Wills And Your Digital Legacy
We have previously discussed the worrying statistics around how few people in the UK actually have an up to date and valid Will – the figure is around 29%.
However perhaps an even more worrying statistic, especially in this day and age, is that of those people with a Will, 93% have not included any provision for their digital assets. In fact, only a quarter knew what would happen to their digital assets when they passed away.
What is a Digital Legacy?
A digital legacy is the digital information that is available about someone following their death. This is often in the form of interactions that a person has had on social media prior to their death or information that they have stored digitally on servers such as ‘the cloud’.
Digital assets can include online accounts, website names and content, social media and email accounts that may have photos and personal content.
Why is this important?
More people than ever now manage a lot of their life digitally, rather than using the traditional paper trails kept in drawers or filing cabinets. This can be a lot more manageable than having to organise and re-organise endless statements, policy documents and reminders. However, with this move into the digital space there is an increasing risk that important details about a person’s estate may become hidden or inaccessible to loved ones and legal representatives.
With the necessary access and permissions, a person may even want to have their digital legacy changed following their death. This can something be as simple as notifying the persons friends or ‘followers’ that they have passed away so that they give tributes on their social media stream or ‘wall’
How can you protect your Digital Legacy?
In order to help your executors manage your physical estate on death, a good a idea is draw up a ‘what I own and where I keep it’ type of list for important documents and assets. If you have a digital legacy that you want maintained, monitored or even deleted following your death, it is important that you draw up a similar inventory for these accounts. This should include basic account details such as names of accounts, website addresses, usernames and passwords.
By leaving passwords, those you want to may access documents that may be stored online, such as important emails, including correspondence from institutions that have been dealt with on a paper-free basis.
Once you have listed your digital assets, you need to decide what you want to happen to them. This could simply be removing accounts or changing them to remembrance accounts (for example, Facebook has this option) and distributing copies of family photos. It is important to set out clear instructions and not to assume that the family will know what accounts you have and what needs to be done with them.
Some of the most popular social media providers have services in place as follows:
Instagram offers a memorialisation service, which allows a deceased individual’s account to stay online without the risk of fraud or unwanted changes to their account.
Facebook provides a legacy contact feature which allows the contact to memorialise and look after the deceased individual’s profile. This includes writing a new ‘pinned post’ to inform other users of the deceased’s passing.
Twitter may automatically close accounts after prolonged periods of inactivity. However, if you want to be sure that your account is closed before then to prevent possible fraud then you will need to inform family or friends of your ‘Twitter handle’ so that they can request to close the account via Twitter’s help centre.
Social Media Will
There are a small number of digital applications that can help the users make plans for their online accounts in a ‘Social Media Will’. Although such a document detailing your digital wishes isn’t legally binding like a traditional will, it can be invaluable for loved ones.
You do need to be aware that some apps will charge a fee for this service.
Making a Will
As you can see, digital assets are now a massive area of our lives and consequently needs to be considered thoroughly when making a Will.
It is possible to appoint a digital executor in your Will. This person will need to follow any instructions you have given for your digital legacy in your letter of wishes. If you want your executors and digital executors to be the same person/people, it is important that they have the relevant knowhow in regard to the technology you’re asking them to have responsibility for.
It is also important to review Wills regularly, particularly the digital provisions as these are likely to change over time. A good rule of thumb is to review a Will every three to five years and in the event of any major life changes such as divorce or the birth of a child.
If you want to speak with us about writing a Will, please do get in touch. Give us a call on 0117 3636 212 or email office@haroldstephens.co.uk.