Technology has increasingly affected every area of our lives. So itís no surprise that when making a Will or organising an estate, technology has also had an impact.

When making a Will itís commonplace for individuals to consider family heirlooms, jewellery or items of sentimental value as possessions they wish to give or bequeath to loved ones. †However, as more and more people amass online assets, consideration should also be given to how these assets will be passed on or whether loved ones should know of their existence in the first place.

Digital assets

A huge number of Britons have acquired various digital assets:

• online bank accounts
• online accounts eg. Paypal
• online auction accounts eg. Ebay
• social networking and social media sites eg. Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, Google+
• email accounts eg. Hotmail, Gmail
• gambling accounts
• online share trading accounts
• online game accounts including ìAvatarsî
• blogs
• digital music accounts eg. iTunes, Spotify
• loyalty programmes eg. Tesco clubcard, air miles
• domain names and websites (hosting businesses)
• cloud storage

Accessing Digital Information

Our concerns about security, privacy and identification protection means we are taking more care when managing our digital assets which includes using an increasing variety of usernames and passwords. Such behaviour however, can make it very difficult for Personal Representatives (executors or administrators) to properly distribute and administer an estate, which they are under a duty to do.

Itís important that Personal Representatives are aware of digital possessions so that an estates true value can be realised. Awareness of digital assets can equally prevent loved ones from being left with unpaid bills. For example, an estate could be liable for ongoing subscriptions to online magazine or newspapers.

Digital Inheritance

While having a written record of your username and passwords for your digital assets (often placed with your Will) may seem like a sensible idea, please beware. Having such a record often invalidates insurance put in place to protect those assets against fraud.

An alternative approach may be to make use of online digital inheritance arrangements. These facilities provide an access code to your chosen executors or beneficiaries which they can then use to obtain a secure list of your digital assets, but only on proof of your death. These arrangements are not without their own security concerns (external hackers, staff members) but are definitely worth investigating and there are a range of providers to choose from.

In addition, we’ve put together some actions for you to think about to ensure that the people you trust the most have the necessary access to carry out your last wishes. Here you go. Can your executors or beneficiaries:

• Remove photos from your social network pages and delete them?
• Access and delete your email accounts?
• Close your online subscriptions?

Should you follow our guidance, you will be well on the way to ensuring your physical and online assets are included in your estate when the time comes for it to be administered.

For more information on digital assets or if you would like to make or update your Will, please contact us on 020 8537 3448 or send an email to wills@ashtongrace.co.uk

Ashton Grace ñ specialists in Wills & Estate Planning