How to Compile Your Digital Assets
Straighten up your digital asset documentation now for estate planning or trusts
In last week’s newsletter, I wrote about the progress of my own accounts as I build digital assets. I want to return this week to what you might need as a creator. There are several reasons why you might want to take account of your digital assets (DA), but the main reason should be that you want your heirs to know what to do with your online assets.
Below is a step-by-step guide to help you get started. I’ve included resource links at the end so you can begin to tally up your DA to see which course of action to take next.
Inventory Your Digital Assets
Identify all DA and make a comprehensive list of all those DA. This list might include:
Online accounts (e.g., social media, email, cloud storage, genealogy platforms)
Financial accounts (e.g., online banking, investment accounts, cryptocurrencies)
Digital subscriptions and memberships
Websites, blogs, and domain names
Digital content (e.g., photos, videos, documents)
Intellectual property (e.g., digital family trees, writings, artwork)
Also include information for record access such as document usernames, passwords, and any security questions for each account. Use a password manager if necessary.
This step alone is one way to learn just how far reaching your assets have become over time. You may want to streamline this information. Think about the person who might handle your assets after you’re gone and how confusing everything might be if that person had no information to lean on to learn about your accounts, let alone gain access to those accounts.
Decide What Should Happen to Each Asset
Personal Wishes: Decide which assets should be passed on, deleted, or archived. For example:
Genealogy Trees: Decide who should take over the management of family trees.
Social Media Accounts: Specify if you want them memorialized or deleted.
Financial Accounts: Determine who should have access and how they should be handled.
Heir Instructions: Clearly communicate your wishes regarding each asset to your heirs or executor.
As I mentioned above, you might think long and hard about your DA. Are you accumulating ad revenue from your blogs? Do you want to pass that revenue on to a specific heir? What about the information in your family genealogy? If no one in your family is interested, think about donating your work to a library.
Designate a Digital Executor
Choose a Trusted Individual: Appoint a digital executor who will manage your DA according to your wishes. This person should be tech-savvy and trustworthy.
Legal Recognition: Note that not all jurisdictions recognize digital executors, so it’s important to also include your wishes in your traditional will or trust.
If your DA aren’t worth anything, you can allow a trusted individual to delete accounts, etc., according to your wishes. If your DA are accruing revenue, then this revenue becomes of interest to the IRS as well as to any heirs that may know about this affluence. If you include DA in your estate planning (see below), you might want to recruit a trustworthy and tech-savvy person to help the tragent in charge of your assets. You would be in luck if your agent was skilled in tech as well as in the law of estate planning.
Include DA in Your Estate Plan
Will or Trust: Include a clause in your will or trust that outlines your wishes for your DA. Provide details on how you want each asset managed, who should inherit them, and any specific instructions.
Letter of Instruction: Create a separate, detailed letter of instruction that includes login information and specific wishes for each digital asset. This letter should be stored securely and only accessible to your executor or heirs.
This directive is self-explanatory, but the determination of what to do with your assets may not be as clear cut. You might want to talk with potential heirs now to see how they feel about maintaining assets to continue to receive revenue or if they would rather sell and move on.
Understand Platform Policies
Terms of Service: Review the terms of service for each platform you use to understand their policies on account management after death. Some platforms, like Facebook and Google, offer options for designating legacy contacts or setting up inactive account managers.
Contact Platforms: For assets like genealogy trees, contact the platform to understand the steps required for transferring or managing the account after your death.
The genealogy aspect is interesting here, as we may be looking at DNA results as well as paper trails to ancestors. If you cannot recruit a family member to be a trusted and interested cohort in your genealogical quests, then it might be worth your efforts to organize your research and make plans to donate your work to an institution.
Keep Your Plan Updated
Regular Updates: Periodically review and update your digital estate plan to reflect any changes in your assets, passwords, or wishes.
Communicate Changes: Inform your digital executor and heirs of any significant updates to ensure they have the most current information.
Since it’s wise to change passwords often, but it’s not wise to keep changing your trust or estate documents, ask an attorney about how to handle the passwords. To be honest, you can change passwords by using the deceased’s email, but I would advise you to learn more about the legalities of that practice.
