Tag: digital property

State-by-State Digital Estate Planning Laws

State-by-State Digital Estate Planning Laws

Eleanore

Though most Americans have a substantial amount of “digital property” or “digital assets” (such as email accounts, social media accounts, and blogs), federal legislation regarding digital property does not yet exist.

Most states rely on the particular terms of service or privacy policy of the service that manages the asset (such as Gmail, Facebook, or Tumblr) to determine what should be done with the particular asset when the owner dies.

That said, 28 states have stepped in to create laws that will protect people’s digital assets and give the person’s family the right to access and manage those accounts after the owner has died. Plus, The Uniform Law Commission created the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which is aimed to allow executors, trustees, or the person appointed by court (“conservator” or “fiduciary”) complete access to deceased’s digital assets. While it’s not yet the law of the land, it shows there’s some forward momentum and progress regarding this issue.

If your state is not listed below, that means that your state has not yet passed laws to address these issues. As always, it’s a good idea to consult a licensed estate attorney in your state to get a better sense of your state’s laws, and how you can create a digital estate plan in your state.

Alabama

Law: HB 138 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [See the full Bill here]
Status: Signed by the Governor on May 11, 1017; Effective January 1, 2018

Law: HB 108 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [See the full Bill here]
Status: Signed by the Governor on August 2, 1017; Effective October 31, 2017

Law: SB 1413 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications.
Status: This was approved by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State on May 11, 2016

Arkansas

No legislation.

California

Law: AB-691 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications.
Status: This was approved by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State on September 24, 2016.

Colorado

Law: SB 16-088 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [See the full Bill here]
Status: This was approved by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State on April 7, 2016.

Connecticut

Law: SB 262 Public Act No. 05-136
Description: Executors may access email accounts. The state requires a death certificate and documentation of the executor’s appointment before the estate’s representative can see the deceased person’s emails or social networking accounts.
Status: Effective October 1, 2005

Law: HB 345 Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets and Digital Accounts 
Description: From the original synopsis: “Recognizing that an increasing percentage of people’s lives are being conducted online and that this has posed challenges after a person dies or becomes incapacitated, this Act specifically authorizes fiduciaries to access and control the digital assets and digital accounts of an incapacitated person, principal under a personal power of attorney, decedents or settlors, and beneficiaries of trusts.”
Status: Effective August 12, 2014

Law: SB 494, Chapter 740 Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law grants fiduciaries legal authority over the deceased’s digital assets and accounts. Here’s the official summary: “Authorizing a user to use an online tool to allow a custodian to disclose to a designated recipient or to prohibit a custodian from disclosing digital assets under certain circumstances; providing procedures for the disclosure of digital assets; authorizing the court to grant a guardian the right to access a ward’s digital assets under certain circumstances.”
Status: Signed into law on March 10, 2016; Effective July 1, 2016

No legislation.

Law: SB2298 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective July 1, 2016

Idaho

Law: SB 1303 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read: Statement of Purpose | Full Bill]
Status: Effective July 1, 2016

Illinois

Law: HB 4648 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective August 12, 2016

Law: SB 253 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications..
Status: Effective March 23, 2016

No legislation.

No legislation.

Kentucky

No legislation.

Louisiana

No legislation.

No legislation (LD 1177 Maine Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act was deemed “dead” on March 10, 2016)

Maryland

Law: SB239/HB507 Maryland Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications..
Status: Effective October 1, 2016

Massachusetts

No legislation.

Law: HB 5034 The Fiduciary Access To Digital Assets Act
Description: Provides for fiduciary access to digital assets; and to provide for the powers and procedures of the court that has jurisdiction over these matters. Genealogy writer Dick Eastman sums it up best on his blog: “The new law specifically states that all digital assets are bequeathed from one person to the next. It also allows digital information, including social media and website accounts, to be treated like other assets after the owner dies.” [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective June 27, 2016

Law: Minnesota Statutes Chapter 521A Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Full Bill | Attorney Jim Lamm’s blog post about the law]
Status: Effective August 1, 2016

Mississippi

No legislation (SB 2478 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act Died in Committee on Feburary 23, 2016)

Missouri

No legislation.

No legislation.

Nebraska

Law: LB 829 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Signed by the Governor on April 19, 2016; Effective January 1, 2017

Law: SB 131
Description: Establishes provisions governing the termination of a decedent’s accounts on electronic mail, social networking, messaging and other web-based services.
Status: Effective October 1, 2013

No legislation.

Proposed law: SB 2527 Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: Authorizes executor or administrator to take control of online accounts of deceased person. [Read the full Bill]
Date introduced: September 12, 2016
Status: In progress

No legislation.

Law: AB A9910A
Description: Provides for the administration of digital assets; authorizes a user to use an online tool to direct the custodian to disclose or not to disclose some or all of the user’s digital assets, including the content of electronic communications; provides that this article does not impair the rights of a custodian or a user under a terms-of-service agreement to access and use digital assets of the user; provides for a procedure for disclosing digital assets.
Status: Effective September 29, 2016,

Law: SB 805 Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective June 30, 2016

Proposed law: HB 1455
Description: A bill for an act to create and enact a new chapter to title 34 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to internet accounts and workplace privacy of social media accounts.

Status: Failed April 9, 2013
Full text: Click here for full text of the North Dakota law

No legislation.

Name of law: HB 2800
Description: An act relating to probate procedure; authorizing an executor or administrator to have control of certain social networking, micro-blogging or e-mail accounts of the deceased; providing for codification; and providing an effective date. Allows provisions in a will or a formal order to control access. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective November 1, 2010
Note: On January 19, 2016 SB 1107 Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets [Full Text] was introduced to the Oklahoma Legislature and is in progress. Whether this is meant to replace or ammend the previously enacted digital asset legislation remains to be seen.

