Friday, April 16, 2010

Who is minding your Digital Property?

Steven Maimes, principal of SALAM Research writes in The Trust Advisor Blog.  http://thetrustadvisor.com/

Recently, a great deal of attention has been given to the digital life after death – especially gaining access to a deceased person’s email accounts. We have entered into an age where digital storage is replacing physical document storage. In the future, more important property will be created, revised, and stored digitally. And as more people move important components of their lives onto the computer (from photos to legal documents, medical records and beyond), it becomes necessary to devise a safe and secure method for a deceased or otherwise incapacitated person’s loved ones to access digital property. A recent article from The Wall Street Journalsuggests everyone establish a separate plan to deal with online property issues when they die or become incapacitated.

Here is what you can do now:

1. List your digital property.Create a document and note if the property is personal or has monetary value. Other details can be included. For example account usernames and passwords, specific instruction about each account, and other details (such as whether certain documents or correspondence should be deleted). Update this list quarterly. (Legal Vault  for R Club Members)
2. Define your wishes.Choose who will have access to the property.
3. Choose someone to execute your wishes.Provide access and control to that person including account usernames and passwords.