The Digital Age: Securing Digital Assets
As you prepare your estate plan, you need to address a new kind of asset you might not have thought about: digital assets. These assets are accounts accessed online and data in platforms like Apple, Yahoo, Google and others. Digital assets are mobile phones, laptops, tablets and personal computers. Digital assets are also the platforms you use to stay connected with friends and family.
What is at stake?
You must take steps now to secure digital assets and delegate access information (log ins), so your executor can locate and save family photos, take down social media pages, gain control of email accounts or sell the website addresses. In short, you need to protect your digital assets from being shut down involuntarily and inaccessible to your loved ones.
Why are these assets different than tangible assets?
In the past, an estate executor could count on uncovering accounts, while searching through boxes of paperwork and old files. Usually a bill or two would arrive in the mail to alert the executor regarding an unknown account. Digital assets are a lot harder to find than tangible assets and there is a real risk that years of data, valuable files or photos could be lost easily – and forever.
Can you protect your digital assets?
Many lawsuits against big tech companies have been brought by families trying to get photos, emails, videos and business records of their loved ones. Some companies automatically delete accounts and data, if there is an extended period of inactivity. Your family could lose a legacy, if you do not include digital assets in your estate plan.
Start with a complete inventory.
A digital asset inventory helps your executor or surviving spouse gain access to your accounts. You should not include your digital inventory in your will. That could lead your digital assets becoming part of the public record, if your estate goes through probate. The inventory needs to include the web address of the digital asset, your username and password. If there are security questions used to confirm that the user is permitted to have access, include the questions and the answers in your inventory.
Many banks will text a security code to a user’s cell phone or send an email to their computer to verify that the person accessing the account is the owner. Part of your digital asset estate plan should include log in information to your cell phone and computer, so your executor may access these security confirmations.
A handful of digital platforms, like Facebook and Google, have started to provide users a means of establishing an alternate contact, in event of their death. This is not yet a common practice, so you will need to prepare your digital assets in advance.
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