We live In a digital universe, the majority of the things people hold dear are not paramount. It’s easy to access family pictures, movies, songs and some business correspondence through several online accounts. The majority of people manage their taxes, money, and utilities via online files and accounts. Ever thought of what becomes all of these digital properties when one dies?
Why it is important to have a digital estate plan?
Several laws on effective digital estate planning keep developing, but there are plans that you can make now to assist your family handle all your digital assets when you are no longer alive. If one fails to make a digital estate plan, it could be hard or even unachievable for the person’s family to get all the vital information they would need when the person passes away.
Technology has become a vital part of human daily living. It is quite easy to reach a laptop, tablet, smartphone to interact with loved ones, get information on social media and also check bank accounts. Estate planning is no longer traditionally designed as a folder of files and documents. Now, paper documentation is old fashion. Most documents are now digital.
We are going to examine 5 great steps to make a digital estate plan.
1. Create a list of every digital asset and ways to access each one
What digital assets do you possess? Do ensure you create a list of all your digital assets, consisting of everything from the hardware to all your social media accounts, every home utility that you have online to information on all your online banking accounts. Your digital assets should possess:
· Any data or information that is kept electronically, whether on a physical platform or online, in the cloud.
· Computing hardware, for instance, external hard drives, computers, flash drives, smartphones, e-readers, digital cameras, digital music players, tablets, and other digital devices.
· Valid online accounts, which includes email accounts, communications accounts, online storage accounts, shopping accounts, social media accounts, video accounts, photo sharing accounts, all video gaming accounts, and blogs and websites that you may manage.
· Intellectual property, which includes: trademarks, copyrighted materials, and every code you own or may have written.
· Valid domain names
2. Determine what you want to be achieved with these assets
How do you want each asset to be handled? With regards to the state of the property, the manner you want various types of your digital property to be managed may differ. While one may have some of their assets to be archived and some others saved, one may also want other assets to be erased or deleted, while some others could be transferred to friends, family members, or some colleagues in the business. For every digital asset or account that you possess, indicate how you’d want your Digital Executor to manage that particular asset. Put in mind that your wishes could conflict with the companies’ protocols and terms of service, However, it’s still vital that your Executor understands what your plans and wishes are.
How about the asset monetary value? Do any of your assets possess monetary value? Well, you have to give detailed instructions to your Digital Executor on how to handle the assets in a particular way. For instance, Do you want revenue-generating assets to be transferred to the people that will continue managing all the accounts? How about Credits redemption? Do you want credits or cash values or points to be redeemed? Do you want all online stores you possess and manage to be instantly shut down, or maybe you want them to shut down immediately every item is sold or transferred to the person who can proceed to manage the store? If all your digital assets will keep generating revenue, it’s deserves thinking about where the total money is going, and the person that will be capable of accessing it after you’re no longer alive.
3. Choose a good digital executor
A digital executor is someone who has the obligation of handling all your digital assets, also possess all vital information to be utilized when you die. It is important to pick this person cautiously, making sure that you choose a trust-able person whom you can rely on and who is competent in carrying out all the needful duties.
Who do you rely on to carry out every plan for your digital assets? Pick someone that will help settle all your digital estate, however, you should make specifications in the document you make in step 1 and step 2 of this digital plan. In most places, a Digital Executor is not a legally binding or some enforceable designation. However, you should still have a Digital Executor, as this person would follow the plans and wishes stated in your digital estate plan,
4. Save this information in a very secure-but- quite accessible location
There is 3 main method you can firmly store this sort of sensitive information.
1. In a locked and safe file cabinet
2. With a good attorney
3. With an effective and reliable online storage service
Irrespective of how you make decisions in storing all your digital estate plan, you have to be sure that all the people who ought to know about the digital plan is known. It’s a vital idea to inform one person or two people whom you rely on—your parents, your spouse, your close friend, your adult children, and importantly your Digital Executor, for instance—where the digital plan is located and ways of accessing it. This entails giving the particular person you rely on, the full name of your attorney, the full name of all the online storage platforms you’ve utilized, and the detailed location of keys as well as the collection to your safe. With this method, at the right time, the people that need to have access to the plan you’ve laid would find the digital plan and also access it.
5. Make it legal
It is vital to formalize all your digital estate plans in a good and legally binding document. Make it legal. An easy way to do implement this is to have a Digital Executor clearly stated in your Will (or indicate whom your traditional digital Executor should collaborate with to settle all your digital estate). Also, it is vital you specify the detailed location of all your digital assets and inventory, so that at the right time, your Digital Executor can discover and have access to your digital plan.
Make sure you do not have your vital passwords or some other digital asset information, stated in your Will. When you are no longer alive, your Will turns into a public document, meaning that everyone can have access and read it—including all delicate information it will contain. A wise solution to all this is referring to your detailed Will to another detailed document that possesses all the important information that is needed to lay all your digital estate. In this method, you can always add to the information, make some revisions, and make a good update to all the documents without having to formally transform your will or having all your digital assets at big risk.