Are you addressing your digital assets when planning your Walworth County estate? Digital assets do not solely affect younger generations, they affect all generations. Now that our digital world involves social media, emails, online investing, cloud storage, and more, you must address what will happen to your digital assets after your death.
What Are The Various Types of Digital Assets?
In general, digital assets consist of any type of information stored online, in the cloud, or on a person’s computer, phone, or server. Samples of digital assets are: emails (Outlook, Hotmail, Gmail), online investing information (E*Trade), online financial information, online bank accounts, online bill payment accounts (PayPal), social media profiles (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), online photos, online videos, blogs, websites, domain names, online video game accounts, avatars, medical and prescription information (Patient Portals, Walgreens), all files storage on your computer, your smartphone data (address book, contacts, photos), etc. Some people may have digital assets with a monetary value, such as online businesses, photographers, authors, etc. Your digital property and memories will be lost if family members are unable to retrieve and access your data.
Why Must I Protect and Plan for My Walworth County Digital Estate?
Traditionally, financial information and bills are sorted at the deceased’s estate. In today’s day and age, many people pay bills online, through the creditor website or through their bank’s online bill pay program. With so many companies going paperless, all of your estate assets and debts may be inaccessible strictly through a paper trail.
If you have a social media profile, such as on Facebook, what will happen to your profile? You must leave specific instructions and login information for family if you want a say in what happens to your Facebook profile. If you do nothing, family may argue about whether to leave your page as a memorial or to delete it. There may be strong feelings attached to these options. If no one has your login information after your death, your family must contact Facebook to have your profile either removed or memorialized. Which would you prefer? Which would your family prefer?
Lastly, many states do not have laws enacted to protect digital assets after your death. Who will own this information? Your photos, videos, and family recipes are at risk. Is the information transferable?
Contact Our Walworth County Estate Planning Attorney
The fact is that Wisconsin is not keeping up with how digital assets are handled in an estate after a death. This will create stress, arguments, confusion, and possible extra expenses for your living family. Your first step is to prepare a list of all your digital assets and login information. Contact our Walworth County estate planning attorney to ensure the Personal Representative of your Last Will & Testament is given the proper information and instructions to manage your digital assets. You can contact our Walworth County estate planning attorney via phone at 262-725-0175 and via email on our website’s contact page. Wynn at Law, LLC has estate planning offices located in Delavan, Salem, Lake Geneva, and Muskego.
*The content and material on this web page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
