You know we all have password
protected email, social media
and digital subscriptions by now,
but what happens to all
of that if you pass away?
We sat down with Liz Weston,
a personal finance expert at
NerdWallet who explained what
digital assets are and how to plan
them into your will and estate.
Technically, digital assets are
any record electronic record
that you own control or license.
And basically if you do
anything on the Internet,
you probably have digital assets.
It can be things like frequent flyer miles
or cryptocurrency that have dollar value,
but it's also social media accounts,
email accounts, anything that you,
any kind of records that you have.
Photo collections,
video collections, things like that.
All of those are part of your digital estate.
OK, this is fascinating because
I have to stay for three years or
four years since my mom passed.
I've been trying to get
into her I cloud account.
To find her pictures of my family of her.
So when we're talking about
digital assets in an estate,
how do we merge this with
a traditional estate?
Well, there's different
ways to do it. The first idea is
just to make an inventory so you
have an idea of what's out there,
and you mentioned I cloud.
Now Apple has a tool that can help you
set someone up so that they can come
in and take over your accounts and get
things like your photos and your videos.
So that they're not lost forever.
So again, the first thing to do is find you
could just Google Digital asset worksheet,
something like that,
and something should pop up,
and then you just start listing all
these different accounts and you'll
notice you know you've got a password.
You've got login credentials for
each one at the same time you're
going to need to include the ways to
open your phone and your computer,
because think of it,
if you somebody got your phone,
how would they get access to all
the information that's inside?
They wouldn't unless they knew
how to get in there.
So again,
this is all important information
that needs to be written down,
kept safe but also shared with
somebody so that they can
step in and take over for you.
I'm running this list in my mind right
now and realizing how have we not been
talking about this before. Really it is
incredible, and until recently very very
few social media or email accounts even
offered a way to get into this stuff,
or for you to name a trusted person
to take over that is changing,
but I will say it's probably
important to have a password manager.
So that you have all this
information in one in one place.
Yeah, and again,
think about who you'd want to take
over for you if you already have
a will which you should have.
Maybe your executor is the person and
think about how they will get access
to this information should you not
be able to hand it over directly.
Trust.
So the question right? There's a sign
up there called ever plans that I
really like because they allow you
to name a trusted deputy, but you
don't turn everything over right away.
It's only after you die
or become incapacitated.
They have a system set up so that
your deputy will be notified,
but certainly there's somebody
in your life you're going to
trust with this information.
Trust to settle your estate so you want
to make sure that they can get this.
Those are some great ways to
get started figuring this out,
but there's another thing we're all
trying to figure out right now.
Is these crypto assets?
This is getting more and more common.
So what are some special steps you
can take when planning your estate
when it comes to these things?
Crypto currency
is really tough, but just keep in
mind there are billions and billions
of dollars of lost cryptocurrency.
People who are alive and can't
get into their accounts.
So if you have some crypto that's
of value you want to make sure that
you write down how to access that.
And again, don't put it in your will.
Your will can become a public document
you want to put it with your will,
so if nothing else gets you
started with your state planning.
Think about all that lost value
and maybe that will get you going.
Yeah, are there any services out
there that make it easier for families
or as state representatives to come
forward and collect digital assets?
I mean for me example, I've been trying,
you know I've got our password and
everything and I've been trying
to get Apple to to release it.
It's been very difficult.
Is there anyone who can help? Well,
I think estate planning attorneys are
getting much more on the ball about this,
and they probably would know the laws
of your state so that they could help
you see if there's a work around.
Sometimes there's not.
Sometimes you are shut out,
and that's just heartbreaking.
And again, that's why it's so
important to plan for this.
Fortunately, a few years ago,
very few social media or email accounts
had any way for people to pass on,
or to name a trusted person.
Now it's increasingly common
you've got Facebook that has.
Says Google has this,
apple just added it,
so just search for whatever the account
is and legacy contact and you might
be able to turn up something that
will allow you to make it easier,
at least for your loved ones.
Even if you can't get into
your mom's account.