something were to happen to you. Social Media Estate Planning –. All the executor has to do is provide proof that he or she is authorized to act as executor. Given that your digital assets may hold tremendous sentimental value for your loved ones, it's well worth taking the necessary steps to protect them and clearly articulate these in an estate plan. Estate planning law has mostly caught up to developments in technology, though it took longer than it should have.
Here at the Academy, we receive a lot of questions about Facebook. Your family may lose the opportunity to access your digital property if this happens. However, there are a few essential differences. "To me, that's a win. Each of these personalities is hidden behind a username and password that perceivably only the creator of that account can access.
DBM's Langley, and Coquitlam lawyers will ensure your digital directives adhere to British Columbia law. This means giving the person you trust the name of your attorney, the name of the online storage company you've used, or the location of keys or the combination to your safe. Today, someone's digital estate can be some of the most important assets that they leave behind. Why It's Important to Have a Digital Estate Plan. Social media and estate planning articles. Making sure these accounts are accessible following your death will save your loved ones a lot of legwork. The ultimate question for many people will be what should happen to your various digital assets after you die. And while many people manage their finances, business, and personal lives online, very few have organized or centralized those accounts. Keeping a written logbook of important usernames and passwords and storing it securely with other important documents, is often a good solution. This person can be the Personal Representative you've appointed under your Will or the Attorney-in-Fact you've appointed in your Power of Attorney or someone else whom you name. We can typically locate assets of incapacitated or deceased persons through account statements, tax returns, tax information such as 1099s, and over time through mail. Legacy, APC's post regarding the legacy of Walter Cronkite and other celeb news or special announcements generates feedback.
Also back up your data to a local computer or personal storage device. Alternatively, you can ask your executor to end the license so that your estate does not need to keep up with payments. You may picture a house and a will outlining who it will be passed down to. Adding Social Media Provisions to a Will? Estate Planning Evolves to Protect Your Online Persona | - Estate, Legacy and Business Planning. If you choose to have two different people serve as executor of your estate and digital executor, you might want to leave instructions for them to work together. "You have [digital] photographs, you have videos, " Schneiderman says.