Legal Advice
Consult an Attorney: Work with an attorney who specializes in estate planning to ensure your DA are properly included in your legal documents and that your wishes comply with local laws.
Ask the attorney about how to deal with passwords, about files that beneficiaries may find that belonged to you that you didn’t list, and other details you might have questions about. Decide if a trust might work for you, and if your beneficiary can continue to earn money from your revenue tax-free or not.
Additional Tips:
Backup Important DA: Ensure important files, photos, and documents are backed up in a secure location. Be sure to tell your trusted appointee where those files and documents are located. Include that information in your estate or trust files as well as in a will if you don’t actively pursue a trust or estate planning.
Consider Privacy: Be mindful of privacy and data security when sharing access information and making your estate plan or trust.
Creating a detailed estate plan for your DA ensures that your digital life is handled according to your wishes and can provide peace of mind to your loved ones. There are several templates and tools specifically designed to help manage DA in an estate plan.
Some of these resources are free to use, others require payments. Be proactive and research the companies before you use their products. I may mention a company here, and by next year it may be owned by a different entity with different contractual uses. Be your own advocate!
Digital Asset Inventory Templates
Excel or Google Sheets and PDF Templates: You can use customizable templates in Excel or Google Sheets or as downloadable PDF files to list all your digital assets, including account names, URLs, usernames, passwords, and notes. These templates often have sections for several types of assets like social media, financial accounts, subscriptions, and digital files.
Example: Digital Asset Inventory Template.
Online Estate Planning Platforms
Everplans: An online platform that helps you organize all aspects of your estate, including digital assets. Everplans provides a secure vault to store information and share it with designated people.
Directive Communication Systems (DCS): This service focuses on digital assets, helping users to manage and plan for the transfer of their digital property after death.
Password Managers
Password managers not only store your passwords securely but also offer features like emergency access for trusted contacts. You can use them to keep track of your digital assets and ensure that your digital executor can access them when needed. Again, be aware that safety risks apply even to secure sites.
Digital Legacy Services
Google Inactive Account Manager: This feature lets you decide what happens to your Google account data if your account becomes inactive for a specified period. You can set up trusted contacts who will receive access to your data.
Facebook Legacy Contact: Facebook allows you to appoint a legacy contact who can manage your account after your death, including memorializing the account or deleting it.
Legal Document Templates
Nolo: Nolo offers legal templates for wills and trusts, including clauses for digital assets. These templates guide you through the process of including digital assets in your estate plan.
Rocket Lawyer: Provides customizable legal documents, including those for managing digital assets. You can create a will or trust that includes specific instructions for digital assets. Not free.
Estate Planning Software
Quicken WillMaker & Trust: This software helps you create a complete estate plan, including wills, trusts, and documents to manage digital assets. It offers step-by-step guidance and is easy to use. Not free.
AARP: Why You Must Put Digital Assets in Your Will or Estate Plan
Rocket Lawyer: Estate Planning: Don't Forget to Make a Plan for Your Digital Assets
Legal Zoom: Including Digital Assets in Your Estate Plan
FREEWILL: Digital estate planning: How to create your digital legacy in 5 steps
Lexikin: Leaving a Digital Legacy
Parker, Lipman, Shachter & Fogel: Digital Assets and the Importance of Leaving a Digital Legacy
Laffey, Leitner & Goode LLC: Estate Planning for Digital Assets: How to Protect Your Online Legacy
Burnett Barker Solicitors: How Important Is It to Leave a Digital Legacy?
Good luck with pulling your assets together, because you’ll learn a lot about your own online behaviors. Streamline your life, and your beneficiaries will thank you for your efforts. Plus, you may save money in the process.
NOTE: If your DA are your business or part of your business, then it’s very important to keep track of these assets. If yNo matter if you want to sell your company or pass it on to heirs, the DA that belongs to your company adds value. In the case of company-owned assets, it’s best to retain an attorney to work out the tax and estate issues. Good luck!
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko at Pexels.