A digital estate plan is a document that outlines how a person’s digital assets should be managed after their death. The goal of a digital estate plan is to ensure that your digital legacy is handled according to your wishes and that your loved ones can access important information without legal complications.
Should you have one? Definitely! It’s incredibly important, given how much of our lives occur online today.
What items should be covered in a digital estate plan?
A digital estate plan would cover a range of items including:
- Passwords: Instructions on where these are stored
- Social media accounts: Instructions on what to do with your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, Snapchat etc.
- Email accounts: Access to your email accounts.
- Online banking and financial accounts: Details for your bank accounts, PayPal, cryptocurrency wallets, etc.
- Cloud storage: Access to documents, photos, and other files stored online.
- Subscriptions and services: Instructions for cancelling or transferring accounts like Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon Prime.
- Online gambling accounts: Instructions for accessing and cancelling these.
- Loyalty programs: Access to things like Frequent Flyer programs, credit card points etc.
- Domain names and websites: Details on any websites or domain names you own.
- Digital devices: Access to computers, smartphones, tablets, and external drives.
- Digital business assets: Access and instructions for any online business accounts, websites, or digital products.
How to create a digital estate plan
Creating a digital estate plan involves several key steps:
- Document all your digital assets: Using the above section as a starting point, make a comprehensive list of all your digital assets, including social media accounts, email accounts, online banking, cloud storage, subscriptions, and any other online accounts or assets.
- Document how to access these assets: This may involve the use of a password manager or other form of secure data storage, as you shouldn’t store passwords, access keys or other access credentials in your Will or any other document.
- Articulate your desires for each asset: Decide how you want each digital asset to be managed or distributed after your death. For example, you might want certain accounts to be deleted, others to be transferred to a specific person, or some to be maintained for a period of time.
- Nominate a digital executor: This person would be responsible for carrying out your wishes regarding your digital assets, so they should be an individual you trust. Some companies (like Facebook) allow a person to nominate a legacy contact who can manage their account after they die – but this would need to be done per platform/account.
- Review and update regularly: Set aside time every six months or so to review and update your digital estate plan to ensure it reflects any changes in your digital assets or personal circumstances.
Can you make a legal and binding digital estate plan? Lucy Dickens from Curae Law notes:
There is no single law or governing body responsible for regulating digital assets in Australia. Digital assets that are the property of a deceased person (for example, photos stored on a device) can be dealt with under their Will, but digital assets that are regulated by a digital account (for example, a photo uploaded to Facebook) will be regulated by the service agreement of that platform, and therefore difficult to include in the provisions of a Will. Crypto assets will require a legal plan (Will) and an access plan, as without the ability for an executor to access crypto, it is likely that some of those assets will be lost.
Even though it’s difficult to make a digital estate plan legal and binding, as noted at the top of this article, it’s still worth taking the time to create one, as it can save considerable time and heartache for your loved ones at what is an already tough time.
To help you start creating a digital estate plan, we’ve created a template you can download and print here.