Digital Assets: What Happens to Your Online Life When You Pass?

When you think about making a will and planning for the future, your home, savings and possessions are probably the first things that come to mind.

By Alan Douglas, Director in our Wills, Probate and Inheritance team.

But what about your online life?

From photographs stored in the cloud and social media profiles to online bank accounts, subscriptions and cryptocurrency, many of us now have a considerable digital footprint. Some digital assets have financial value, while others may hold precious memories that are incredibly important to our families.

Yet our digital lives can easily be overlooked when it comes to estate planning.

What are digital assets?

Digital assets can cover a surprisingly wide range of accounts, information and property, including:

• Online banking and savings accounts
• Cryptocurrency and digital investments
• Email accounts
• Social media profiles
• Online shopping accounts
• Digital photographs and videos
• Music, film and e-book libraries
• Website domains and online businesses
• Subscription services

Some may have an obvious financial value. Others, such as years of family photographs or videos, may be priceless to the people you leave behind.

Why does your digital legacy matter?

Imagine trying to deal with a loved one’s finances after they have died, only to discover that their statements and account information were entirely online.

Or perhaps thousands of family photographs are stored in the cloud, but nobody knows which service was used or how the account was managed.

These situations can create additional stress at what is already a very difficult time.

Thinking about your digital assets alongside your wider estate planning can help your executors and family understand what exists, where important information can be found and what you would like to happen to it.

What happens to social media accounts?

Social media profiles are another important part of our digital legacy.

Platforms have their own policies for dealing with an account following someone’s death. Depending on the provider, there may be options for an account to be memorialised or closed once the required information has been provided.

It is important to remember, however, that relatives should not assume they will automatically be able to access someone’s private account content.

Reviewing the legacy or memorialisation options offered by the platforms you use can therefore be a useful part of planning ahead.

What about online banking?

Your executors will need to identify financial accounts when administering your estate, but that doesn’t mean you should put passwords or login information in your will.

A better approach is to keep an up-to-date and secure record of the financial organisations you use and where relevant information can be found.

This can help your executors identify the organisations they need to contact through the appropriate channels when dealing with your estate.

Don’t forget your digital memories

Not everything valuable has a price tag.

For many families, digital photographs and videos may be among the most treasured things someone leaves behind. But unlike a traditional photograph album sitting on a bookshelf, those memories could be spread across phones, laptops and cloud storage.

Taking some time to organise your digital photographs and making sure someone you trust knows where important collections are stored could help protect those memories for the future.

Six simple steps to consider

As part of your wider estate planning, you may want to:

• Make a list of your important digital assets and accounts.
• Keep a secure record of the organisations and platforms you use.
• Consider a password manager and how appropriate access information is managed securely.
• Review legacy settings available through social media and other online platforms.
• Consider specific digital assets when making or reviewing your will, particularly those with financial or business value.
• Keep your records updated as accounts, services and circumstances change.

Estate planning for the digital age

Our lives have changed considerably in the digital age, and our approach to planning for the future needs to keep pace.

Making a will remains an important part of ensuring your wishes are understood, but it is worth thinking beyond your physical possessions too.

Taking some simple steps now to organise your digital life could make a significant difference to the people you leave behind.

For advice about wills, Powers of Attorney, estate planning or how digital assets could fit into your plans for the future, you can contact Alan Douglas and our team on 01434 603656 or click here to send an email.