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Should Digital Assets Be Included In Estate Planning?

by Gene Vasquez

Your estate planning is not limited to just property and financial assets. You also must consider your digital assets. Even though some of those do have a financial connection, some digital assets do not. However, you still need to decide what you want to happen to those after your death. To help you get started, here is what you need to know.

What Are Digital Assets?

Digital assets can include online financial accounts, such as your bank accounts, credit card accounts, and brokerage accounts. It can also include personal email accounts, photographs, and music. Even your social networking accounts are part of your digital assets.

Even if you do not have any financial accounts online, you still want to take steps to protect your personal accounts, such as your social networking accounts. In the wrong hands, your information could be used to collect information about you and others. The information could then be used for nefarious purposes.

What Can You Do?

One of the simplest moves you can take is to write down every account that you have online and the login information for each. The list can be hidden away in a secure location, such as a safe. You can inform a friend or family member that you trust of the location of the list. Keeping the list of your account information is a good idea if you update the information as your passwords change.

 You can also sign up for a digital afterlife service. The features available will vary depending on the service, but at their core, each service should offer management of your login information for online accounts. You will have the choice of what happens to that information after your death. The service will notify the person you name as your beneficiary, and he or she will be provided with instructions for managing those accounts.

In addition to taking these steps, you can include your wishes for your digital assets in your will. Including your instructions in the will is a way to ensure that everyone is aware of your intentions so that there is no confusion.

With more people relying on online services to handle their finances, your digital assets might be more significant than you realize. Work with an estate planning attorney, like Klotz Jean Law Office Of, to guarantee you have fully considered all your assets in your planning. He or she can also make additional recommendations on caring for your digital assets. 

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