The law is constantly evolving. Recently, the fields of estate planning and estate administration law have changed significantly due to the ways in which American engagement with online platforms now influences virtually every aspect of modern life. As a result of these shifts in everyday approaches to tasks as varied as banking and sharing photographs, the need for a detail-oriented focus on the issue of digital estate planning has developed.
What is a digital estate plan?
Have you ever stopped to think about how many password-protected accounts you access online with any regularity? From social media accounts to financial planning resources, Cloud-based tools to your email, your online footprint is probably more significant than you realize.
In the event of your death, one or more individuals will need to be entrusted to manage these accounts, and close, transfer or maintain access to them. A digital estate plan will allow you to dictate who can and cannot access and manage all of the sensitive, sentimental, valuable and otherwise important accounts that you maintain online.
Thinking about digital estate administration
Make sure to choose an administrator for your estate who can handle the technical and practical challenges that digital estate administration entails. Also, carefully consider how you’ll store information – including updated login credentials and passwords – in ways that won’t compromise your identity and privacy but will allow your estate’s administrator to do their job effectively.
Estate administration can be a challenging undertaking at the best of times. Administering an estate with a digital planning element can be particularly so, as the legal permissions and procedures related to access to a deceased user’s accounts are still evolving on many sites. Thinking critically about this aspect of estate planning can help to ensure that your wishes are honored and that your administrator has access to whatever they need to carry those wishes out.