In today’s connected world, managing your digital assets has become just as essential as managing your physical ones. From email accounts and cloud storage to social media, online banking, and digital photos, most of our personal and financial lives now exist online. As a result, it’s important to include these digital assets in your estate planning. This guide outlines why digital asset planning matters and how you can take steps to organize, protect, and ensure the proper transfer of your digital presence.
Understanding digital assets
What are digital assets?
Digital assets encompass a wide range of electronic content, information, and media. These include:
- Email Accounts: Personal and professional email accounts.
- Devices: Smartphones, tablets, computers.
- Online Accounts: Sales accounts, purchasing accounts, storage accounts.
- Web Presence: Websites, domain names, blogs, social media profiles.
- Intellectual Property: Digital rights and permissions tied to your content.
Why are digital assets important?
Digital assets can hold significant financial and sentimental value. For instance:
- Financial Value: Domain names can be highly valuable, especially if they are tied to popular search terms or brand names. Blogs and websites can generate substantial revenue through advertisements and subscriptions.
- Sentimental Value: Photos, videos, emails, and social media posts often carry sentimental value and preserve personal memories.
Steps to organize and transfer digital assets
Create a comprehensive inventory
The first step in managing your digital assets is to create a detailed inventory. Often this is best accomplished intentionally or ad-hoc by having a password manager app. But your inventory should generally include:
- A list of all your digital assets and accounts.
- Account information and access details (usernames, passwords, website logins, secret question answers, profile information).
- Details about the location of the assets (online accounts, devices, etc.).
Develop a plan for transferring digital assets
Next, devise a method to transfer the value of your digital assets to your desired beneficiaries. This involves:
- Legal Preparations: Work with us to include digital assets in your Will or Revocable Trust if they require specific bequests. You should also grant agents under your financial powers of attorney (which take effect when you are incapacitated) the power to manage and transfer your digital assets for you.
- Transfer Ownership: Where possible, transfer ownership of valuable digital assets (like cryptocurrency) to an entity such as a trust or LLC to ensure they are preserved and accessible.
Utilize online storage accounts
Online storage accounts can help you organize and securely store your digital assets. These services offer:
- Centralized Storage: Store passwords, important documents, and digital files in one secure location.
- Designated Access: Allow designated persons to access your digital assets in the event of your death or disability. Make sure that your trusted people can get access to your phone and your password manager.
Regularly update your information
To ensure your digital assets are managed effectively:
- Update your inventory regularly.
- Change passwords periodically and update your records accordingly.
- Inform your fiduciary or designated person about any changes to your digital asset information.
Understand legal and security implications
Digital asset management is not just about organization; it’s also about understanding the legal and security implications:
- Terms of Service: Be aware that some digital asset providers have terms of service that restrict access to accounts by anyone other than the original user. This can affect the transfer of these assets after your death.
- Cybersecurity: Implement strong cybersecurity practices to protect your digital assets from theft and unauthorized access. Again, using a password manager app might be the best approach (as opposed to a spreadsheet that you manually maintain).
Resources to consider
Password managers
Password managers store and organize login credentials in one secure location. Many allow for emergency access or legacy contact settings.
Examples: LastPass, 1Password, Bitwarden, Dashlane
Legacy tools from major platforms
Several tech companies now offer legacy or inactive account settings to help plan for access after death.
- Google Inactive Account Manager: Lets you designate someone to receive access to your account after a set period of inactivity.
- Apple Legacy Contacts: Allows you to name someone who can access your Apple ID and iCloud data after your death.
- Facebook Memorialization Settings: Lets you designate a legacy contact to manage your memorialized account.
- Instagram Memorialization: Offers limited memorial options for accounts of deceased users.
This guide provides general information about estate planning and is not legal advice for your situation. Laws vary by state and change over time. Please talk with an attorney before acting on anything you read here.