There are these moments in our lives when technology changes faster than the legislation does.
While it is quite normal for most of us to download, install, and subscribe to different applications and services, we rarely bother to think about keeping track of them. We rely on a browser’s built-in password manager to remember our passwords for us and almost instantly forget about the app or the service we’ve just downloaded and subscribed to.
Although subscriptions to services such as the Internet, mobile phone, or television are often known or easy to guess, if a person passes away or is incapacitated, passwords to other services are difficult to guess. That is why one should think seriously about one’s digital estate planning, as there are currently no legal or other mechanisms that will automatically come to the rescue.
The digital landscape around us is extremely fast-changing, but this doesn’t apply to the laws and regulations concerning data and digital assets. Of course, we don’t have to wait for laws and regulations to catch up with the rapidly developing digital world; we can take some easy steps to be prepared.
First, let us take a quick overview of the most important digital assets that you might want to include in your estate planning.
What are digital assets in an estate plan?
The concept of digital assets is broad and perhaps confusing to some. Put simply, these assets range from electronic records and data stored online to virtual currencies.
It’s not possible to compile a comprehensive list here, but these are the most important digital assets that you should consider:
- Email accounts
- Funds kept in online payment accounts
- Assets stored in online trading platforms
- Cryptocurrencies in crypto wallets
- Online banking and financial accounts
- Online subscription-based accounts
- Insurance and other related accounts
- Websites’ domain names
- Social media accounts
Of course, we should also mention all kinds of media libraries, such as your private photo storage library, eBook library, and digital music and movie libraries.
How do you write an estate plan for digital assets?
The steps you need to take when creating your digital asset estate plan are similar to the classic one. However, it is recommended that you use special software for it to make it easier for you to catalog and keep track of all of them.
- Catalog your digital assets
Make a full inventory of all your digital assets and libraries and keep the summary of that inventory with your other important inheritance documents in a secure place. - Protect your digital assets
Indicate where and how your digital assets can be found and accessed. Indicate whether some of them should be permanently deleted, and distribute the rest of the assets among your family and loved ones. - Review your beneficiaries
Make sure that you have designated the right beneficiaries to get access to the right digital assets. People sometimes overlook important details. - Appoint your fiduciaries
Digital assets, more than any other assets, need fiduciaries, such as trustees and executors, to be appointed. - Prepare your digital asset estate plan
Simply put all the information together. Organizing all your digital assets now not only makes it easier for your wishes to be followed after you pass away but is also a big help whenever you need to assess or access them.
What digital assets can you hand down through your estate plan?
We cannot make a comprehensive list of all the digital assets that can be handed down through your estate plan, but the keyword here is “own.” You can hand down assets that belong to you. Examples of such digital assets are funds in online payment accounts, stocks in online trading platforms, and company shares in equity management systems.
All digital items that are licensed, not owned, cannot be inherited or transferred to someone. The best examples of non-transferable digital assets are email and social media accounts. In this regard, the role of the estate plan is to clearly indicate who has the right to close and/or completely erase these non-transferable digital assets.
Are digital assets property?
Digital assets or digital property is any information you have created, or information about you, that exists in the digital world. That might be your Google Sheets or text stored on your computer, but it could also be scanned copies of your art collection securely stored in blockchain-based storage.
DGLegacy and digital asset estate planning
How does DGLegacy help you to prepare your digital asset estate plan?
With DGLegacy, you can easily catalog your digital assets, which enables you to protect not only them but also your loved ones should an unforeseen event happen to you.
You are able to catalog your digital, financial, and non-financial assets, designate your preferred beneficiary to them, and have them notified at the time you choose — while ensuring that your executor will know where to find your important inheritance documents.
With DGLegacy, you can protect your digital assets. Your secure document and password manager with digital inheritance also makes it easy for you to keep your list of digital assets and beneficiaries up to date.
This way, in the event of anything unforeseen happening to you, your loved ones:
- Are aware of your assets
- Can identify and locate all your assets
- Can minimize the chance of unclaimed assets.
Originally published at https://www.dglegacy.com.
