“There’s certainly an aspect of fear, sadness and depression. One of the odd things I’ve learned is a lot of people are superstitious,” said Matt Lenzi, founder and CEO of heirVault, a company that helps people assess the readiness of their estate planning.
Assemblymember Ian Calderon introduced AB 691 Thursday, that according to a news release, “would provide the protections necessary to safeguard our personal information after we die and allow access to only those people we would want to share our digital property with.”
Experts discussed the same topic at Sacramento Social Media Club’s panel discussion Thursday night, titled “Digital death: Estate planning for your virtual assets when you die.”
“(It’s for) folks who have online accounts. That includes online bank accounts, social media accounts, photography accounts,” said Jan Roos, a founding partner at the law firm Norman Roos LLC and moderator of the event. “Anything where you might sign on to an account online, that is part of your digital estate.”
That digital estate may be headache-ridden for grieving loved ones, trying to access accounts.
“It’s draining, time-consuming, irritating, and expensive. Attorneys aren’t cheap,” said Alexandria Goff, an estate-planning attorney, who recommends people write down their passwords and make sure their trusted relatives will have access to it.
Years ago, Google gave users the option of having trusted contacts access their accounts — or to have the data deleted after certain periods of inactivity.
Weeks ago, Facebook started the “legacy contact” option, allowing users to designate someone to manage their pages after death. If a user does nothing, and Facebook finds out that person has passed away, the posts on his or her page will be kept up, and the will be “memorialized” per that user’s settings.
Roos said it’s important that people plan ahead and put “someone in charge of these digital assets and giving the family the opportunity to take over accounts if something were to happen, so they can control the information so it doesn’t get into the wrong hands.”
Lenzi emphasizes that your digital estate planning should also incorporate digital devices, like mobile phones and laptops, and the data they contain.
“We take pictures. We have music. We have videos. We have documents that we create. All those things make up our digital life,” he said.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —What happens to your online accounts after you die? It’s an important question many people avoid.
“There’s certainly an aspect of fear, sadness and depression. One of the odd things I’ve learned is a lot of people are superstitious,” said Matt Lenzi, founder and CEO of heirVault, a company that helps people assess the readiness of their estate planning.
Assemblymember Ian Calderon introduced AB 691 Thursday, that according to a news release, “would provide the protections necessary to safeguard our personal information after we die and allow access to only those people we would want to share our digital property with.”
Experts discussed the same topic at Sacramento Social Media Club’s panel discussion Thursday night, titled “Digital death: Estate planning for your virtual assets when you die.”
“(It’s for) folks who have online accounts. That includes online bank accounts, social media accounts, photography accounts,” said Jan Roos, a founding partner at the law firm Norman Roos LLC and moderator of the event. “Anything where you might sign on to an account online, that is part of your digital estate.”
That digital estate may be headache-ridden for grieving loved ones, trying to access accounts.
“It’s draining, time-consuming, irritating, and expensive. Attorneys aren’t cheap,” said Alexandria Goff, an estate-planning attorney, who recommends people write down their passwords and make sure their trusted relatives will have access to it.
Years ago, Google gave users the option of having trusted contacts access their accounts -- or to have the data deleted after certain periods of inactivity.
Weeks ago, Facebook started the “legacy contact” option, allowing users to designate someone to manage their pages after death. If a user does nothing, and Facebook finds out that person has passed away, the posts on his or her page will be kept up, and the will be “memorialized” per that user’s settings.
Roos said it’s important that people plan ahead and put “someone in charge of these digital assets and giving the family the opportunity to take over accounts if something were to happen, so they can control the information so it doesn’t get into the wrong hands.”
Lenzi emphasizes that your digital estate planning should also incorporate digital devices, like mobile phones and laptops, and the data they contain.
“We take pictures. We have music. We have videos. We have documents that we create. All those things make up our digital life,” he said.
Click here to view original web page at Have you planned your digital afterlife?
