To this very day, many developed countries have failed to account for the importance of appropriately securing their online presence. With over half of a nation’s population dying without a will, and nothing in the law to outline the procedures, the individual’s assets may be distributed wrongly.
As technology evolves, so does the element of estate planning. Not only must physical assets be accounted for, one’s digital presence holds net worth and must also be evaluated as an asset. The importance of digital estate planning has skyrocketed due to the intangible wealth of digital assets. What are digital assets? To lay the foundation, digital assets are any building blocks to an individual’s online legacy. This includes all content submitted to the cloud platforms such as passwords, usernames, and photos.
Your Digital Footprint
The ability for social network platforms to track one’s digital footprints has stirred controversy. To that one’s digital legacy is safely removed or preserved is thus essential, to prevent mishaps that one can do with another’s personal identity.
I’d like you to have a moment to think – How would you like your digital assets to be handled after your passing? Who will you give post-mortem access for your online accounts to?
With the ever fluctuation and static Facebook privacy policies, it may be difficult for anyone, even authorized personnel, to gain access to an individual’s account.
As of 2014, lawyers have been increasing litigation in order to preach to the ‘best interests of the public’, the importance of closing of online profiles for deceased family members. Usually obliterated in the minds of an individual, many digital assets including Paypal and eBay accounts continue to hold ties with online credit information, and with no surprise, it is also through these accounts that fraud crimes commence.
How to prepare your Digital Estate Plan?
1. Understand Asset Value
Knowing what is considered as an asset will become valuable to you. Take some time to consult reliable online sources or solicitors if need be, to ensure that you have sufficient understanding of what has precedence to becoming an asset.
2. Identify Your Assets
With the knowledge of what is or isn’t an asset, write a list with the most valuable assets you have under your possession. These should be the things that are worth holding through generations on end.
3. Evaluate The Assets
This can be done professionally or by oneself. Knowing how much the assets are worth can assist your decision for identifying your key recipients.
4. Choose Key Players
This stage requires personal discretion. List down all the key players. Keep in mind that the recipient should be younger and most likely to outlive you.
5. Insert Stopgaps
Having more than one potential recipient of your assets is a ‘must’. With a back-up person to the asset will prevent any future distribution problems.
6. Keep Tweaking
The estate plan is something that needs to be constantly updated as one become in possession of more assets or perhaps, altered in accordance to someone’s death. The Government recommends a yearly revision.
