When I Die, What Happens To My Digital Assets?

Do you even have digital assets? Yes you do! When you die, who has control over

your digital assets? Welcome to the digital world. Your assets are no longer limited to

traditional assets, such as real property, cars, jewelry, bank accounts, retirement

accounts, and life insurance. You more than likely also have social media accounts,

blogs, NFTs, e-books, iCloud accounts, maybe some cryptocurrency (see the next

article), and use online banking and other online services. In short, you have digital

assets. So, what happens to your digital assets after you are gone? Do you simply let

family and friends know your passwords? Or do you have to do some sort of planning

for your digital assets?

Washington's Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, allows a custodian of

digital assets to disclose the non-contents or contents of a digital asset to a fiduciary

(i.e. Personal Representatives, Trustees, Power of Attorney Agents, etc.) depending on

the wishes of the registered user. Certain online services also have their own tools to

manage online presence upon the death of the registered user.

Planning for digital assets is still in the early stages. There are no standard procedures

when it comes to releasing digital content. License agreements usually prohibit the

user from sharing passwords, so you may be in technical violation of the terms of use

by simply letting family and friends know your password. However, Washington's

Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act provides a process by which individuals, other

than the user, can access digital assets. Moreover, online services are becoming more

aware of the issue and have taken steps to allow a user to designate who may have

access to a user's account and its contents. Thus, planning for digital assets may

involve more than simply signing documents. You may need to access your online

services' management tools to allow another individual to access your online account

after your incapacity or death. Therefore, to make it easy for your family, it would be

prudent for you to check with your digital asset custodian (e.g. Facebook, Apple,

Amazon, etc.) for their specific management tools, so that it is already in place when

you pass away.