“Even the most carefully constructed estate plan often overlooks a client’s digital assets. A plan is essential, as both state and federal laws can create roadblocks to accessing digital assets.”
The value of a thoughtfully designed estate plan that provides for the eventual distribution of a person’s assets is generally understood by most people, even those who put off putting one into place. However, according to this important article from Think Advisor, titled “The Big Hole in Estate Plans: Digital Assets,” many plans overlook digital assets.
The person who now does not have an active online life is the exception. Many people don’t realize that they have substantial digital assets with both sentimental and financial value. Without a clear plan that specifies what someone wants to be done with these digital assets, there are both federal and state laws that can block loved ones—even those named executor or power of attorney—from accessing those assets.
Digital asset planning must now be part of every comprehensive estate plan to ensure that any disposition of a person’s wishes for these assets takes place.
The concept of estate planning for digital assets actually covers a broad range of assets from email to social media to PayPal, domain names, intellectual property and cryptocurrency. Some assets may only have sentimental value but others such as domain names or business contact lists in email accounts may also have significant monetary value.
Without a clearly documented plan, data privacy laws can prevent the online service provider from allowing an executor or family member access to these accounts. The Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which has been passed in most states, provides that an owner of digital assets can specify who can access and dispose of any digital assets after death.
If there has not been any planning, the online provider’s terms of service agreement, or TOSA, will control what happens to accounts after death. In some cases, TOSA will even override directions in a will or other document, especially when the service provider has provided specifications for how account holders are expected to make their post-mortem wishes known.
Note that instructions by a person using their online provider’s tools, will supersede any instructions in the will, so include these documents in the estate plan. They should be updated regularly.
People need to create comprehensive lists of all their digital assets, including instructions on how they want these assets to be handled after they die. They should list user names, passwords and security questions. Do not include this information in the will, because it can be accessed publicly during probate. They then need to review the TOSA and follow each platform’s rules for providing post-mortem access.
Talk with your estate planning attorney about your digital assets and plan to make them part of your overall estate plan.
Reference: Think Advisor (Oct. 4, 2018) “The Big Hole in Estate Plans: Digital Assets”
“即使是最精心規劃的資產計劃也經常忽略了客人的數碼資產。計劃是必需的,因為州和聯邦法律都可能阻礙取得數碼資產。“
一個提供分配個人資產的精心規劃的資產計劃的價值通常被大多數人所理解,即使是那些推遲放置一旁的人。然而,根據Think Advisor的這篇題為“The Big Hole in Estate Plans: Digital Assets,”的重要文章,許多計劃忽略了數碼資產。
現今世代幾乎所有人都活躍於互聯網生活。但許多人沒有意識到他們擁有大量具有情感和財務價值的數碼資產。如果沒有明確的計劃來指定某人可處理這些數碼資產,那麼聯邦和州法律都可以阻止親人,甚至那些被稱為執行人或授權人來訪問這些資產。
現在,數碼資產規劃必須成為每個資產計劃的一部分,以確保這些資產按個人意願來處置。
數碼資產的資產規劃概念實際上涵蓋了從電子郵件到社交媒體到PayPal,域名,知識產權和加密貨幣的廣泛資產。某些資產可能只有感情價值,但電子郵件帳戶中的其他資產(如域名或業務聯繫人列表)也可能具有重大的金融價值。
如果沒有明確的計劃,數據隱私法可以阻止互聯網供應商允許執行人或家人取得這些帳戶。大多數州通過的“統一信託獲取數碼資產法”規定,數碼資產擁有人可以指定誰可以在去世後取得和處理任何數碼資產。
如果沒有任何計劃,互聯網供應的服務條款協議(TOSA)將控制死後帳戶。在某些情況下,TOSA甚至會凌駕遺囑或其他文件中的指示,尤其是當服務供應商為帳戶持有人如何讓別人得知其遺願作出了規範。
請注意, 帳戶持有人對網上工具提出的指示, 這將取代遺囑中的任何說明,因此請將這些文件包含在資產計劃中及定期更新。
人們需要建立所有數碼資產的綜合列表,包括他們希望這些資產在死後如何處理的說明。他們應該列出用戶名,密碼和安全問題。不要在遺囑中包含此信息,因為它可以在遺囑認證期間被公開。然後,他們需要審查TOSA並遵循每個平台的規則以提供去世後的取用。
與您的資產規劃律師討論您的數碼資產,並計劃將其作為整體資產規劃的一部分。
參考: Think Advisor (Oct. 4, 2018) “The Big Hole in Estate Plans: Digital Assets”