If you are like most American adults, your digital assets, including social media accounts, digital photos and videos, online banking and investment accounts, email accounts and material stored in the Cloud, likely play important roles in your daily life. Have you stopped to consider what will happen to these assets when you pass away or become incapacitated?
Creating a digital estate plan is an effort worth making for several reasons, including better ensuring that your digital legacy is managed according to your wishes and simplifying the estate administration process for your loved ones.
Accessibility, preservation and simplification
Without clear instructions and access information, valuable or sentimental digital assets may become inaccessible. A digital estate plan provides the necessary permissions and guidance to manage, archive or delete digital accounts and files, according to your preferences.
Additionally, if any of your personal and creative life is stored digitally, such as photos, videos, blogs and other creative works, you should know that crafting a digital estate plan can help to ensure that these irreplaceable assets are preserved and passed on to the appropriate beneficiaries, rather than being lost or deleted.
Finally, as briefly mentioned above, a well-organized digital estate plan simplifies this process for executors and family members. If executed properly, it can provide clear instructions and access to important financial documents, account information and personal data. This can expedite the settlement of your estate and minimize estate-related burdens on your loved ones.
Although it’s never easy to spend time on tasks that require individuals to contemplate their own mortality, if you haven’t yet crafted an estate plan, doing so will help to ensure that your digital footprint is managed according to your wishes and make things easier for those left behind.