Protecting Your Assets In A Digital Age

The majority of us are living our lives in a digital age. As of the fourth quarter of 2017, there were 2.2 billion monthly active Facebook users and as at the end of September 2017, Instagram had 800 million users. The usage of social media and digital assets will only continue to increase, but research shows that just one in four adults has organised their financial information well enough to allow their executors to handle and discover these assets easily on death.

More and more assets are being held online rather than physically, hence why they are referred to as digital assets. Most of us have:-

• Photos on social media apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

• Music downloaded from iTunes

• Blogs and online content

• Emails and email accounts

• Loyalty points such as airline points

• Internet payment sites such as PayPal

• Bitcoin and cryptocurrency (this is a digital wallet with monetary value).

Few of us give any thought over what happens to our digital assets on death, or even to how they are discovered by our executors. As a result, this can lead to arguments and hostility for those you leave behind. Who will become the keeper of your photos, blogs, music and what will happen to your money held within the digital wallet?

Some social media accounts such as Facebook have a legacy setting which allows you to choose someone to look after your account when you die, which will give that person time to download your memories and pass them to loved ones. Not many people know about this. Other websites prohibit you from passing on your login details to other people, such as your executors, and on your death they will simply close the account once notified. Data then held by those websites will simply be lost.

Loyalty providers set their own rules on whether points or cashback accrued can be passed on when you die. Sometimes an executor can claim these, but time can be of the essence and knowing they exist in the first place is crucial in making this happen.

When making a will, you should give consideration to your digital assets.

You should:

• Review the assets and information you hold digitally in online accounts and make a list of those assets for your executors. The Law Society recommends this and is known as a Personal Assets Log. The Personal Assets Log should be stored with your will. You should not include passwords or any login details in your will because your will becomes a public document to view once a grant of representation is issued

• Review the information and assets held in online accounts and consider how they should be administered following death. Within the terms and conditions agreed to when you created an online account, there may be terms on which assets can be administered on death. There are some websites which make specific provision for another person to receive data from your account after your death, if you agree to this in advance. Your executors will need to know where you have bitcoin or other types of cryptocurrency so that it does not lie undiscovered

• Print off copies, or download onto a USB stick, any photographs and documents that are only stored digitally and keep them in a safe place where your executors can find them

• Give careful consideration when leaving technology such as computers or mobile telephones to individuals, as often your personal information and photos are stored. Knowing how your digital assets will be dealt with on your death and the effect of these on your will requires careful consideration. As part of drafting your will, a professional advisor will guide you on provision for your digital assets and how best to pass these onto the people you would like to receive them.