DO YOU HAVE A DIGITAL ASSET ESTATE PLAN?
by Sylvia A. Carruthers
Last month was “Making a Will” month. While having your Will completed is very important, that is only part of completing your estate plan. Maybe you have been diligent by documenting where your investments are, what land and buildings you own, and setting out the way you would like your personal assets distributed, but there is one group of assets often overlooked. A further important step is to have a “digital asset estate plan.” But what are digital assets?
They are not just Bitcoin or cryptocurrency. Digital assets go far beyond this. Consider a few.
- Digital assets with monetary value. While you might think of Bitcoin or cryptocurrency, or other clearly monetary digital assets, think also of PayPal, Amazon, and rewards points such as credit card points, hotel points, Air Miles or Aeroplan points.
- Digital assets with personal value like photographs or music.
- Digital business property such as laptops, cell phones, USB drives, hard drives.
Can these be accessed? - Other digital assets like online banking accounts, social media (Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn) accounts, emails, passwords, and other intellectual properties.
In today’s world digital assets can create more problems for your executor and power of attorney than you might think.
Some of these may be controllable by your executor if they can get access to them; others are stored online and can only be accessed by some subscriber-based service, but they may need the username, and password or password key. These often are generally subject to service agreements and may have certain requirements to access. If you need probate it may need certain provisions.
Not planning for digital assets may create financial loss to your estate or increased expenses especially if litigation is needed to obtain access. Making an inventory for your estate may be difficult as it takes additional time for your executor to locate and access your digital assets. Privacy breaches and identity theft are possible when digital accounts are left open.
Be sure to have a plan for your digital estates. Review and update your list of digital assets on a regular basis. Have a backup of digital assets.
While this is just a brief overview of the risks if you do not have a digital asset estate plan, the intent of this article is to encourage you to complete a digital planning checklist to include the things listed earlier. List your physical digital property i.e.) computer, tablets, cell phones, external devices. List the details of any photographs and music storage that are important to you. Detail all online accounts together with the means to access them.
Name a Legacy Contact now, where you can. This is a person who is entitled to access your digital assets and you may need to have several based on your digital assets.
Yes, it is a big job, but one that allows your estate to be better and more easily managed. It is an important part of your Estate Planning.
