“If you spend a lot of time on the Internet, you’re not just shopping or being entertained, or following the news or participating in an online community. You’re probably also dealing with accounts and information that eventually can become part of your digital ‘estate.’”
If your digital estate is not properly cared for, it can lead to problems for your heirs, including an opportunity for hackers to try to get at whatever assets they can, reports the White Mountain Independent in the article titled “Is your ‘digital estate’ in order?”
Think about how many of your personal accounts are online:
- Financial accounts: banking, brokerage, bill-paying utilities;
- Virtual property: credit card points, frequent flyer miles, cryptocurrency;
- Business accounts: eBay, Amazon, Etsy; stock photo accounts;
- Email accounts: Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo;
- Social network: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram; and
- Online digital storage: Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud.
Those are many assets to protect. Where do you start?
First, create an inventory. Use the categories above or create your own. However, you should make it organized.
Document your wishes for how you want your digital assets to be managed. If you don’t specify this, you may be leaving a wide-open arena for long legal battles. Your heirs and beneficiaries may never gain access to them. Hackers might go after them and use your identity. Your heirs may also have to engage in an expensive and protracted battle with a social media giant with costs eating into their inheritance.
Name a digital executor in your will. This is a relatively new area, but you can name a person to be your digital executor. Not all states recognize this position, so you’ll want to speak with a local estate planning attorney to find out what the laws are in your state.
You will also need to go through all of your online accounts and learn what each platform requires, in the instance of the account owner’s death.
Review your plans, especially as you add new digital assets.
Managing digital assets can be as difficult as managing tangible assets. The laws are still evolving, so speak with your estate planning attorney to make sure that your estate is prepared, and your heirs will not face a digital nightmare after you have passed away.
Reference: White Mountain Independent (Oct. 26, 2018) “Is your ‘digital estate’ in order?”
“如果你花很多時間於互聯網上，你可能不只是購物或娛樂，還會關注新聞或參與在線團體。您可能還需處理最終可能成為您數碼“資產”一部分的帳戶和相關信息。”
如果您的數碼資產未得到妥善管理，可能會給您的繼承人帶來問題，包括有機會讓黑客試圖奪得任何資產，White Mountain Independent在標題為““Is your ‘digital estate’ in order?”
”
想一想您有多少在線的個人帳戶：
- 金融賬戶：銀行，經紀賬戶，支付水電費賬單;
- 虛擬財產：信用卡積分，飛行常客里數，加密貨幣;
- 企業賬戶：eBay，Amazon，Etsy; 存放照片帳戶;
- 電子郵件帳戶：Gmail，Outlook，Yahoo;
- 社交網絡：Facebook，Twitter，LinkedIn，Instagram; 及
- 在線數碼存儲：Dropbox，Google Drive，iCloud。
有那麼多的資產需要保護。應從哪裡開始呢？
首先，建立一個清單。使用上面的類別或自創清單。但是，你應該把它組織好。
把您希望如何管理這些數碼資產的意願記錄下來。如果你沒有指明這一點，這可能會引起漫長的法律訴訟。您的繼承人和受益人可能永遠無法取得它們。黑客可能會追擊這些數碼資產並使用您的身份。使得你的繼承人迫不得已與社交媒體巨頭展開一場昂貴而漫長的爭鬥，而這會吃掉他們繼承得來的遺產。
在遺囑中為數碼資產指定執行人。這是一個相對較新的領域，但您可以將某個人命名為您的數碼執行人。並非所有州都承認這一點，因此您需要與當地的資產規劃律師聯繫，以了解您所在州的法律。
在帳戶擁有者死亡的情況下，您還需要瀏覽所有在線帳戶並了解每個平台所需的內容。
檢查您的計劃，尤其是在你增添新數碼資產時。
管理數碼資產可能與管理有形資產一樣困難。法律仍在不斷演變，因此請與您的資產規劃律師聯繫，以確保您的資產準備好，並且在您去世後您的繼承人不會面臨數碼噩夢。
參考: White Mountain Independent (Oct. 26, 2018) “Is your ‘digital estate’ in order?”