a woman doing digital asset planning on her laptop at home and the background shows digital files En español | You may not realize it, but you’re creating a significant digital footprint as you send email, comment on social media, post a photo gallery and view your medical records […]
Three planning tips for ensuring fiduciary access to digital assets after death
Click here to view original web page at Three planning tips for ensuring fiduciary access to digital assets after death
In recent posts, we’ve been looking at the issue of digital asset planning, and the requirements under Florida law for different types of fiduciaries to gain access to digital assets after the owner’s death. Here, we wanted to mention some specific ways an experienced attorney can help ensure fiduciaries have access to digital assets when the owner dies.
1. Thoroughly inventory your assets and keep your estate planning documents updated
First, of all, those who own valuable digital assets need to make sure they take stock of everything they own so that they don’t forget anything in the estate planning process. Over time, as changes happen in digital asset ownership, it is important to periodically reevaluate these assets and make sure they are adequately addressed in estate planning.
Taking inventory of digital assets is especially important for guardians, since wards may not necessarily be clear or consistent in communicating their digital asset ownership. Understanding a ward’s situation with respect to digital assets may take a bit of extra care and attention, but it is important to do.
2. Pay close attention to the language surrounding authorization to access/disclose
Both custodians—those responsible for protecting account holders’ privacy—and probate courts pay close attention to digital property clauses in wills, trusts, Power of Attorney forms, and other documents to ensure they contain clear language authorizing access/disclosure. If the language is at all ambiguous, problems may arise for fiduciaries seeking to access those assets after the owner’s death. Owners of digital assets need, therefore, to make sure they clearly communicate their authorization in estate planning documents.
3. Be specific in requesting access to digital assets or termination of accounts
As we noted last time, fiduciaries are required to provide other evidence as laid out under state law in order to gain access to digital assets. Some items must always be provided, such as a copy of the death certificate and documentation establishing the fiduciary’s authority to request disclosure. Other items may be requested by the custodian. Fiduciaries need to be specific in making requests to ensure they are able to obtain disclosure, as failure to do so can cause delay in accessing assets.
An experienced attorney can certainly help in all of these areas, both with taking stock of digital assets and drafting the language authorizing disclosure, as well as with helping ensure fiduciary access to digital assets. When issues arise, the help of a skilled attorney becomes even more necessary to ensure digital assets are addressed and handled properly.
Click here to view original web page at The importance of digital asset planning explained
We all know we’re going to kick the bucket someday, and even though it’s not a pleasant thought to entertain, death can feel a little more manageable when one’s affairs are in order, such as getting funeral cover and planning your estate.
When it comes to death it’s only natural that our primary concerns are what will happen to our family, our material goods, or our businesses. However, few individuals stop to think about what will happen to their digital assets when they pass away. With the average person spending more time on the internet nowadays, our online presence has left behind a footprint that will likely forever be cemented in the digital landscape after one’s death, turning social media such as Facebook and Twitter into a massive virtual cemetery.
In November 2016, millions of Facebook users who logged into their profiles were greeted with commemorative profiles that declared themselves, their families and friends dead. Even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had found that his account had turned into an obituary that read: “Remembering Mark Zuckerberg. We hope people who love Mark will find comfort in the things others share to remember and celebrate his life. Learn more about memorialized accounts and the legacy contact setting on Facebook.”
While Facebook admitted that it was a glitch in their systems, the fleeting incident not only reminded us that life can come to a screeching halt at any moment but that it’s also becoming important to plan for our online demise. But, how does one go about protecting their digital legacy – the vast amount of online profiles pictures, videos, and messages on social platforms we’ve amassed over the years?
Hippo.co.za, the insurance comparison website, published an article Facebook, Death and Grieving, which explains the different options that Facebook users have with regards to their profiles when they die. You now have the choice of leaving your profile untouched or deleting it altogether. Another alternative is to have someone manage your profile as a memorial page where memories can be shared. However, as one grief expert pointed out in the article, having access to a loved one or friend’s Facebook page after they have died could complicate or relieve someone’s grief. The owner of the Facebook account therefore needs to be very specific in their instructions on managing their social accounts.
You can appoint a Legacy Contact, who will have the authority to either request obliteration of the profile or administer it as a ‘memorialised account’. Considering that you have put a lot of time, effort and money (if it’s a business page) into your Facebook account, you may not want to have the page deleted as it can have sentimental value for your family. After nominating a Legacy Contact, the appointed person will act as your online executor but won’t be able to login to your account or access your personal content. The online executor can only manage new friend requests, update profile photos or archive content. Friends and family will be able to write posts and share memories on the profile depending on the account’s privacy settings.
The option to memorialise an account applies to personal Facebook profiles only. In the event that you have a business page attached to your personal account, you may need to file more precise instructions and include them in the estate
Think about what you wish should happen to your business Facebook page when you pass away. If you have a business partner, they may already hold co-administration rights to the page and you may want to leave it like that. However, if you were the sole owner of the business, you could stipulate the plans for your company’s digital assets in your will. If you prefer that a someone close to you take over the business page, write down the login details so that they can access the Facebook page later on. You can also leave instructions on how to manage the page.
If you intend to hand over management of your business to someone else, you also may want to inform your clientele about the change of ownership after your death. Dedicate some time to compile a short post thanking your customers for their support and explaining the road ahead. The person who will be in charge of your business account can post the message to the page. Alternatively, you can use Facebook’s application If I Die to create and post the note, which will be published on your page posthumously. The app allows you to pick three trustees from your Facebook friends and it will be their responsibility to confirm your death before any of your pre-written material can be published.
