When most people think of an estate plan, they think of physical belongings, such as property and cash. However, in today’s world, people now need to determine what to do with digital assets, such as social media accounts and projects that exist solely on a hard drive.
When it comes time to create an estate plan, you know to talk about your house and other possessions with a legal authority. You should never ignore your computer, and there are steps you can take to protect such assets.
Document all your digital property
From photos to domain names, you may have more digital assets than you realize. The first thing you should do is create a list of all these items. This includes the passwords and any additional information someone would need to access such accounts. Once you have all this information, you can decide who should have access to what, but for the initial time being, you just want to make note of what you own.
Provide lawful consent
You may think that you can simply tell someone your passwords and expect that person to carry on your blog after you pass away. For the best results, you want to include such information, such as who obtains your domain names, in a legal document. That way, if something goes wrong and a loved one cannot access something, then the courts have something lawful to work with to ensure that your loved ones receive what you want them to.
Allow password resets
It may seem superfluous, but you also need to include in the relevant documents that you give your beneficiaries the power to reset or recover passwords. Many businesses will have a problem allowing someone else to change passwords, so you want that written authority. With this in mind, it would also be a good idea to ensure that people have access to the email accounts associated with such passwords, so beneficiaries can reset information more easily.