Let’s face it; Estate Planning is not an easy task. The first thought that comes to our mind when we think of Estate Planning is: Does this mean I am nearing my end? Not necessarily, but the human mind is wired to not think about ‘what happens if we were to pass away tomorrow’ or ‘what if I fall ill?’
The process of Digital Estate Planning might still be in the developmental stages, but taking the necessary steps will surely help your loved ones to protect and manage your Digital Afterlife.
If you are a senior citizen, you might already have a senior citizen estate planning in place. But what about your Digital Estate? Do you have a plan for protecting your Digital Assets?
An Estate Plan for your Digital Assets is called a Digital Estate Plan. All your online accounts and login credentials you use to access your online accounts are collectively called Digital Assets or Digital Properties. Like how Estate Planning helps your loved ones in protecting and managing your tangible assets, a digital estate plan for future caregivers helps your loved ones in protecting your Digital Assets.
Digital Estate Planning is fairly new, but people are becoming aware of it. The steps to create a Digital Estate Plan for your Digital Assets are pretty straightforward and of the do-it-yourself kind.
Let us have a look at how you can create a Digital Estate Plan for your Digital Assets.
Importance of Estate Planning for Senior Citizens
Are there benefits of estate planning during lifetime? Estate planning is essential for everyone, but it’s necessary for senior citizens who may not be able to plan their affairs. Estate Planning for Senior Citizens can help avoid probate and ensure that your family will receive the assets you’ve worked hard enough to earn and save your assets and fortune over a lifetime. If you’re concerned that your loved ones might need to make decisions about their health and finances sooner than expected, talk to an attorney about estate planning options to help them prepare.
When you’re old or disabled, you often have to make decisions about your care and finances. It can be difficult because making these sorts of decisions is hard work and requires knowledge of things like legal procedure involved that most people don’t have time to learn. To help ease this burden, starting estate planning as soon as possible is essential so that all parties know precisely their rights if something happens.
Should I Include Digital Assets In My Will?
It’s essential to consider the benefits of including digital assets in your final estate planning. While some people may think it’s not necessary, there are many reasons why you should consider having them in your Will. Here are some reasons why:
- Your Will must have any asset of value. When it comes to digital assets, they are no different than any other asset. You can sell them, give them away or leave them to whomever you choose. You also can specify who gets what and who is responsible for keeping tabs on how it’s being used or maintained.
- Digital assets are anything of value that is electronically stored. Digital assets are anything of value that is electronically stored. They can include photos, videos, music, emails, texts, social media accounts, and even an online game or virtual currency. One can store Digital assets on a computer (such as a hard drive or an external drive) or in the cloud through services like Dropbox or Google Drive. You should include digital assets in your Will because they are a part of your “intangible” estate—meaning you don’t have to worry about inheriting them yourself!
- It’s possible after you die that your digital assets can be lost or stolen. After you die and your estate is settled, your digital assets can be lost or stolen. This case is especially true if you don’t have any backup for your assets after death. If an accident renders a device inoperable and all of its contents inaccessible, it may also cause them to be unreadable forever. In addition to being lost or destroyed through natural causes (fire, flood), digital assets can also be damaged or destroyed by malicious elements who are looking for something valuable in someone else’s account:
- Fraudsters who steal identities
- Hackers who break into banks
- Identity thieves who use stolen credentials from one person’s accounts at another bank (this has become a common practice for cyber criminals)
- State-sponsored hackers break into foreign governments’ databases and steal sensitive information about their citizens (this happened recently)
- Digital assets may have a lot of money tied up in them.
Digital assets can be worth more than you think for assets after death. If you have a valuable digital asset, such as an online game or a photo-sharing site, then it’s not just about what the person inheriting the help gets—it’s also about how they get it. To ensure that happens correctly, you should include digital assets in your Will.
People who don’t know anything about the value of these types of assets or haven’t thought about them before making their Will do not recognize how important they are—but if left unhandled at all stages of life (and death), these kinds of digital objects could potentially fall into disrepair and become useless over time due to lack of funding or maintenance costs associated with keeping them running smoothly at all times.
