We’ve all experienced it. Our computer crashes and we lose access to our “electronic” life. Usually we are inconvenienced for a few hours or perhaps days. Sometimes we have to rebuild all our personal information. Of course, we know what we have stored, our passwords and accounts. Most of us emerge on the other side of the experience with a firm resolve to “back-up” our data religiously. And then we move on.
Few consider the opposite scenario. What if you “crash?” Who will back-up YOU after you’ve gone? How will your family access online accounts? Will they even know they exist? As we continue to live more and more digitally, the consequences of not backing up the “human factor” are very real.
For example, when a client’s father died, she had to pay a computer expert to access the computer. All of his bank accounts, business information, e-mails, and contact lists were password protected. She did not even know certain assets existed and was surprised with bills that remained unpaid after her father died. She had a difficult time knowing whose invoices were outstanding, which resulted in the company not being able to collect on some invoices for quite some time. A great deal of time and money were spent trying to unravel her father’s financial life online. When she needed to be grieving her father, she was forced to become a forensic specialist in the digital world. She knew this would not have been her father’s intent.
Technology has allowed us to be more efficient and computers and on-line accounts are often indispensable business and personal tools. But what happens to our digital identity when we die? Your family could be locked out of sentimentally valuable information as well as monetary information. On the other hand, there may be some information online that you would prefer to remain private that could be exposed inadvertently during a search for assets or financial information.
Currently, some companies have policies in place to assist heirs: Yahoo will agree to shut down an account if relatives submit a copy of a death certificate. Google will allow relatives to reset the password of the deceased person’s account after they meet the company’s requirements, such as a death certificate. Microsoft will turn over the contents of a Hotmail account on CDs.
But without the passwords, retrieving a deceased person’s account information can be a costly and time-consuming process.
There several online services that already cater to users interested in digital life after death.
For my clients, I provide a USB stick that has a document called “Passwords.” It is meant to allow my clients to store accounts and passwords so that family and heirs will have easy access to digital information. Also, for sensitive digital information, my clients can designate someone who can access the information and act according to the client’s instructions.
If you live digitally, you must prepare for the digital afterlife. When you make your estate plan, be sure you create a plan for your digital assets just as you would for your tangible assets. You can have virtual AND real peace of mind.