Do you have an email account? facebook? flicker? or other social media account?
Do you access your bank or investment accounts online?
Do you receive e-bills?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then you might want to think about this next question… what will happen to all of your online assets and accounts when you die and can anyone get into them?
In this day and age more and more of our lives are moving online. We take for granted that not long ago when we passed on all of our assets could easily be gathered up and passed on. Now we have many assets of significant value in our online accounts and sometimes no where else. This technology gives us great freedom to access information from anywhere but the downside is that it is all locked behind password protected sites that the ones we leave behind may not even know about. They can create a huge headache for an executor that has no way to retrieve your online assets, passwords, and contacts after you are gone.
Sometimes companies have policies in place to access the accounts of someone who has died but not always. Some companies require a death certificate before they will agree to shut down an account or turn over the contents, but rarely will an online company transfer actual ownership. It could take months or years of effort and frustration before your heirs have access to any assets or information locked on the internet.
What this means for estate planning?
When you talk to your attorney about your will or your trust it’s not just about physical assets anymore; digital and online accounts and assets must be part of the conversation and ultimately your plan.