What Are Digital Assets In A Will?
Digital assets can be anything digital, like an email account, a social media account, or an online banking account. Digital assets include a list of gaming and shopping accounts, dating profiles and messages, and photos and videos of your life online.
A digital asset is any item you own or control, such as a Facebook profile. If you want to provide your digital assets to someone else by your Will, it’s essential to know what types of digital assets come under “digital assets.” Digital assets are anything you own stored on a computer or mobile device. At the same time, physical property is anything you own that one can touch (like cars or houses).
Digital Estate Plan for your Digital Assets
How do I set up a digital estate? – The idea of a digital estate plan is simple: It’s your plan for the digital assets that you own. These could include everything from stocks and bonds to photographs, music, or video files. A digital estate plan for future caregivers can also cover important documents like wills, powers of attorney, and life insurance policies. It’s not good to ignore that someday you won’t be around to manage your money and affairs for yourself. A digital estate plan puts things into perspective and helps you with the future planning aspect.
A digital estate plan is a way of preparing for this eventuality so that everything will stay planned beforehand when your time comes. You can begin by making an account on a digital estate planning platform. Then find out what assets are included in each type of account (for example, stocks vs. mutual funds vs. bonds), and decide which ones make sense for you based on how much risk they carry and how long they’ll last.
Four Key Components of Estate Planning
The four critical components of Estate Planning are as follows:
Step 1: Make an Inventory of your Digital Assets
Make a list of all the online accounts you have owned so far. This includes social media sites, cloud storage, cryptocurrency, emails, files and documents, and online banking.
Next, make a list of all the devices you have used to access the above-mentioned accounts. If you have invested in cryptocurrency, you will have to list the device used to purchase your crypto. Cryptocurrencies work on the principle of Public and Private keys. Private keys are user-specific, hence the need to include the device used to purchase the cryptocurrency in your Digital Estate Plan.
Step 2: Give Access to your Digital Assets
You might be thinking – isn’t this simple? Just make a list of passwords and include it in the Will.
There are legal implications to including passwords and other sensitive information in your Will. Will go public after the death of an individual – you do not want your passwords to be visible to all your beneficiaries and third parties, do you?
Make use of a Password Manager to store the usernames and passwords of your online accounts. A Password Manager needs one Master Password to allow access to your account. Find a way to pass on the Master Password to your beneficiary.
Step 3: Appoint a Digital Executor
You know the benefits of assigning an executor for your estate. Similarly, you can assign a Digital Executor for your Digital Estates. A Digital Executor is an individual who will handle your Digital Assets after you’re gone.
Some Digital Assets require specific legal permissions to access. Make sure to have a look at each organization’s Legacy Policies. If you are not sure about certain online accounts (online banking and such), talk to your trusted attorney and discuss ways in which you can transfer these accounts to your beneficiaries legally.
Some organizations such as Facebook, Instagram, Google, and LinkedIn let you appoint a Legacy Contact to handle your accounts after you’re gone. Have a look at these policies and make use of them. Once you appoint a Legacy Contact for these accounts, include the details (name of the Legacy Contact) in your Digital Estate Plan.
Step 4: Make your Digital Estate Plan Legal
You would know by now, that for any documents to be passed on as a part of an Estate, it needs to be authorized by an attorney. Similarly, your Digital Estate Plan is legally valid only when it is authorized by an attorney. Talk to your trusted attorney about your Digital Estate Plan.
Conclusion
The most crucial point to stay clear about is that estate planning is a personal responsibility, and it can be overwhelming for elderly people to plan for the future. If you don’t have a Will or senior citizen estate planning prepared and something happens, the laws will decide what to do with your property and money after you die. But if you have an estate plan in place and ensure it is updated when needed, then it won’t matter how old you get – your assets will stay under your control until they get transferred to heirs willing to take over the responsibility.
We at Clocr ensure that all your digital assets are taken care of. Our digital estate planning services help you to make an online will for your assets, both physical and digital. And if your concern is keeping your digital documents safe for your loved ones, then our secure digital vault is the solution you are looking for. Join Clocr today and start planning your digital legacy.
