One of the most commonly overlooked facets of estate planning is a person’s digital assets. While of course, writing a will, creating trusts, and establishing powers of attorney are all cornerstones of estate planning, you should also strongly consider including your digital assets in your estate plan as well. You should also understand that you likely have more digital assets than you may think, so it truly is worth considering. Please continue reading and reach out to our seasoned Pennsylvania estate planning attorneys to learn more about the importance of crafting your digital estate plan and how we can help you do so. Here are some of the questions you may have:
What assets may go into a digital estate plan?
A wide range of assets and data may go into a person’s digital estate plan. For example, if you’re someone with electronically stored, data, such as cloud data, you’ll want this information to be accounted for upon your passing. You can also make note of any data you have stored on a physical device, such as a computer or smartphone. Other physical computing hardware, such as external hard drives, digital camera, and computers themselves may also be accounted for in your estate plan. Finally, you may also want to include any intellectual property you may have, such as trademarks, copyrighted works, or code you’ve written and own.
You should also note that you may wish to include certain important and/or sensitive information in your digital estate plan, such as information regarding logins/passwords for social media, email, online shopping, and other accounts. You can include this information for a trusted party who can either deactivate these accounts or manage them after you pass away.
What is a digital executor?
Essentially, a digital executor is a person you appoint to manage and/or distribute your digital estate upon your passing. Most states do not recognize a digital executor as a legally binding position, however, you can include your wishes for your digital assets in your estate plan and request that the executor of your estate acts also as your digital executor. Keep in mind that this must be a person who you trust with your private information.
If you have any further questions about crafting your digital estate, or the estate planning process in general, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Friedman Schuman today. We are here to help you get the peace of mind you deserve and need, knowing your assets are protected and accounted for.