Through simple and effective digital estate planning you can safeguard your online legacy and spare your family and executor a lot of aggravation down the line. To see how preserving your social profile can help your loved ones deal with the grief of your passing, you can read the full article on the website of Hippo.co.za, with whom this article was a collaboration.
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Click here to view original web page at Include RUFADAA Provisions in Your Will to Protect Your Digital Assets
Today, no estate or disability planning is complete without providing for your “digital assets.” Even if you’ve never considered the notion of digital assets, you almost certainly possess them. Inadequate digital asset planning can frustrate the administration of your estate, lead to identity theft, and cause the loss of valued possessions. Have you ever wondered what happens to your Facebook profile or your vast iTunes library when you die? Can your personal representative compel access to your email or E-Trade accounts if
knowledge of the passwords dies
with you?
More and more of our daily tasks–not to mention assets with sentimental and/or financial value–are going digital. Broadly defined, a “digital asset” is any electronic record stored on, and retrievable from, an electronic device. This includes email accounts, online banking accounts, social media profiles; photographs, writings or other intellectual property stored on a hard drive or in the cloud; entertainment media purchased from iTunes or similar online marketplaces and websites and domain names. Digital assets can reside on your computer, cell phone, tablet, external hard drive or on the internet.
Upon death or disability, a will or power of attorney typically appoints a fiduciary (e.g., a “personal representative”) to attend to your assets and affairs. Such fiduciaries are tasked with accessing, managing, and transferring your assets–tasks that become considerably more difficult when the extent of, and passwords for, digital assets are unknown.
Providing fiduciaries with a periodically updated inventory of digital assets and related passwords, as well as with instructions regarding their management, termination, or disposition, has become a crucial part of modern estate planning. Assets may otherwise be lost, and personally identifiable information may float in cyberspace indefinitely, waiting to be co-opted by
identity thieves.
Such proactive approaches, however, are not always the end of the story. Various federal privacy and anti-hacking laws, and end-user agreements with online service providers, can create roadblocks for even a duly authorized fiduciary to legally access a decedent’s account. Google and Yahoo! for instance have been known to require separate legal proceedings before providing fiduciary access. Aside from the access question, end-user agreements also can raise questions about the ultimate ownership — and thus transferability — of digital assets.
These agreements may contain language that hosted content becomes property of the online custodian, or that media “purchased” online is actually merely licensed by a user until death. Review of end-user agreements, which are often assented to without a second thought, has also thus become an
important part of digital asset planning.
In March, Oregon became the first state to adopt the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Accounts Act (“RUFADAA”), effective January 1, 2017. RUFADAA now provides a mechanism by which fiduciaries under a will, trust, power of attorney, or conservatorship can compel access to, or the termination of, digital accounts pursuant to a statutorily defined process. RUFADAA also provides fiduciaries with legal cover from various computer-related laws that arguably prevented such access. RUFADAA gives discretion to online custodians to limit access to only such portions of accounts necessary to discharge a fiduciary’s obligations and allows custodians to impose a “reasonable administrative charge” for such access. RUFADAA imposes strict legal duties upon fiduciaries, and legal counsel should be consulted when seeking access under the new act.
RUFADAA will generally apply when fiduciary authority to access digital accounts has been explicitly granted under the relevant instrument (e.g., a will). Now is a good time to ensure that your testamentary documents, general power of attorney, and estate planning generally, adequately addresses your digital assets.
Adam Anderson is an estate planning attorney at Jordan Ramis PC. He can be contacted at 541-550-7900
Click here to view original web page at Digital Asset Planning: Who Will Care for Your Pokémon When You’re Gone?
If you’ve been outside at all this week, there’s a good chance you’ve noticed plenty of people (adults, not just children!) wandering around while staring down at their phones. Indeed, the new Pokémon Go craze has turned neighborhoods around the world into scenes from a zombie apocalypse movie. Sure, it seems like fun, but it’s risky to walk the streets without watching where you’re going! (Plenty of Pokémon Go-related injuries have already been reported.) After all, if something were to happen to you, who would take control of your precious Pokémon collection?! Of course, we kid…but the truth is that there are many other forms of what we call “digital assets” that you should plan for.
First, recognize that digital asset planning is not all about money. In fact, most of your digital assets are probably worth zero to nothing. While some digital assets do have value and may be transferrable, like domains or digital artwork or music that you have created, your Facebook, e-mail, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts probably have no pecuniary value. These accounts, however, do have tremendous personal value. Do you want your executor to have access to all of your email communications? Do you want your Facebook account to be “memorialized” so that it remains for everyone to see? Do you want all of those family pictures stored on your computer to be deleted, or do you want them copied and delivered to your loved ones? These are important questions to answer, and your estate planning documents can be drafted to reflect your preferences.
Second, understand what we mean when we talk about “Digital Assets.” It’s really a loose phrase we use to describe all of your electronically stored information (for example, your Word Documents) and your online accounts. Online accounts include your bank accounts, social media accounts, gaming accounts, and online bill pay accounts. It is important to document the existence of all of these accounts. Not doing so could cost your Estate. For example, if your Executor is unaware of sites to which you subscribe for a fee, or is unaware of the bills that you pay automatically online, your Estate may be dishing out money unnecessarily after you are gone!
Third, know the framework within which you are working. Our recent iTunes blog post alerted you to the fact that you do not “own” your iTunes collection in the way you might have thought; your ownership is subject to your license with Apple Inc. and that agreement suggests that your collection is yours alone, forever and always. Licensing agreements control your use of most, if not all, online digital assets, and when planning for those accounts, it is important to understand what they say. They establish the framework within which you can plan.