Updating an estate plan to account for digital assets and information is crucial for anyone who has an online presence. In today’s society, this means nearly all of us. If you drafted an estate plan in the past, chances are high that plan did not specifically address your digital information. What will happen to all of your pictures, passwords, emails, and other assets after you pass? An experienced Anaheim estate planning lawyer can help modify your estate plan to properly account for these digital assets.
By modifying your estate plan, what are some examples of instructions that can be left for the handling of your digital assets? The following are six common examples:
- Instruct your trustee or executor to archive the contents of the digital account onto a CD, DVD, or other device, to be distributed as you wish.
- Instruct your trustee or executor to grant access to the account to others.
- Instruct your trustee or executor to set up an auto-response for your e-mail accounts, informing the sender of your passing and providing instructions for forwarding information.
- Instruct your trustee or executor to set up automatic mail forwarding to a different location.
- For certain digital accounts, such as Facebook, memorialize the account to allow others to still view and comment on your page, even after have you have passed away.
- Include instructions in your will, trust, or directly with the institution to leave the asset directly to your beneficiaries.
For more information about updating an estate plan to account for digital assets, contract our office of experienced Anaheim estate planning attorneys today. Call us at (714) 282-7488 for a consultation and further guidance.