Proposed law: SB 1554 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: “It allows a fiduciary, such as a personal representative, trustee or conservator, to access certain digital content within certain limits. It permits entities that hold electronic data to allow users to specify their wishes in the event they become inactive or when the entity receives a request for information. (If a user specifies, that trumps all other instructions, including a will.) The measure also permits fiduciaries to obtain a catalogue of digital communications, and sets forth a number of protocols for them, to cover a variety of situations, such as: when users consent to disclosure, or refuse, or fail to specify; or when disclosure has been ordered by a court.” [Source: Oregon’s Summary of Legislation, 2016]
Status: Effective January 1, 2017

Proposed Law: SB 518 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, Amending Title 20 (Decedents, Estates and Fiduciaries)
Description: On August 23, 2012 HB 2580 [Full text of proposed Bill] was introduced amending Title 20 (Decedents, Estates and Fiduciaries) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes providing personal representatives power over decedent account on social networking website, micro-blogging or short message service website or e-mail service website. This appears to not have passed, making SB 518 a more recent attempt for executors and trustees to access digital assets after death [Full text of proposed Bill].
Date introduced: February 20, 2015
Status: This passed the House on November 18, 2015 and was referred to the Judiciary on November 18, 2015. The current status is unknown.

Law: Title 33: Probate practice and procedure, Chapter 33-27: Access to Decedents’ Electronic Mail Accounts Act, Section 33-27-3
Description: Executors may access email accounts. The state may require a death certificate and documentation of the executor’s appointment before the estate’s representative can see the deceased person’s emails or social networking accounts.
Status: Effective May 1, 2007
New Proposed Legislation: On April 29, 2016 HB 8125 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access To Digital Assets Act was introduced, which appears to amend or replace their current Access to Decedents’ Electronic Mail Accounts Act. It is currently being held for further study.

Law: SB 908 South Carolina Uniform Fiduciary Access To Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective June 3, 2016

Law: HB1080 Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Signed by Govenor on March 6, 2017; Effective July 1, 2017.

Tennessee

Law: SB 326 Uniform Fiduciary Access To Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective July 1, 2016

Law: SB 1193 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Signed by the Governor on June 1, 2017; Effective September 1, 2017

No legislation. (Note: HB 383 Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act was introduced on February 18, 2016 and is currently in progress.)

No legislation.

Proposed law: SB 914
Description: Fiduciary access to digital assets. Enables a fiduciary to gain access to the digital accounts and digital assets of the person or estate to whom he owes a fiduciary duty upon making a written request to the custodian of the digital accounts and digitals assets and submitting proof of the fiduciary relationship.
Date introduced: January 7, 2013
Status: Unknown
Full text: Click here for full text of the proposed Virginia law

Law: SB 5029 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This provides a process for a digital asset custodian to disclose digital assetinformation when requested by a fiduciary who needs access to the information to fulfill fiduciary duties. [Read the final Bill]
Status: Effective June 9, 2016

Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia)

No legislation.

No legislation.

Law: AB 695 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This provides a process for a digital asset custodian to disclose digital assetinformation when requested by a fiduciary who needs access to the information to fulfill fiduciary duties. [Read the final Bill | Wisconsin Legislative Council Act Memo]
Status: Effective April 1, 2016

Law: SF0034 Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This provides a process for a digital asset custodian to disclose digital assetinformation when requested by a fiduciary who needs access to the information to fulfill fiduciary duties. [Read the final Bill]
Status: Effective July 1, 2016

Though we make every effort to keep this list as up-to-date as possible, there may be information that’s not current. If you’re aware of updates or changes to digital asset legislation in any state, please let us know here.

P.S. You really should try out your own Everplan.

It’s really simple to set up, it’s free to try, and it can make a world of difference for your family if something happens to you. Set up your Everplan now.

Who Gets Your Data After Death? Accessing and Managing a Deceased Person’s Digital Remnants

Who Gets Your Data After Death? Accessing and Managing a Deceased Person’s Digital Remnants

Eleanore

Who Gets Your Data After Death? Accessing and Managing a Deceased Person’s Digital Remnants

Click here to view original web page at Who Gets Your Data After Death? Accessing and Managing a Deceased Person’s Digital Remnants

When a loved one passes away, dealing with the mundane little things is an unfortunate, and often headache-inducing, necessity. Canceling a deceased loved one’s bills and magazine subscriptions, dealing with their financial situations… And now you have to worry about your loved one’s digital affairs as well. You have to account for everything from their email inboxes to their Facebook account, and the data they left behind. What do you do with it all?

There aren’t many clear or easy ways for people to transfer their digital assets after they’ve passed on. This includes things like their iTunes media library, or even just the credentials needed to access the departed’s various online accounts. Some people have started to wonder if they should include things like passwords to their multitudes of online accounts in their wills.

It can be difficult to successfully petition the likes of Google or Apple to release information on users who have passed away. This is often true regardless of your relation to the deceased. And social media platforms keep a tight leash on their users’ login credentials, even after they’ve passed on.

Accessing Data From a Deceased Loved One’s Electronic Devices

On occasion, we here at Gillware receive calls from people looking to have data retrieved from a phone or tablet belonging to a deceased loved one. Usually all they’re looking for are photos and contacts belonging to the deceased—photos to remember them by, and friends to notify of their passing. Sometimes this data is very difficult to get a hold of outside of a data recovery lab. This is especially true when dealing with mobile devices.

