What Happens to Your Digital Assets When You Die?
We all have digital assets. You may have more than you realize. What happens to those assets when we die? The answer is more complicated than you think.
There is a laundry list of rules that survivors must figure out what to do. They find that not only don’t they have access to these accounts, but the data in the accounts may be deleted permanently, when they try to log in too many times.
Almost all states have passed the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA). Experts are gaining a better understanding of how this act works and what happens to digital assets when owners die.
Begin by naming a digital assets fiduciary in your will. The person appointed will be able to gain access to digital assets, as directed in the will . If they list their wishes for specific disposition of the assets, their wishes supersede the terms of service provision of each individual site.
Know that these provisions apply ONLY if clients take specific action. Education of family members is important here. Start by creating a complete inventory of all digital assets.
Types of Digital Assets
- Communication: email, contacts, login for phone
- Rewards programs: hotels, airlines, restaurants
- Shopping: eBay, Craig’s List, Amazon, department stores
- Online storage sites: iCloud, data backup sites
- Finances: online payments, banking, investment accounts, cryptocurrency
- Social media: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Snap Chat, WhatsApp
- Gaming sites and fantasy leagues—especially if there is real money involved.
Checklist for Digital Assets
Make sure your will has a provision that names a digital assets fiduciary, as well as an alternate, if that person cannot serve.
In a separate document or in the will itself, list your wishes for each and every digital asset. Do you want your social media sites memorialized or do you want them shut down? Who gets your airline frequent flier miles? Who should have access to emails, taxes and social media sites? Where should pictures go?
It may be easier to use one of several available services that generate secure passwords for each site and store the passwords and usernames. Using provisions for denial of access until death, the named digital fiduciary should have the master password to that service, plus instructions for any two-factor authentication. Remember that your will becomes a public document upon your death, so don’t put any passwords in that document.
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