The concept of estate planning has always been pretty straightforward: by “planning” in advance, you can ensure your assets are protected should you become incapacitated, and later distributed in accordance with your wishes after you’re gone.

Of course, the “assets” those plans address have also historically been pretty straightforward. It’s easy to identify your home and your car, for example. You know that your grandmother’s ring has monetary value and that your youngest child will want the coin collection your grandfather left you long ago. Those are tangible things with tangible values, even if the value is sentimental, and can clearly be “transferred” from one person to another.

But today’s world is different.

Today, we live much of our lives online. We have emails and social media accounts and domain names – digital assets and accounts that may have a significant value all their own, assets that need to be preserved or managed. The question is, how do you protect and bequeath assets or accounts that only exist in the world wide web?

 

Step 1: Make it legal. 

First things first, ensure that your estate plan (at least your trust and durable power of attorney) give your agent the authority to handle your digital assets and accounts. Interested in seeing what this language may look like? Just send us a request by email and we’d be happy to share some sample language with you.

 

Step 2: Make a list of your digital assets and accounts.

You’ve got passwords and most likely, a lot of them. So, make a list. Your online banking accounts, bills you pay, websites you own, social media accounts, subscriptions, online storage… you get the idea. Even if you did nothing else, this list alone would be immensely helpful to your family after you’re gone.

And don’t forget to include details where possible: answers to your “secret” questions and connected email addresses will make it much easier to recover accounts when needed.

 

Step 3: Leave instructions.

And once you’ve made that list? Include instructions on how these assets should be handled.Tell family members how to access the funds they contain, stop future billings, alert online friends to your illness or passing and download family photos and other important documents you’ve stored in the cloud. There have also been instances of old social media accounts getting hacked and deleted; that’s pictures and messages that can’t be replaced.

Do you have online assets that generate income (Iike items on Etsy or eBay)? Tell your family where to find it and what should be done with it. Many online businesses can be sold or transferred, just like their brick-and-mortar counterparts; make sure your family doesn’t overlook this potential source of income.  What about a hefty pile of SkyMile points with a cash or transferable value? Domain names, sponsorship agreements, educational classes and professional memberships – give it some thought. You may have more of an online life than you realize!

Have you uploaded important documents to an online storage account? What about downloaded a very detailed family tree you’ve been building online? Have you written a blog or short stories or poetry that’s published somewhere online? That’s a wonderful piece of YOU that your family would want to preserve, so be sure to include items like this in your estate plan.

 

And finally, take advantage of the cloud. 

Organizing your online life can also mean utilizing its features. Online storage has become so common because it’s incredibly convenient. You can store images, videos, documents, lists, journals, vital records, voice recordings… the list just goes on and on. There are even companies that now provide digital “vaults” designed for this very purpose, giving your family (or selected agents) immediate access to everything you’ve chosen to store online. Interested in a list of the digital vaults we like? Or a digital, easy to complete cheat sheet to complete our recommendations? Send us a request and we’d be happy to share the forms we have prepared just for this.

Santa Barbara Fiduciary provides a wide range of fiduciary services to help you protect your family and your assets. We’ve served as a trusted partner of individuals and families for more than a decade, providing fiduciary guidance, services, and solutions based on a thorough understanding of each client’s unique situation and goals. We can help you manage even the most complex estates and provide guidance when you need it most. Contact us today!