Have You Planned For Your Digital Assets?

Vaugh Wadelius

We won’t be here forever, but there are some aspects of our existence that will be around for a while unless you have planned to deal with them. You may know who will inherit your property, your jewellery and the family heirlooms, but not many of us think about or even plan what will happen to our digital estate. After we’ve passed away, our computer files and email and social media accounts will still be here. Ask yourself “Will your family will be able to figure out how to deactivate your digital accounts?” Not sure? Here’s what you need to know.

What are digital assets? Almost everyone has an email account, but many of us have more digital assets - photos, music-storage accounts (iTunes), various online accounts, email, social media sites and cloud accounts. These are often overlooked digital assets the average person has. Most of us have a computer, Internet service and a smartphone but we don’t think twice about what will happen to them if we were to die.

How can you protect your family? The most basic advice is to ensure that those who survive have awareness of the deceased’s passwords. Such a list will have to be continuously updated, maybe kept in a safety deposit box or in a secure but accessible place at home. They’ll need to know the various data and online accounts related to the passwords.

What info should you list on paper? You may want to consult an estate planner or a lawyer who can speak to digital assets to make sure you’ve covered all bases, but here are some basic account assets to keep in mind : • Social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter,

Google+, Instagram, Pinterest,

Tumblr), their handles or account names and passwords • Email accounts and their respective passwords, including email accounts you don’t use very often. • iTunes and Google Play. • Online banking. • Retail websites you have accounts with; websites where you’re a seller, such as Amazon, eBay and Craigslist. • Where your digital photographs, video and other digital files are kept - and how to access them.

Should your will include digital-estate details? Yes, because a lack of detail can cause difficulties for those left behind. Don’t gloss over how you want your digital assets to pass when you die, since much of your financial and personal information is found online - and not anyplace else - so it’s best to be as detailed as you can. What

happens with the Facebook,

Twitter and LinkedIn?

Once you’re gone, you won’t be posting, tweeting or updating your own feeds, but others can still post to your walls and tweet at you. No agency automatically steps in to deactivate or memorialize your accounts. Different social media networks have varying ways of allowing accounts to be deactivated, and there’s no standard operating procedure among them.

Facebook will allow an account to be memorialized. Twitter allows for deactivation by an authorized person. LinkedIn will remove the profile of a deceased person if you get in touch with the company. With LinkedIn, you don’t have to be an authorized representative of the deceased to file a request for review.

Can you rely on online advice? Don’t believe everything you read online. Keep in mind that what you learn online about digital-estate planning might be intended for an audience in the United States or another country, so it may not apply to you. Canada has yet to enact specific laws with respect to digital assets and wills. The best way around this is to seek a professional opinion from a lawyer or an estate planner.