When you die, all of your data stays right where you left it. Making sure your loved ones can access the data you leave behind isn’t something many of us plan for. This can leave your loved ones in a bind when you pass away and they have to deal with your affairs—both analog and digital. The trend in data storage, especially among mobile devices, is encryption and total data security. If you don’t plan ahead, accessing the data you’ve left behind on your phone or synced with your Apple or Google account can prove difficult, or even nigh-impossible, for your loved ones.

Below are some tips for retrieving data from mobile devices and computers after their users have passed on. If you cannot retrieve the data on your own or with help from Apple or Google, though, the experts at Gillware Data Recovery and Gillware Digital Forensics can help. Our data recovery and forensic engineers have often assisted people in retrieving data from phones, computers, and other mobile devices belonging to deceased loved ones. In these situations, the data we recover often helps bring much-needed closure to the deceased person’s grieving family and friends.

Accessing a Deceased Loved One’s iPhone

apple logo

Apple iPhones are, unfortunately, notoriously difficult to access in the event of their owners’ passing. Unlike many Android phone models, iPhones do not have (often unencrypted) microSD cards you can take out of the phone. All of the data resides within the encrypted flash memory chip built into the device. You can’t pick the lock or bust down the door, metaphorically speaking. Either you know the passcode that gives you access to the data on the phone, or you don’t. Your iPhone does not send your passcode directly to some giant password database at Apple HQ. Only the user—and anybody else they may have told—knows their own iPhone passcode.

Apple’s data protection policies, especially their encryption policies, are a harsh mistress. You cannot appeal to an iPhone’s reason or emotion, because it has none. Apple iPhones are designed to be virtually unhackable without taking the most extreme of measures. Each successive model is more unhackable than the last. That’s just the way these things are—and even appealing to Tim Cook can’t change that.

However, while Apple can’t help you access your loved one’s iPhone after they’ve passed on, their Apple ID, iTunes, and iCloud accounts present a much less insurmountable goal. These accounts often hold data that is synchronized between the owner’s iPhone, iPad, and other devices. Access to these accounts is often easier to gain than access to the iPhone itself.

To gain access to a deceased loved one’s Apple ID, iTunes, or iCloud account information, you can contact Apple Support. Apple Support will ask for identifying information, such as a death certificate of the user, and proof of relation. Apple Support does, of course, often err on the side of caution when it comes to releasing information on another user’s account.

Accessing a Deceased Loved One’s Android Mobile Phone

If your deceased loved one owned an Android mobile phone, your options are less limited. Depending on the model of phone and version of the Android operating system, you may have some luck using one of these methods to bypass the passcode or pattern lock.

Many Android mobile phones also store some of the user’s data on a small microSD card inside the phone. You can easily remove the microSD card, place it into an adapter, and plug it into a computer, even if you can’t access the phone it belonged to. Not all mobile phones come with a microSD card preinstalled, however. In addition, how much data the user had on the SD card depends on how the user had their phone set up.

Owners of Android phones often have their phones tied to a Google account. In these cases, some data on the phone, such as contacts or photos, may be synchronized with the user’s Google Drive. Like with Apple, you can contact Google to access your loved one’s account. In the interest of protecting user privacy, Google asks for plenty of identifying information about both you and your loved one before they decide whether to comply with your request.

Requesting access to a deceased person’s Google account
Requesting access to a deceased person’s account on

Some of the information Google requires includes your name, mailing address, email address, the Google account username or Gmail address of your loved one, their death certificate, and an example of an email conversation between you and the deceased.

Requesting data from a loved one’s Google account is a two-part system. Google will review your request and may request a court order before moving onto the second step.

Accessing a Deceased Loved One’s Home Computer

Unlike with mobile phones, getting into your loved one’s computer to recover the files and documents they left behind proves much less of a challenge. Even if you don’t know the password to their user account, accessing the data on a computer is downright trivial. You can access their files from another account on the PC. Or, if you don’t have one, you can remove the hard drive from the PC and view the data on it on another computer using a hard disk drive enclosure or USB adapter cable. These methods all work, unless the data on the drive has been encrypted. When you encrypt data, it is impossible to make sense of it without the proper password to unlock the data (of course, if encryption were easy to circumvent, there wouldn’t be much point in having it).

This covers most of the data a deceased loved one will have lying on their physical devices once they pass on. But what about everything they’ve left behind on the Internet? What happens to it? Can you get to it?

What Happens to Your Social Media Accounts After Death?

The people using social media to stay abreast of current events, share things that are happening in their lives, and keep in touch with their families and friends number in the billions. Between Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, and various other platforms, people are accruing social media presences at an accelerating rate. When a user stops using an account, it just stays there. After all, your social media account won’t know when you’re dead. It can be unsettling, to say the least, to know that a family member or friend’s social media accounts are floating around through cyberspace as if nothing has changed.

All social media platforms highly value the privacy of their users, even their deceased users. As seen above with Google and Apple, the platforms holding onto your data, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., are reticent to release it to just anybody. (And in this case, family and friends count as “just anybody”.)

In general, social media platforms have no interest in providing other people with the proverbial keys to the kingdom, even after a user has passed on. However, social media platforms do have protocol in place regarding deceased users and what can be done to their accounts. Their protocol tends to be stringent, as many platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, have fallen victim to celebrity death hoaxes in the past.

Some social media platforms have policies in place allowing people who were close to a deceased user to make limited decisions about what happens to their account after they have passed on. These include things like Facebook and Instagram’s memorial accounts. For the most part, though, social media platforms simply lock or deactivate the deceased user’s account.

