Estate planners are still attempting to grapple with the fact people often leave behind a very active digital presence after their death. A recent article discusses how to prepare your heirs to deal with some of the pieces of your digital afterlife.
Online Bills
Most people deal with their bills completely online. Should you suddenly require a hospital stay, your loved ones may not be able to access your online bill-pay accounts in order to ensure that your bills are paid in a timely matter. It is therefore important to create a list of all log-ins and passwords for your loved ones.
Loss of Data
Most people store important data electronically. This data may include photographs, movies, and scans of important documents. As technology is constantly changing, simple software updates have the potential to make data stored electronically obsolete. If there is anything important on your computer that you want your heirs to be able to access, such as photo albums or videos, be sure to make and store hard copies of these things.
Controlling Your Personal Legacy
If you are active on social media networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, your personal legacy will live on through these sites until and unless your heirs do something about it. In your will, be sure to address what you would like to be done with these accounts. A Facebook account, for example, can be memorialized or deleted.
For assistance in planning for your digital assets, contact us at (626) 696-3145.
