A will or trust explains what you want to have happen to your assets when you die, hopefully in a very, very long time. While most people understand that a will explains what to do with money, property, and children, there are other parts you might be surprised by.
MSN’s recent article entitled “3 surprising things you might not think to include your will” tells about three things to include in your will that you may not have thought about before.
A will serves several purposes. It gives you the power to distribute your possessions, according to your own wishes. It also lets you name who should take care of your children, if they are minors when you die, and of your pets, if you provide for them in the will.
Just because your wealth isn’t measured in billions, doesn’t mean you don’t need a will. Without one, explains Yahoo Finance’s recent article, “Do You Really Need a Will?” you’ll have no say in what happens once you pass away. There may also be less for your heirs to inherit. There will also be more legal costs and stress.
Each state has laws that pertain to the distribution of a person's estate, if they die without a will. These laws most likely won’t mesh with your personal desires. If you don't have a will, ask yourself why you don't. Perhaps you think you don't need one. However, more than likely you do. If you're putting off starting this important estate planning task, here are some things to consider.
Digital property needs to be addressed in your estate plan just as tangible assets like real estate. Not planning for a digital afterlife is increasingly important.
How many hours do you spend on your smart phone, laptop or desktop, busy with work emails, personal emails, social media platforms, gaming, networking and more? In addition to the time spent, chances are good you have many digital properties: photos, music, financial accounts and more. Today’s estate plan needs to include your digital afterlife.
Without a clear plan in place, it can be a major headache for your family when you pass away, says The Street in the recent article, “Estate Planning in a Digital World.”
With the average American owning more than 100 online accounts, we now have to address the issue of digital estate planning. It’s not as simple as gathering up the sticky notes with passwords that adorn your desk.
What would happen if you died unexpectedly and your executor needed to access your bank and investment accounts? If you’ve gone paperless for everything from bank accounts to investments to cable bills, how will they be able to gain access to your accounts? Welcome to the age of digital estate planning.
Kiplinger’s recent story, “Your Estate Plan Isn't Complete Without Fixing the Password Problem,” says that having online access to investments is a great convenience for us. We can monitor bank balances, conduct stock trades, transfer funds and many other services that not long ago required the help of another person.
The swiftness of fires and flood in the news in recent months, even in places that have never experienced dramatic disasters, puts a spotlight on the need for preparedness. That includes your estate plan.
The evening news presents enough reminders about the need to plan for disasters. However, many people feel like it can’t happen to them, or they don’t know what to do. Forbes’s recent article, “How To Make Your Estate Plan Doomsday Ready,” looks at a couple in their 80s, who recently had their house in North Carolina destroyed by Hurricane Florence, and the picture of what has occurred should be a life lesson for all.
This couple depended on their adult children, who were all in other states, to help—but there were many obstacles. They didn’t have access to a computer and couldn’t remember account information or their passwords or even how to access their email. They asked their daughter to go online and pretend to be them, to begin accessing information. OK, that may not be legal, but desperate times can call for desperate measures.
Whether your estate plan documents are stored in the cloud or a filing cabinet, make sure to tell your family members, representatives and executors where you’ve placed these important documents.
Chances are you spend a lot more time online with your digital assets than you think. With digital assets and our comfort level with life online growing daily, it’s a matter of time before your start wondering about placing your documents in the cloud. However, as noted by CNBC in a recent article, “Here's what you need to know before storing your will online,” there are pros and cons to this brave new world.
Some of the benefits to storing important information online, include portability and ease of access. Your documents will be available anywhere there’s an internet connection.
With few exceptions, most of us are living digital lives. That includes basics like sharing family news on social media and storing photos in the cloud, as well as financial information. Your digital life needs to be part of your estate plan, now more than ever before.
Your executor and your heirs are likely to run into trouble if you don’t have a digital estate plan, advises a recent Morningstar article, “Do You Have a Plan for Your Digital 'Estate'?”
The article reminds us that not every aspect of an estate will be addressed quickly, even six months later. This includes questions about how to handle the files on the decedent’s computer or the stuff on his smartphone. His social media accounts may also still be up and running.
Portland is widely recognized as one of the most innovative cities in the US, and a new law reflects Oregon's tech culture. With the signature of Governor Kate Brown, Oregon has enacted Senate Bill 1554, which grants legal access to digital assets to a person named in an estate plan as a designated fiduciary. This was reported in "Governor signs new law which protects digital assets" from kitv.com.
In order to gain this access, an individual must affirmatively state in his or her estate planning documents that they want a fiduciary to have online access. If not, it defaults to the terms of service agreements, which have been the source of great distress to many individuals and families.
A mother who lost her son 10 years ago after a motorcycle accident wanted to access his Facebook account as a tribute to him.
Today’s millennials understand that their digital assets, which include everything from family movies hosted in the cloud, to social media accounts, digital currencies like Bitcoin and domain names, have value that can be passed to others when they die. One young man created a will that listed all of his digital assets and used a password manager to gather all passwords in a central location. He gave the password manager to his brother, who is his estate executor. He also moved certain digital assets, particularly photos and movies, to a file sharing service so that other family members would have access to them in the event of his demise.
Many people neglect to include digital effects in their estate plans, which can be a huge mistake, as valuable assets may go unnoticed, or money and time might be spent attempting to find them.
There are some assets like digital currencies, video game characters, and Internet domain names that exist only in cyberspace. You can’t put these in a safety deposit box: they can be overlooked because they aren’t as tangible. These days, folks are acquiring more digital assets like Facebook photos or email addresses all the time. However, getting access to social media accounts can be difficult because laws governing digital assets vary by state. Online sites concerned with user privacy have drastically different terms and conditions that sometimes exclude executors.
Recognizing the ever-growing concern over managing online accounts of deceased loved ones, Google has changed the options on their support page regarding access to a deceased user's account. We're glad to see that Google allows survivors to manage their loved one's accounts in the event of death, especially when clear instructions may not have been left behind by the deceased. You may visit the updated page to review the various options available to family members or those individuals interested in planning their own estates.
Earlier this month our blog discussed Facebook offering a new feature called: "Legacy Contact." This feature may also help your loved ones secure your account after your death and allow you to make specific designations about your account.
Although many state legislatures are attempting to define how digital accounts may be managed after the user passes away, we believe that it is a good step forward that Google and Facebook are making in helping families gain a better understanding of the available options for digital asset management.
Houston Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney Blog