Setting Up a Facebook Memorial Account

Facebook’s policy regarding deceased users allows for deceased users’ accounts to be transformed into “memorial accounts.” The deceased user is not treated as an “active” user and does not appear on potential friends lists for other users and other public spaces, although anything the user shared remains in place. Friends and family of the deceased user can post on the wall of the deceased and share memories of them.

Nobody can log into the deceased user’s account or alter any information on their account. However, if the user had defined a legacy contact prior to their passing, the legacy contact is allowed limited access to moderate the memorial account, and can request to download a copy of the account. However, they will not have access to the user’s private messages or be able to add or remove friends.

Only the user themselves can designate a legacy contact. In your Facebook account settings, you can choose a legacy contact, arrange to have your account memorialized after your death, or request to have your account deleted after you pass on.

A verified immediate family member on Facebook can request to have their departed loved one’s account memorialized or permanently deleted by contacting Facebook Support.

Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, has a similar policy, with memorial accounts of its own for deceased users. However, unlike Facebook, users cannot arrange to have their account memorialized before they pass on. Instead, a relative of the deceased user must contact Instagram and provide a copy of the user’s death certificate.

Deactivating a Deceased User’s Twitter Account

Unlike Facebook, Twitter has no options for “memorializing” deceased users’ accounts. But like Facebook, Twitter refuses to share login credentials for a deceased user’s account, so nobody can post on their behalf or read through their direct messages. Twitter will deactivate the account, which puts it in a queue for permanent deletion.

If you have login credentials to the deceased user’s account, you can simply deactivate their account just as easily as you would your own. If you do not know their credentials, though, you must go through Twitter Support. To request the deactivation of a deceased user’s account, you must fill out Twitter Support’s Privacy Form. To prevent abuse of this feature, Twitter requires you to provide information about yourself and the user. This includes a copy of their ID and your ID, and may include a Power of Attorney authorizing you to act on their behalf. If you meet these criteria, Twitter will honor your request to deactivate the deceased user’s account.

Removing LinkedIn Profiles for Deceased Users

Like any online account, nothing automatically happens to your LinkedIn account when you die. This can make it distressing for your loved ones, coworkers, or classmates if, after your death, LinkedIn serves up your profile to them in a “People You Might Want to Link To” email.

LinkedIn Help requires a friend or relative of the deceased to go through a rather involved process to close a LinkedIn profile for a deceased user. LinkedIn allows anybody to submit the form to remove the profile of a user who has passed on. However, since LinkedIn asks for you to state your relationship to the deceased, they will likely deny any request made by someone who is not close to the deceased.

Deactivating a Deceased Google User’s Account

You can request to have a deceased loved one’s Google account, including their Google+ page, Google Drive, Gmail inbox, and YouTube account, deleted by contacting Google Support. You will have to go through many of the same steps as you would when trying to access data stored on a loved one’s Google account as we discussed earlier. Google is more likely to honor a request to simply deactivate a deceased user’s account altogether than to release data from or provide access to the account. Understandably, deactivating a deceased user’s account is less of a breach of privacy than sharing their data.

Planning for the Future: Keeping Your Data Manageable and Accessible After Death

Image source:

Losing a loved one is painful enough. We wish that dealing with the myriad things left behind in their absence were easier. Almost nobody likes thinking about mortality. Even fewer people relish the thought of dealing with everything their deceased loved one left behind.

Throw in our swiftly-accumulating social media accounts in the mix and things get uglier. Your grieving loved ones quickly become inundated with a flood of tiring and frustrating work as they find and deactivate the roughly half-dozen accounts the average person has today.

You can ensure that dealing with your digital affairs when you pass on doesn’t put your loved ones through unnecessary layers of bureaucracy by creating a digital estate plan.

Estate planning is an important part of making sure everything goes smoothly after you’ve shed your mortal coil. Estate planning includes writing up a Last Will and Testament, financial or health care Power of Attorney, and other documents. In the modern age, what to do with all your digital remains has to be taken into consideration as well.

A digital estate plan is, as its name suggests, a plan for your digital estate—the online data and digital documentation and belongings you’ve accumulated over the years. Your digital estate encompasses everything from digital financial records to your online accounts. Keeping your digital accounts accessible after death is part of having a good digital estate plan.

Creating a Digital Estate Plan

A digital estate plan will help your family deal with whatever you leave behind when you pass on. This includes accessing and appropriately managing your online accounts, determining whether any of your digital property has any financial value that needs to be reported, and distributing and transferring any digital assets. A digital estate plan can even keep you and your family safe from “ghosting”, or identity theft of deceased persons.

Planning your digital estate involves tallying up all of your digital records and online accounts. This includes all of your data storage hardware in addition to your online accounts. Once you’ve made a list of your digital assets, you decide what should be done with each, just as you would with your physical assets.

Some people recommend creating a separate “digital will” for your digital assets. In your will, you can appoint a digital executor. A digital executor will manage your digital estate, just like an executor manages your physical estate.

However, while Wisconsin has laws in place regarding “digital asset custodians”, not all states have legislation regarding digital estate planning. And as a result, your digital executor may not be legally recognized. Despite the legal limbo, though, appointing a digital executor can still make dealing with your estate much easier. A digital estate plan is still of great use, even if you cannot formalize it in a legally binding document.

Using Password Management Tools to Manage Your Digital Estate

We here at Gillware recommend that you store your passwords in a safe, secure place. Common choices are a locked file cabinet or a safe or safety deposit box. Only your trusted loved ones should be able to access it in the event of your death. The easiest and most convenient way to do this is with a password manager, such as KeePass.

With KeePass, you can store a digital record of all your online and device passwords in a database file. This includes anything from email, social media accounts, and streaming and data storage accounts to your smartphone’s passcode. With your password credentials in hand, your loved ones can easily deal with the digital cruft that built up over the course of your life.

