One of the newest areas of estate planning is the distribution and management of the digital estate. This is actually so new that many people completely forget to include their digital estate into their estate planning, and this can create complications after they pass away. The digital estate includes all of your online accounts and activities. Though accounts to social media and forums may not be as useful or important, many people also maintain several financial accounts online, and if these are not properly transferred, it can be very difficult to get them transferred after death.
What is included in the Digital Estate?
Automatic Payments
: Many individuals pay for utilities, credit cards, loans, and other services completely online. If information and access to these online accounts isn’t shared, this can create financial problems and legal situations when payments stop being sent.
Social Media
: Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr are just a few of the social media sites that people use. Family members may want to delete or deactivate these accounts once their loved one has passed away.
Emails
: A lot of important and private information is stored on email accounts. It’s important that these accounts can be secured and deleted.
Financial Services
: Many people have online accounts for their banks and credit cards. It could be a security risk to keep these accounts open and not monitor them regularly.
Medical Sites
: Some people may have accounts with their health insurance and doctors. These sites could store very private information over the web, and beneficiaries may want to get these accounts deleted or closed.
Other Online Content Sharing
: The deceased person may also have his own websites, Youtube and other video accounts, online storage of pictures, and storage of writing and other documents. If beneficiaries want access to this information, they need to make arrangements before the person dies.
What are the Benefits to Including the Digital Estate in Estate Planning?
One benefit is that it will give complete control over your digital accounts and information to someone. If accounts need to be deleted, or if the information needs to be accessed, it’s important that your beneficiaries know the usernames and passwords.
Arranging your digital estate can also be important for security reasons. All of this personal information online may be susceptible to identity theft or fraud. Removing private financial and medical records from the internet is a good way to minimize that risk. If you have to make several payments online, it is important that your beneficiaries can either continue to pay them or end the services. Otherwise this could create new problems.
Finally, if you don’t keep a record of your online accounts, it will be next to impossible for your beneficiaries to find them and access them. By putting this information in writing, you can be sure that they will know about all of your important online accounts.
If you are currently interested in estate planning, give us a call or schedule an appointment. Our firm can help you make arrangements, so that your loved ones are well taken care of after you have passed away.
