Control of Electronic Assets After Death
As I mentioned in a post last March most of us now have multiple on-line accounts; and very few people consider what happens if they die and no one can access those accounts.
One of my associates, David M. Lenz, recently published an excellent article on this topic titled "Afterlife on the Cloud". As Dave mentions, we are increasingly living in an electronic world. When death comes, a person may now leave behind many digital items that contain valuable information -- and which may have intrinsic monetary value. In many instances, failure to do any planning with respect to these digital items can create a huge problem. And the inability of your executor or other personal representative to gain timely access to your digital accounts could leave them more vulnerable to creditors.
At any rate, planning for digital assets is now essential from both an estate planning and asset protection standpoint.
