Death erases people, burying all their activities, experiences, and charms. Thankfully, the advanced era of technology creates a balance in history, and everyone can now create digital legacies and leave a ton of computerized assets to the people they love.
Technology makes it possible to pass down the traditions, information, knowledge, and experiences to your future generations. However, you have to put everything in order now. That will make your desires achievable and give an easy time to the person(s) you want to manage the data while you’re no more.
About Digital Legacies
Your digital legacy is the computerized information available about you after death. It includes all your sentimental and financial assets available online and can be created by the information you leave virtual or by a third party.
The federal law doesn’t provide clear instructions on how to handle an individual’s online accounts after their death. As a result, the companies, by default, deny access to the deceased’s accounts, barring their families from unwrapping their digital accounts to retrieving the assets.
However, the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) restricts the kind of data the cloud service providers can share with the trustees and the conditions. Still, the law doesn’t state what happens to the deceased’s accounts. However, if you issue consent on how you want the accounts to be managed in your will, the companies will oblige without considering any other rule.
Why Preserve Your Digital Legacy
You have loads of online accounts with information from different companies. There are social sites, digital financial accounts, and virtual investments that may benefit your family when you exist no more. If you don’t plan and create a compelling digital legacy, all this data may stick to the servers for eternity, going to waste.
Similarly, preserving your digital legacy eases the road for your trustee to handle your online accounts and data as per your desires.
5 Must-Preserve Digital Legacies
1. A Digital Inventory
Create an inventory with all your digital assets and give a copy to your lawyer, fiduciary, or trustee. It may contain all your account numbers and identifications but avoid including passwords. Some of the information to include here are:
- Online affiliations and payment services
- Banking and investment sites
- Photo albums and sharing locations
- Social media accounts
- Blogging and any other site with your written content
2. Digital Passwords
Your trustee will need the passwords to manage your accounts. That’s why it’s necessary to make them accessible to the right people. However, it’s not advisable to put the login details in your will or any other public document. You can either leave the information on where to find them or use password services and software such as Lastpass, Legacy Locker, or KeyPass.
3. Digital will
Create a comprehensive document containing directions on how to access and manage the digital data you’re preserving.
You’ll also need to form a master password source for your online and personal data.
4. Have a Designated Online Fiduciary
Managing some of your online accounts may need technical knowledge and experience. Having a designated online fiduciary comes in handy with essential technical support if your trustee doesn’t have the capacity.
5. Your Music Playlists
Sometimes your digital assets may contain original and creative work with sentimental value that may not change. If you have any creative work in your cloud storage, let your trustee know about it and make it accessible.
A digital legacy is the best way to ensure that your actions, experience, and knowledge live on to your future generations.