Of course, this allows your loved ones to see all of the data on your accounts. You may want to exercise prudence in what login credentials you make available to your heirs.

There are many options for you to choose from to make your password database file accessible only to the right people. To make sure your loved ones can get to the file itself, leave the database on a flash drive or burn it to a CD. The next step is ensuring that only the right people have the master password to unlock the database.

Whatever you do, proactively planning your digital estate can make things much easier on your loved ones once you’ve moved on.

Keep in mind that we here at Gillware are data recovery and IT experts, not probate law experts. To plan your digital estate, discuss the matter with your estate lawyer, just as you would to plan your physical estate.

State-by-State Digital Estate Planning Laws

State-by-State Digital Estate Planning Laws

Eleanore

State-by-State Digital Estate Planning Laws

Click here to view original web page at State-by-State Digital Estate Planning Laws

Though most Americans have a substantial amount of “digital property” or “digital assets” (such as email accounts, social media accounts, and blogs), federal legislation regarding digital property does not yet exist.

Most states rely on the particular terms of service or privacy policy of the service that manages the asset (such as Gmail, Facebook, or Tumblr) to determine what should be done with the particular asset when the owner dies.

That said, 25 states have stepped in to create laws that will protect people’s digital assets and give the person’s family the right to access and manage those accounts after the owner has died. Plus, The Uniform Law Commission created the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which is aimed to allow executors, trustees, or the person appointed by court (“conservator” or “fiduciary”) complete access to deceased’s digital assets. While it’s not yet the law of the land, it shows there’s some forward momentum and progress regarding this issue.

If your state is not listed below, that means that your state has not yet passed laws to address these issues. As always, it’s a good idea to consult a licensed estate attorney in your state to get a better sense of your state’s laws, and how you can create a digital estate plan in your state.

Alabama

No legislation.

Alaska

No legislation.

Law: SB 1413 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications.
Status: This was approved by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State on May 11, 2016

Arkansas

No legislation.

California

Law: AB-691 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications.
Status: This was approved by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State on September 24, 2016.

Colorado

Law: SB 16-088 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [See the full Bill here]
Status: This was approved by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State on April 7, 2016.

Connecticut

Law: SB 262 Public Act No. 05-136
Description: Executors may access email accounts. The state requires a death certificate and documentation of the executor’s appointment before the estate’s representative can see the deceased person’s emails or social networking accounts.
Status: Effective October 1, 2005

Law: HB 345 Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets and Digital Accounts
Description: From the original synopsis: “Recognizing that an increasing percentage of people’s lives are being conducted online and that this has posed challenges after a person dies or becomes incapacitated, this Act specifically authorizes fiduciaries to access and control the digital assets and digital accounts of an incapacitated person, principal under a personal power of attorney, decedents or settlors, and beneficiaries of trusts.”
Status: Effective August 12, 2014

Law: SB 494, Chapter 740 Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law grants fiduciaries legal authority over the deceased’s digital assets and accounts. Here’s the official summary: “Authorizing a user to use an online tool to allow a custodian to disclose to a designated recipient or to prohibit a custodian from disclosing digital assets under certain circumstances; providing procedures for the disclosure of digital assets; authorizing the court to grant a guardian the right to access a ward’s digital assets under certain circumstances.”
Status: Signed into law on March 10, 2016; Effective July 1, 2016

No legislation.

Law: SB2298 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective July 1, 2016

Law: SB 1303 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read: Statement of Purpose | Full Bill]
Status: Effective July 1, 2016

Illinois

Law: HB 4648 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective August 12, 2016

Law: SB 253 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications..
Status: Effective March 23, 2016

Iowa

No legislation.

No legislation.

Kentucky

No legislation.

Louisiana

No legislation.

No legislation (LD 1177 Maine Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act was deemed “dead” on March 10, 2016)

Maryland

Law: SB239/HB507 Maryland Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications..
Status: Effective October 1, 2016

Massachusetts

No legislation.

Law: HB 5034 The Fiduciary Access To Digital Assets Act
Description: Provides for fiduciary access to digital assets; and to provide for the powers and procedures of the court that has jurisdiction over these matters. Genealogy writer Dick Eastman sums it up best on his blog: “The new law specifically states that all digital assets are bequeathed from one person to the next. It also allows digital information, including social media and website accounts, to be treated like other assets after the owner dies.” [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective June 27, 2016

Law: Minnesota Statutes Chapter 521A Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Full Bill | Attorney Jim Lamm’s blog post about the law]
Status: Effective August 1, 2016

Mississippi

No legislation (SB 2478 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act Died in Committee on Feburary 23, 2016)

No legislation.

No legislation.

Nebraska

Law: LB 829 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Signed by the Governor on April 19, 2016; Effective January 1, 2017

Law: SB 131
Description: Establishes provisions governing the termination of a decedent’s accounts on electronic mail, social networking, messaging and other web-based services.
Status: Effective October 1, 2013

No legislation.

Proposed law: SB 2527 Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: Authorizes executor or administrator to take control of online accounts of deceased person. [Read the full Bill]
Date introduced: September 12, 2016
Status: In progress

No legislation.

Law: AB A9910A
Description: Provides for the administration of digital assets; authorizes a user to use an online tool to direct the custodian to disclose or not to disclose some or all of the user’s digital assets, including the content of electronic communications; provides that this article does not impair the rights of a custodian or a user under a terms-of-service agreement to access and use digital assets of the user; provides for a procedure for disclosing digital assets.
Status: Effective September 29, 2016,

Law: SB 805 Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective June 30, 2016

Proposed law: HB 1455
Description: A bill for an act to create and enact a new chapter to title 34 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to internet accounts and workplace privacy of social media accounts.

