When planning your estate, it’s important to think beyond your personal property—your digital life matters too. Your social media accounts, online photos, and digital documents are all part of your legacy, and different platforms have varying rules about what happens to them after you’re gone.
The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Digital Assets Act, which has been adopted in New York, allows for a chosen representative to manage your electronic affairs but falls short of how you can practically ensure that your chosen representative can access these accounts quickly. Some companies, such as Apple, Google, Facebook, let you designate a legacy contact as well as access keys so that the legacy contact can seamlessly access account data upon your death. You may also include clear instructions for your digital assets via a document that holds usernames and passwords for all financial institutions, e-commerce stores, insurance policies, online storage, email, social media accounts, cable and wireless carriers, medical apps, and media subscriptions. If you select this option, then you should inform your legacy contacts that you have selected them. For an analog version, list all the usernames and passwords to your accounts in a notebook that you place under lock and key. If you select this option, then you should inform your chosen representative where the notebook is located.
Taking a few minutes to review your digital settings and update your estate documents can protect your online memories, provide clear guidance for your chosen representative, and reduce stress and legal complications for your family while they are mourning your loss.