You can protect digital assets in your estate plan by working with an experienced estate planning lawyer.
When you start estate planning, you consider your physical assets first. Properties, family heirlooms, vehicles, and more are all valuable assets you will want to pass on to family or friends after you pass. However, people increasingly have significant digital assets that must also be considered when drawing up an estate plan. The Millman Law Group can help determine which digital assets should be in your estate plan and how you can pass down each asset.
What Are Digital Assets?
Digital assets refer to any content stored digitally on your computer, on the web, or in the cloud. This can include text, images, videos, multimedia, and digital files containing spreadsheets and other information.
If you run an online business, your digital assets are critical. They include your website (domain name, hosting, and all content), your brand’s social media accounts, login information for the services you need to conduct business, and apps you created or paid to have created for your company. Your digital assets will also include the information you store digitally for your business, including customer information, client lists, and spreadsheets. Other assets can include:
- Blog content, including text, images, and video
- Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies
- Any monetized content on any platform
- Financial accounts (e.g., PayPal, Venmo)
- Digital rights to books, movies, and music
Why Do You Need to Protect Digital Assets In Your Estate Plan?
Beyond caring for digital assets related to your business and its confidential information, there are other ways in which valuable information or resources are shared online. For example, if you have monetized content on the web, you likely receive monthly payouts from different sources. These streams of income may not immediately dry up after your death. In the event of your passing, your loved ones would not be able to access these accounts to manage or close them – without you first providing access in your estate plan.
How You Can Keep Digital Assets Safe
Without preparing to protect your digital assets, you risk losing important documents, sentimental photos or videos, and even money after your death. How can you keep your digital assets safe and pass them into safe hands?
- Maintain a dedicated external hard drive: An external hard drive is a cost-effective way to keep hard copies of your files, photos, videos, and more in one place that isn’t tied to one computer.
- Include digital assets in your Estate Plan: Digital property is still property in the eyes of the law. These assets can also be passed onto others like any other property in your Estate Plan.
Laws regarding digital assets are still evolving, so it can be challenging for anyone else to access your digital files. When including digital assets in your estate plan, you can create a separate document with the information needed to access accounts. You can create a digital vault that holds all necessary information, like account numbers and passwords and then include the master key in your estate plan with specific instructions for your executor.
If you want to explore which digital assets should be included in your estate plan, meet with your estate planning lawyer at The Millman Law Group today.
Estate Planning Made Easy With Millman Law Group
Millman Law Group, PLLC is rare because it’s one of the only law firms that offer life planning in South Florida. From life care planning to the preparation of detailed estate plans, Millman Law Group has committed to serving Floridian elderly communities in Boca Raton, Palm Beach County, Ocean Ridge, Hillsboro Beach, and many other areas since 2018. Our dedicated team also specializes in special needs trusts and catering to any age demographic because we know for certain it’s never too early to start preparing you and your family for your future. For the latest news in estate planning and elder care law, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and Pinterest. You can also contact us at 561-463-6480.