Status: Failed April 9, 2013
Full text: Click here for full text of the North Dakota law

No legislation.

Name of law: HB 2800
Description: An act relating to probate procedure; authorizing an executor or administrator to have control of certain social networking, micro-blogging or e-mail accounts of the deceased; providing for codification; and providing an effective date. Allows provisions in a will or a formal order to control access. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective November 1, 2010
Note: On January 19, 2016 SB 1107 Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets [Full Text] was introduced to the Oklahoma Legislature and is in progress. Whether this is meant to replace or ammend the previously enacted digital asset legislation remains to be seen.

Proposed law: SB 1554 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: “It allows a fiduciary, such as a personal representative, trustee or conservator, to access certain digital content within certain limits. It permits entities that hold electronic data to allow users to specify their wishes in the event they become inactive or when the entity receives a request for information. (If a user specifies, that trumps all other instructions, including a will.) The measure also permits fiduciaries to obtain a catalogue of digital communications, and sets forth a number of protocols for them, to cover a variety of situations, such as: when users consent to disclosure, or refuse, or fail to specify; or when disclosure has been ordered by a court.” [Source: Oregon’s Summary of Legislation, 2016]
Status: Effective January 1, 2017

Proposed Law: SB 518 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, Amending Title 20 (Decedents, Estates and Fiduciaries)
Description: On August 23, 2012 HB 2580 [Full text of proposed Bill] was introduced amending Title 20 (Decedents, Estates and Fiduciaries) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes providing personal representatives power over decedent account on social networking website, micro-blogging or short message service website or e-mail service website. This appears to not have passed, making SB 518 a more recent attempt for executors and trustees to access digital assets after death [Full text of proposed Bill].
Date introduced: February 20, 2015
Status: This passed the House on November 18, 2015 and was referred to the Judiciary on November 18, 2015. The current status is unknown.

Law: Title 33: Probate practice and procedure, Chapter 33-27: Access to Decedents’ Electronic Mail Accounts Act, Section 33-27-3
Description: Executors may access email accounts. The state may require a death certificate and documentation of the executor’s appointment before the estate’s representative can see the deceased person’s emails or social networking accounts.
Status: Effective May 1, 2007
New Proposed Legislation: On April 29, 2016 HB 8125 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access To Digital Assets Act was introduced, which appears to amend or replace their current Access to Decedents’ Electronic Mail Accounts Act. It is currently being held for further study.

Law: SB 908 South Carolina Uniform Fiduciary Access To Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective June 3, 2016

Law: HB1080 Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Signed by Govenor on March 6, 2017; Effective July 1, 2017.

Tennessee

Law: SB 326 Uniform Fiduciary Access To Digital Assets Act
Description: This law authorizes a decedent’s personal representative or trustee to access and manage digital assets and electronic communications. [Read the full Bill]
Status: Effective July 1, 2016

No legislation.

No legislation. (Note: HB 383 Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act was introduced on February 18, 2016 and is currently in progress.)

No legislation.

Proposed law: SB 914
Description: Fiduciary access to digital assets. Enables a fiduciary to gain access to the digital accounts and digital assets of the person or estate to whom he owes a fiduciary duty upon making a written request to the custodian of the digital accounts and digitals assets and submitting proof of the fiduciary relationship.
Date introduced: January 7, 2013
Status: Unknown
Full text: Click here for full text of the proposed Virginia law

Law: SB 5029 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This provides a process for a digital asset custodian to disclose digital assetinformation when requested by a fiduciary who needs access to the information to fulfill fiduciary duties. [Read the final Bill]
Status: Effective June 9, 2016

Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia)

No legislation.

No legislation.

Law: AB 695 Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This provides a process for a digital asset custodian to disclose digital assetinformation when requested by a fiduciary who needs access to the information to fulfill fiduciary duties. [Read the final Bill | Wisconsin Legislative Council Act Memo]
Status: Effective April 1, 2016

Law: SF0034 Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Description: This provides a process for a digital asset custodian to disclose digital assetinformation when requested by a fiduciary who needs access to the information to fulfill fiduciary duties. [Read the final Bill]
Status: Effective July 1, 2016

Though we make every effort to keep this list as up-to-date as possible, there may be information that’s not current. If you’re aware of updates or changes to digital asset legislation in any state, please let us know here.

P.S. You really should try out your own Everplan.

It’s really simple to set up, it’s free to try, and it can make a world of difference for your family if something happens to you. Set up your Everplan now.

The Evolution of The Self

The Evolution of The Self

Eleanore

The Evolution of The Self

Click here to view original web page at The Evolution of The Self

Written by Markus Iofcea & Oleksiy Novak, UBS Y Think Tank

Leaving behind a legacy is a fundamental part of human identity. But how will sophisticated online data and revolutions in AI impact material, biological and ideological legacy?

