As you consider what you will pass on to your heirs and other beneficiaries, do not overlook your digital assets. If your virtual property – anything from digital music you’ve bought to website content, Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies – has value, then proper estate planning can ensure you’ve designated […]
Sree Chintala (above) and his daughter created Clocr, a cloud locker that provides an all-in-one platform where users can organize and store online accounts, manage beneficiaries, store and share important documents, and pass on messages to loved ones. (clocr.com photo) An Indian American father-daughter duo in Texas have launched […]
You have a list of predefined asset types, e.g. bank account, company stocks, life insurance and etc., from which you can choose. You can also add custom asset types, to fit your specific use case.
We don’t ask for any confidential information like number of bank account, number of stock options, secret keys or any confidential or sensitive information – the service doesn’t require such information.
You enter only the minimum high-level information about the assets (e.g. “Savings account in Credit Suisse”), as well as some description and notes for the beneficiaries , which will allow them to identify that asset.
For each asset you have entered, you can assign one or more beneficiaries. These are the people that will be informed about the associated asset, if something happens with you.
The beneficiaries will be informed ONLY about the assets which they are assigned to.
Trustees are people that you know well and can trust, who are familiar with the asset type and can further support the beneficiaries in claiming their ownership.
You can assign trustees for each of your assets.
Your beneficiaries might not be proficient with the type of assets assigned to them, e.g. elderly people or children. For that purpose, we recommend that you assign trustees for each of your assets. If something happens with you, they can help the beneficiaries claim their rightful ownership of the assigned assets.
To further help your beneficiaries claim their ownership, DGLegacy offers you the optional legal package.
With the legal package, in a case of unforeseen event, a renewed law company will engage with the beneficiaries to guide and help them in the process of claiming and getting ownership of their assets, throughout the whole process – from the notification, till the actual ownership.
The emergency protocol is a procedure which ensures that the beneficiaries will be informed about the assets assigned to them, if something happens with the user.
It is a safe procedure which also aims to eliminate false notifications to the beneficiaries at any cost. This is implemented through multistep process, described below. Part of the process includes confirmation with the user through a phone call from a dedicated assistant.
Step 1: The user receives regular e-mail with a link to confirm everything is OK.
Step 2: If the user doesn’t confirm OK status, there is a series of reminder e-mails, sent at configurable intervals, at both the primary and the secondary e-mail of the user.
Step 3: If the user doesn’t confirm OK status to any of the reminder e-mails, a representative from DGLegacy will also try to connect with the user via phone.
Step 4: Upon successful confirmation that the user is OK (e-mail or phone), the protocol is reset for the next period.
Step 5: If there is no confirmation again and the DGLegacy representative cannot get in touch with the user on the phone*, notifications to the beneficiaries and trustees are triggered.
Step 6: In all of the paid versions of the product, dedicated representative from DGLegacy will contact all beneficiaries and trustees on the phone, to ensure that they are informed about the assets per the preferences of the user.
Step 7: For users with selected Legal Package, a representative from a law firm will get in touch with each of the beneficiaries, to help and guide them in the process of claiming ownership.
* phone call confirmation of OK status with the user, in addition to the e-mail confirmation, is performed only in the paid versions. In the free version, only e-mail confirmation is performed.
Being assigned as a beneficiary means that other person has been explicitly pointed you to be notified as a heir of certain assets, if something happens with that other person.
As a beneficiary, you will be able to see these assets in the “Assets to Receive” page.
The page contains all the assets for which you are assigned as a beneficiary, their type and relevant information
When a man died by suicide in 2016, a friend found an unsent SMS on his phone:
Dave Nic you and Jack keep all that I have house and superannuation, put my ashes in the back garden with Trish Julie will take her stuff only she’s ok gone back to her ex AGAIN I’m beaten. A bit of cash behind TV and a bit in the bank Cash card pin 3636 MRN190162Q 10/10/2016 My will
Following a dispute between the man’s widow and his brother and nephew, the Supreme Court of Queensland decided the message was a valid will.
The case represents a growing body of legal decisions reflecting how the digital age is challenging the courts.
In the UK, the Law Commission is reviewing the law of wills to decide whether it should reflect the ubiquity of digital technologies.
Except in very limited exceptional circumstances, a will is a document. To be a valid formal will, there are certain requirements: it must be in writing, on paper, signed by the testator, witnessed by other people, and formally executed. Specific formal language is encouraged.
In law, documents – more than witnesses or physical objects – have become the most important form of evidence.
But in the digital age, the distinction between a document, a witness and real evidence is becoming more difficult to perceive, and pointless to sustain.
What we understand as a “document” has expanded to include a potentially limitless range of digital forms and devices.
Challenges abound. Digital documents are long, ubiquitous, intangible, difficult to authenticate, easy to duplicate and modify. They sometimes bring more questions than answers.
The case of the unsent SMS
The Supreme Court of Queensland had no difficulty in finding that the unsent text message was a document. However, it was not a formal will. Informal wills can still be valid in some circumstances. The court noted that the unsent message was identified as a will, dated, contained the deceased’s initials and date of birth (“MRN190162”).
It identified most of his assets, included clear wishes about their distribution, provided a pin code and gave instructions about his ashes.
The court also considered his state of mind at the time of his death, determining he had sufficient capacity to make a will. It considered the fact the man didn’t send the text message: did it mean that his will was still in draft form and did not reflect his final wishes?
The court accepted evidence that he did not send the message so that his family would not interrupt his suicide. Despite lacking nearly all of the formalities of a will, it was found to be his valid last will and testament.
