Simple Question: If you died tonight, could your loved ones get to all of your photos?

Likewise, for most of us, no one would be able to access our photos for the past 20 years or so, located on our smart phones with only our passcodes known. Meanwhile, all of our on-line bills are sent to us by e-mail. Our mortgage and other payments are automatically made from our apps. So, much of our daily life is managed through on-line accounts that can only be opened by us.

A “digital estate plan” is just a term for dealing with these issues ahead of time.

What counts as a digital asset

More than just photos. As well as home videos in iCloud or Google Photos, online banking and other accounts with brokerage services (e.g. Robinhood) and payment services (e.g. Venmo, PayPal, even cryptocurrency) such as for streaming services (e.g. Netflix), Amazon Prime, gym membership and cloud storage (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox etc.) and charging to credit cards until they are canceled. Email accounts and social media too. Business owners might even include a website or domain name for their business. Tax returns for the last few years as PDFs. And patient portals for accessing information online from your doctor’s office.

This stuff is worth money or it’s worth so much more to us than money. And if we don’t know that it exists then it’s going to disappear forever.

Don't put passwords in your will

You probably already do this, and it would be a terrible idea to put your passwords in your will. For one, all of your online accounts would be opened up to the public via probate in a will. Secondly, most people would change half of their passwords within a year anyway.

While most states have not yet enacted specific statutes dealing with digital assets upon death of a user, the major tech companies (and several large online service providers) have addressed the issue by limiting access to online accounts of deceased users. Florida is a leader on this issue with the recent enactment of Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (Florida Statutes Section 700.301 – 700.306), which sets forth guidelines for individuals to include language in their estate planning documents to identify whether they desire their Personal Representative or Agent to access online accounts.

Note that some online services, such as Apple’s account for Legacy Contacts and Google’s settings for Inactive Accounts, have their own methods for handling these matters after you die. These methods usually supersede any conflicting provisions in your will or otherwise.

Building the plan

Make a list of important digital accounts, including services provided and what you want done with them after you pass away. For password-protected accounts, leave the passwords off of this list.

For the actual passwords to your online services, consider the use of a password manager to store them. Many password managers contain emergency access features to allow a secondary party to log into an account after a set time frame.

For each of your online services turn on the legacy or inactive-account settings. We have identified the settings for the most common services that people use. It takes about 10 minutes per service.

Add digital assets language to your will, trust and durable power of attorney documents with your attorney.

Back up the important stuff: download all of your photos and videos with your family members in all of your online accounts.

For your Family and Legacy plans, let your representatives know that the digital estate plan exists and where to locate it.

Where DokuDocs fits

While we don’t offer password management as a service in DokuDocs, a digital estate plan is typically a paper plan that needs to be safely stored. We provide a safe and easy way to store your digital estate plan in your DokuDocs vault.

This information will also be stored in your vault. Your vault is an ideal location to store the list of all online services you use, as well as your will, Power of Attorney with the correct language regarding your online assets, and your family records (scanned copies). All of this information will be protected by AES-256 encryption. For DokuDocs Family and Legacy plans, all notified individuals will receive automatic notification when you pass away.

Your online life is part of what you leave behind after you’re gone. It takes only a little planning and forethought to ensure that your digital legacy does not become a mystery for your family to solve after you’re gone.

This article is intended to be informational only and does not constitute legal advice. The laws regarding digital assets are changing by state so you should consult with an experienced estate planning attorney.