Nature and the environment used to be the main driving forces of biological evolution. At a certain point in time, humanity disrupted this equilibrium. Instead of having to adapt to the environment, our ancestors built tools that enabled our species to circumvent the need to evolve.[1] Centuries of cooperative efforts and tool building introduced the possibilities of space travel, wireless communications, instantaneous information exchange and an exponentially-growing technological frontier. Today, technologies like Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things allow us to track, aggregate and analyse more data about ourselves than ever before. Services like Spotify, Facebook, Amazon already know more about our personal preferences than our closest friends. Based on the accumulated data, these and other ecosystems are building online versions of your identity, or simply put, your Digital Self. For the time being the Digital Self is only a distorted representation of the true self. However, as the world is becoming more interconnected, the number of data points that are able to capture even the most complex elements of the inner identity (emotions, feelings, thoughts) are becoming feasible.[2] It will soon be possible to create, combine and connect high resolution copies of a person’s multiple identities and upload it to a digital archive, essentially constructing a dematerialised version of you, a digital you. When combined with general artificial intelligence, the Digital Self can become more than an aggregation of identities, it can become a self-conscious entity with important implications on society, and in particular on the foundations of human legacy.Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina

Leaving behind a legacy is a fundamental characteristic of humans. For some, creating a long lasting legacy can even become the purpose of life itself. Human ability to perceive time means that not only do we live in the present moment, but can also recall the past as well as create a vision for the future. The sense of time motivates individuals to leave behind a resonating echo of oneself in the hopes of being remembered even when the physical presence fades into the past. This resonating echo is preserved in the form of the legacy humans leave behind. Legacy can be decomposed into three categories: material legacy, biological legacy and ideological legacy.[3] With recent technological developments, all three constituents are approaching a revolutionary transformation. More specifically, the emergence of the Digital Self will have profound consequences on inheritance, evolution, and ideological foundations of a future society.

Your future grandchildren will inherit a digital version of you

While older generations are still holding on to their physical libraries of music, books, movies and pictures, the same cannot be said for those who were born in the last decade. Today’s youth is born digital and is capable of living in a world that is heavily reliant on technology. The trend towards digitisation will continue with new generations having fewer attachments to physical object. Already today, many individuals are moving towards a growing invisible library of documents, pictures, songs and soon a million other data points. We are all storing a perpetual timeline of information that ranges from the least significant preferences to the most important life moments. As a consequence of such transformations, material legacy will most likely be redefined and become more than just a means of passing on physical objects to new generations. There are drawbacks to the current ways of passing on inheritance across individuals. For instance, physical objects are limited in their use by multiple individuals, meaning that only one person usually receives the inheritance of an item. Physical heirlooms are prone to degradation and can lack emotional connection between the deceased and the recipient. What if a person’s legacy could become something much more meaningful, inspiring, and eternal than a physical object? As underlined previously, human possessions are shifting online, and the presence of digital artifacts is increasing in day-to-day interactions.[4] Our online identities are encompassing all of the digital memories we are creating throughout our lives. These identities contain traces of individualism; that is something that is hardly captured in physical items.

For this reason the Digital Self, the aggregation of all identities of an individual, is becoming the new meta of human inheritance.

Instead of leaving behind a physical object, humans will one day inherit the Digital Selves of family members, friends and acquaintances. Digital selves will serve the purpose of continuing the interactions between the living and the deceased. Human will be able to communicate with the deceased, relive memorable moments spent together, ask questions and even seek advice. Death will most likely transform into a concept involving a gradual shift of states instead of an abrupt end of connection. This continuous interaction could have the potential to alleviate humans of the psychological trauma related to death. But it could also manifest itself into an everlasting yearning for the past. What is clear however is that disputes over who gets to inherit the family heirlooms will diminish. Everyone can have access to the Digital Selves of the deceased due to their ability to be replicated.Will legacy live on in material objects? Photo credit Dakota Corbin

Imagine a human raised entirely by an A.I. Would he think the same as us?

Up until recently other humans were responsible for the transfer of ideologies to newer generations. Most commonly, individuals built their foundation of thought either through first hand (role models, teachers, parents) or second hand (books, scientific journals, folklore) knowledge transfer. Today’s technological expansion is shifting the balance of how knowledge is passed down generations. More frequently humans learn through interactions with information appliances rather than other human beings. These information appliances enhanced with the power of Artificial Intelligence can make the process of knowledge transfer automated and tailored to each individual’s learning capacity. It is possible to imagine a future in which the Digital Self takes on the role of becoming the teacher since it already knows about the particularities of each individual. Ideological legacy will soon be in the hands of the AI, which in turn can have important consequences for the further development of the ideologies themselves.

The learning process will become more tailored and specialised to an individual’s interests. When the Digital Self knows which are the best parameters to use to enhance a person’s learning experience, the method of knowledge transfer as well as the type of content will likely become more fragmented. A person would not need to rely exclusively on one Digital Self to pass on the information. People who have been recognised for their great achievements over their lifetime could be persuaded to “donate” their Digital Self to humanity. All the knowledge base, character traits that were accumulated by our ancestors, would be available for others to interact with and learn from. Imagine living through life with your childhood idols by your side, allowing you to build truly personal connections with digital mentors.

This would have a profound impact on generations to come, because they would have unlimited opportunities to embrace, study and apply the characteristics of great human beings.

Instead of focusing on the ‘capture all approach’ current education systems are relying on, future generations could start pursuing what really interests them. Although external factors, such as other individuals, will continue to have a strong effect on what new generations learn in their cognitive development, over a long enough period of technological influence it is possible to imagine a society that is connected by a single set of principles that have been passed across generations.Who will be the teachers in tomorrow’s world? Photo credit Cristian Newman

The descendant of the homo sapiens will exist online

Humans have become the sculptors of their own environment. We are actively involved in creating, modifying, altering and building new paradigms of life. Evolution is becoming increasingly a technological phenomenon and less a biological one. One such example is the extension of human senses beyond their natural abilities. Bio-hacking pioneers like Tim Cannon are using magnets embedded beneath the skin to allow individuals to detect nearby electromagnetic fields.[5] This is just one example among many that merge biological sensory systems with technology. Humans are literally extending their perception of the physical reality with existing senses and are becoming a hybrid of biological and digital systems.