A court might look for clues wherever possible – even in the deceased draft messages folder.
In 1948, Cecil George Harris died following an accident on his Saskatchewan wheat farm. He had been trapped underneath his tractor for 12 hours in torrential rain. His wife and neighbours eventually found him during a lightning storm. Despite their best efforts, he died of his injuries.
Two of his curious neighbours went to examine Harris’ stricken tractor and found that message he’d scratched into the paint on the fender:
In case I die in this mess I leave all to the wife. Cecil Geo. Harris
An extract from ‘In Case I Die In This Mess’, an episode of the podcast History Lab, from Impact Studios at the University of Technology, Sydney.
The neighbours removed the fender after his funeral and conveyed it to a local lawyer. It was eventually held to be Harris’ last will and testament. Because this case is now a quirky landmark of Saskatchewan succession law, the fender and the knife Harris used to carve his message are now on display in the library of the University of Saskatchewan law school.
What would the deceased have wanted?
Grief, generosity, love, regret, hate, spite, retribution, eccentricity: the full gamut of human emotions are revealed in a person’s will, and in the conduct of their beneficiaries and descendants after death.
Probate courts are required to walk into this emotional minefield, and ask: what would the deceased have wanted?
When a deceased person hasn’t left a will, or they’ve left one that’s deficient, the court looks for clues.
And, as history tells us, the courts have often acted with considerable sensitivity and flexibility in trying to do justice to the dead.
If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
In Case I Die In This Mess was made by Impact Studios at the University of Technology, Sydney – a new audio production house combining academic research and audio storytelling. It is the first episode in a four part series titled ‘The Law’s Way of Knowing’, available for download through the award-winning UTS History Lab podcast.
When a man died by suicide in 2016, a friend found an unsent SMS on his phone:
Dave Nic you and Jack keep all that I have house and superannuation, put my ashes in the back garden with Trish Julie will take her stuff only she’s ok gone back to her ex AGAIN I’m beaten. A bit of cash behind TV and a bit in the bank Cash card pin 3636 MRN190162Q 10/10/2016 My will
Following a dispute between the man’s widow and his brother and nephew, the Supreme Court of Queensland decided the message was a valid will.
The case represents a growing body of legal decisions reflecting how the digital age is challenging the courts.
In the UK, the Law Commission is reviewing the law of wills to decide whether it should reflect the ubiquity of digital technologies.
Except in very limited exceptional circumstances, a will is a document. To be a valid formal will, there are certain requirements: it must be in writing, on paper, signed by the testator, witnessed by other people, and formally executed. Specific formal language is encouraged.
In law, documents – more than witnesses or physical objects – have become the most important form of evidence.
But in the digital age, the distinction between a document, a witness and real evidence is becoming more difficult to perceive, and pointless to sustain.
What we understand as a “document” has expanded to include a potentially limitless range of digital forms and devices.
Challenges abound. Digital documents are long, ubiquitous, intangible, difficult to authenticate, easy to duplicate and modify. They sometimes bring more questions than answers.
The case of the unsent SMS
The Supreme Court of Queensland had no difficulty in finding that the unsent text message was a document. However, it was not a formal will. Informal wills can still be valid in some circumstances. The court noted that the unsent message was identified as a will, dated, contained the deceased’s initials and date of birth (“MRN190162”).
It identified most of his assets, included clear wishes about their distribution, provided a pin code and gave instructions about his ashes.
The court also considered his state of mind at the time of his death, determining he had sufficient capacity to make a will. It considered the fact the man didn’t send the text message: did it mean that his will was still in draft form and did not reflect his final wishes?
The court accepted evidence that he did not send the message so that his family would not interrupt his suicide. Despite lacking nearly all of the formalities of a will, it was found to be his valid last will and testament.
A court might look for clues wherever possible – even in the deceased draft messages folder.
In 1948, Cecil George Harris died following an accident on his Saskatchewan wheat farm. He had been trapped underneath his tractor for 12 hours in torrential rain. His wife and neighbours eventually found him during a lightning storm. Despite their best efforts, he died of his injuries.
Two of his curious neighbours went to examine Harris’ stricken tractor and found that message he’d scratched into the paint on the fender:
In case I die in this mess I leave all to the wife. Cecil Geo. Harris
An extract from ‘In Case I Die In This Mess’, an episode of the podcast History Lab, from Impact Studios at the University of Technology, Sydney.
The neighbours removed the fender after his funeral and conveyed it to a local lawyer. It was eventually held to be Harris’ last will and testament. Because this case is now a quirky landmark of Saskatchewan succession law, the fender and the knife Harris used to carve his message are now on display in the library of the University of Saskatchewan law school.
What would the deceased have wanted?
Grief, generosity, love, regret, hate, spite, retribution, eccentricity: the full gamut of human emotions are revealed in a person’s will, and in the conduct of their beneficiaries and descendants after death.
Probate courts are required to walk into this emotional minefield, and ask: what would the deceased have wanted?
When a deceased person hasn’t left a will, or they’ve left one that’s deficient, the court looks for clues.
And, as history tells us, the courts have often acted with considerable sensitivity and flexibility in trying to do justice to the dead.
If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
In Case I Die In This Mess was made by Impact Studios at the University of Technology, Sydney – a new audio production house combining academic research and audio storytelling. It is the first episode in a four part series titled ‘The Law’s Way of Knowing’, available for download through the award-winning UTS History Lab podcast.
