Almost everyone has social media accounts and cloud storage with precious family photos. If your estate planning documents don’t account for these digital assets, your loved ones may not be able to access them after you’re gone. The following guide explains how to transfer these after your passing.

What Are Digital Assets?

Almost any electronic record or account can be considered a digital asset. This includes your social media content, funds in your Paypal® account, cryptocurrency holdings, and files stored in the cloud.

If you don’t specify who should gain control of these assets in your will, those with monetary value will be transferred according to your state's laws. However, items stored in the cloud or on personal devices might be permanently lost.

Passing Digital Assets With a Will

Digital assets with monetary value, like EFTs, bank accounts, and investments, can be transferred with a will. Digital musical files and images that you own can also be included in your estate plan, as long as the files are stored on your personal device or a private cloud storage service.

In some cases, you may be able to assign a transfer-on-death beneficiary to take ownership of those assets after you’re gone. Most financial institutions allow you to use these mechanisms to avoid probate.

Assets That Can’t Be Transferred

Email accounts and social media content generally can’t be passed on with estate planning documents. Most providers have terms of service agreements that prohibit anyone but the original user from owning the account. You may need to include separate instructions to get around this. For example, in addition to giving the desired person explicit permission to access your accounts in your will, list your login information and passwords, including those to your phone and personal computer. 

You should also have instructions about what should be done with the assets found after you’re gone. You may want some content distributed to family members but might prefer other accounts to get deleted.

Estate planning can be a confusing, overwhelming process, which is why Lincoln, NE, families turn to David R Webb, Attorney at Law. This experienced law firm is dedicated to giving your situation the attention it deserves and finding solutions to protect your family and the wealth you’ve built. Visit their website for more on their estate planning services, or call (402) 477-7577 to schedule a consultation today.