With most of us living much of our lives online at the moment – from shopping to social media to online games – have you ever wondered what happens to all these online accounts when someone dies?
When putting in place their Will, people usually consider their assets to be physical things, such as cars, houses, jewellery or money.
But most of us now have digital assets too. This can include online accounts, such as email, social media, banking and shopping, and anything that is stored on your computer or in the cloud, such as photos, videos or documents.
What happens to digital assets on death?
If a digital asset has a financial value, the value forms part of your estate and must be distributed to your beneficiaries and disclosed to HMRC. This could include assets like Bitcoin and Paypal or business websites and email addresses.
"The law surrounding digital assets in the UK is unclear and many online accounts are governed by legislation in other countries."
With assets such as social media accounts, the value may be mainly sentimental. But there are still decisions to be made about what happens to them on your death. For example, you may wish your loved ones to be able to download pictures or videos from a social media account.
Generally, the law surrounding digital assets in the UK is unclear and many online accounts are governed by legislation in other countries. To add further complication, each digital provider has its own policies detailing how their asset can be transferred upon death. So, the picture is complex, but you can help to make it simpler by including provisions for digital assets in your Will.
Whether you already have a Will or are currently considering making one, do think about the ever-growing virtual and digital world you inhabit and make some provisions for your own digital assets.
How to protect your digital assets
- Consider appointing a ‘digital executor’ in your Will
- Create a digital inventory
- Policies
This should be someone who you trust to deal with your online assets, and preferably someone who is ‘tech savvy’. When appointing a digital executor, you should detail in your Will what you wish to happen with specific assets, from social media accounts to photos or documents you store on cloud platforms such as Dropbox or Google.
It is helpful to keep an updated note of all your online accounts and passwords to ensure that your executors know about and can gain access to them. A simple handwritten or printed list kept in a safe place can suffice here, or you could use an online ‘safe box’ or password manager. Either way, your executors need to know where to find it. Don’t include passwords or cybercurrency keys in the Will itself since it becomes a public document on your death.
Check the policies of your online accounts, for example, Facebook allows you to nominate a ‘legacy contact’.
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