We have already seen how our existing bodies are being modified to become increasingly efficient at what we already are designed to do, but the fact remains that human genes are keeping society on a leash. As much as we continue hacking our bodies with technological innovations, humans are still designed based on biological foundations. And despite all the progress society has achieved in the last centuries, basic natural instincts are still dictating the paths of our lives. Instead of making evolutionary steps how can we achieve an evolutionary jump? If one were to design a completely new being using current and potential future technologies, what would that being look like?Future Technology & Human Optimisation, VICE Media

The data we are continuously contributing to build higher resolution versions of the Digital Self serves as the foundation for this jump in the evolution of the homo sapiens. Prior to digitisation, extended identity was something that could only be perceived implicitly through a collection of physical objects a person chose to own.[6] Today, extended identity has become more explicit and dynamic since it can actually be visualised within online activity. Identities have become themselves digital objects, that can be copied, upgraded or deleted. This online identity re-construction, combined with artificial intelligence has the potential to create a new form of being, a digital being. A digital being is not simply another form of general artificial intelligence, it is much more than that. Since these beings will be based upon the identities of humans, they will inherit our individuality. A collection of such digital beings, all created from the unique identities of humans, would combine to form a new type of society.

These digital beings would not be creatures of the flesh, meaning that they would have many interesting properties that go beyond the biological constraints of the homo sapiens.

Unlike humans, these entities would not be weighed down by age, they would be able to live indefinitely. The digital property to self-replicate would allow these beings to infinitely venture into different pursuits of life where each copy would take on a different journey. They could create simulated worlds of their own in which they would experiment with possibilities of the universe. Travelling distances would only be limited by the fundamental physical properties, meaning that these descendants of the humans would most likely become an intergalactic species. A society of such beings would exist in multiple shapes, each individual could exist as a single entity, or due to their digital nature they could combine into a single living organism that has the properties of multiple individuals as well.

The upcoming technological evolution will not exist in absolute terms. Most likely our species will expand into different directions. Like a spectrum, there will be a range of possible alternatives from humans that continue existing in their original biological form, all the way to completely digital beings. What is interesting is that evolution will become something that is chosen and not created by chance. Only time will tell how these transformations will be perceived in the future. What is yet to be seen in light of these technological shifts is whether qualities that make us genuinely human (irrationality, emotions, egocentrism) will disappear with time, or on contrary, become even more pronounced and accepted in the future. Will humans become even more human, or will they blend with the machines and converge towards a path of singularity?

Footnotes

[1] Harari, Yuval N. Sapiens: a brief history of humankind. New York, NY: Harper, 2015.

[2] Miessler, Daniel. “The Real Internet of Things.” danielmiessler.com, 2015.

[3] Rebecca Gulotta, William Odom, Jodi Forlizzi, Haakon Faste. Digital Artifacts as Legacy: Exploring the Lifespan and Value of Digital Data

[4] William Odom, Richard Banks, Richard Harper, David Kirk, Sian Lindley, Abigail Sellen. Technology Heirlooms? Considerations for Passing Down and Inheriting Digital Materials.

[6] Russell W. Belk. “Possessions and the Extended Self.” J Consum Res; 15 (2): 139-168, 1988.

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Estate Planning: Your Digital Property Assets

Estate Planning: Your Digital Property Assets

Eleanore

Estate Planning: Your Digital Property Assets

Click here to view original web page at Estate Planning: Your Digital Property Assets

We invite you to review all of our services related to Wills, Trusts, & Estates. In this blog post, we are going to focus on how to prepare for the management of your digital property upon your passing.

Digital Property

No matter your age, health, or wealth status, it is important that you plan for the future.

Most people are familiar with traditional forms of property: real estate, stocks and bonds, bank accounts, life insurance, vehicles, personal property, etc. There are well established procedures and processes to locate it, identify value, and transfer control or ownership upon a person’s incapacity or death.

Digital property includes electronically stored data, user accounts (such as email accounts, social media accounts, and online storage accounts), virtual currency, and domain names. Chances are you own more than one of these properties.

If you have not provided a list of all the accounts, passwords, and other key information about digital property, dealing with your incapacity or death becomes more difficult for your loved ones. Unfortunately, failure to plan ahead can make it practically impossible to locate and access certain types of digital property. There is no time like the present to get your affairs in order.

Organize Your Digital Assets

As you get started, it is important not to assume your digital estate has no value – Things like frequent flyer and diner points are transferable after your death, website domains you own are potentially sellable, YouTube channel videos garnering ad revenue, and and blogs you write are a form of intellectual property that might have value.

Now, create a comprehensive list of your digital assets. Store this list somewhere safe other than your email inbox. It needs to be easily accessible (in your absence) but only by someone you trust. Next, make decisions about how you want your online life handled after your death. For example, Facebook allows a personal administrator or immediate family member to close the account or “memorialize” it. Decisions like these lead us to the final step.

Ensure That the Right People Have Access to Digital Assets

Ask your attorney about inserting provisions into your will that grant your executor the authority to access your non-financial digital assets and accounts. You can give the executor the power to close accounts, “memorialize” them, sell them, or designate a someone as a beneficiary for any revenue it is generating.

Alternatively, you may wish to grant someone besides the executor of your estate the power to manage your digital assets. This can be because the executor wouldn’t know how to manage your digital assets or simply because you prefer to have someone else do it. No matter the reason, the the choice is yours. Your attorney can draft the proper language to ensure that only the person you choose to manage your digital assets has the right to do so.

Cabanillas & Associates Can Help

Did you know we have estate planning attorneys that can help you with both your physical property and your digital assets? We recommend that you follow the steps above then bring all of your questions to your free consultation at one of our eight locations. We look forward to meeting with you.

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