Author: Patrick Herron

Modern estate planning isn’t just about arranging for who inherits your money, real estate, physical belongings, and other assets when you die. Transferring digital assets, such as photos and social media accounts, as well as assets such as cryptocurrency, needs to be addressed in your estate plan. Otherwise, your data – and a lifetime of memories – can be lost. Most of us use our smartphones almost exclusively to interact with others and record our lives. It may be our only camera, portal to social media accounts, and main vehicle for texts and emails. . We often take for granted that we can access this data by simply looking into our smartphones, but what happens when we die? Fundamentally, all this data is just that – data. Without the ability to unlock a smartphone, or log into a social media account, your data can be irretrievably lost.

If you have not made arrangements for their digital assets, you may place additional burdens on your loved ones. To get into your key accounts family members will likely spend hours of time speaking with customer service to regain access. In addition, access itself is no longer a guarantee, and if an account goes dormant for too long, or if payment methods aren’t updated, all the data and possibly a lifetime of your memories may be deleted and lost forever.