Managing Your Digital Legacy After Death
This blog is for those of you who have wondered and asked me what happens to online accounts after you have passed away. Many of you have Instagram photos, Netflix subscriptions, Facebook, and Pinterest accounts, to name a few.
This digital presence plays a big role in who you are.
What is a Digital Legacy?
Think of your digital legacy as your online alter ego—it’s like your personal identity, but it lives in the land of computers and the internet. This includes everything from your email accounts to social media profiles and any other internet accounts you’ve signed up for (yes, even that old MySpace page you forgot about).
I’ve listed some samples of the online sites that you probably use every day:
- Facebook and Instagram memories
- Google Photos or iCloud for your family photos
- Email accounts
- Spotify playlists
- Amazon Prime accounts
- Netflix accounts
- Bitcoin
Crafting Your Digital Legacy as Part of Your Estate Plan
In our office we have seen how family members struggle to handle these accounts after the death of a beloved family member. Our goal is to make things easier for you. Simply follow this guide.
- Make a list:
Write down all your online accounts, your usernames and passwords, and what you want to happen to each account. Keep the list current by updating it whenever you create a new account or change a password. - Select a Digital Executor:
This is a person who is very tech savvy. They will be making sure that your online wishes are followed. Your digital executor could be one of your tech savvy kids or a good friend. - Carefully detail what you want done:
Different platforms offer different things.
For example Facebook and Instagram have the ability to turn your profile into a memorial.
Google lets you decide what happens when you stop using your account.
Twitter works closely with family members to close your account.
Netflix can be cancelled very easily.
Just make sure you carefully detail how you want each platform to be handled
Digital Legacy Planning Tips You Can do Right Now.
- Use a Password Manager like 1Password. It is a safety deposit box for all of your passwords.
- Make sure to back up all the photos that are important to you.
- Write down your Bitcoin information. It is vital that your family knows how to access it.
- See if you can set legacy contacts right now. A legacy contact is someone who you have picked to have access to your Apple account after your death.
How Can Kabb Law Help Me With My Digital Legacy Plan?
- We will make sure that your digital wishes are legally binding.
- We can see that your digital assets are in your regular estate plan.
- We will help you to navigate the complex laws about digital asset access.
- We’ll create unquestionable documents for companies and platforms.
- Nothing in this category is new to us. We’ve been through all of this many, many times.
We will help you with:
a) preventing family conflicts over your digital assets.
b) ensuring that your crypto and valuable digital items are transferred properly.
c) seeing that your private information remains private information.
d) handling accounts that are in different states or countries. - We are totally up-to-date on the constantly changing digital laws and platform policies such as new legal requirements, platform policy changes, the best ways to protect your digital assets, and the latest security recommendations.
- Finally, you will have peace of mind and can relax by working with Kabb Law.
We will make sure that your digital legacy plan works well with your estate plan, and that nothing important is overlooked. We will see to it that your family gets all the professional support they will need, that everything is explained in plain English with no legal jargon that needs interpreting.
The digital world is here to stay.
Contacting Rachel at Kabb Law at 216-991-5222 now to craft your digital legacy plan will save your loved ones enormous headaches later.
