Was asked a question last week while speaking in the Bay Area about “digital assets”. The question was “What are Digital Assets and what should be done with them? ”
The Puget Sound Business Journal March 13, 2015 Laura Hoexter defines Digital Assets in the following:
“Digital assets are intangible personal assets formatted into a binary source. This includes files and information stored in online accounts, such as e-mail, social networking sites, blogs, photo- and video-sharing sites, online music, online video games, online storage accounts such as cloud storage, and online sales accounts. It also includes domain names and any intellectual property rights associated with your digital property.”
This is a terrific definition! It may help for you to consider that the digital assets themselves may or may not hold financial value. IF you hold an account where dollars are exchanged or you hold a balance (banks, PayPal, investments) then yes, there is financial value within this account (digital asset). You may have other accounts that hold personal or subjective value (email, music, etc. accounts), vs. financial value. Either way, it is important for you to consider how you wish to address these assets within your estate planning process AND communicate with the person you have named to act on your behalf if you are incapacitated in any way.
If you become incapable of managing your estate (accident, illness, dementia – diminished capacity of any type), the person you named as your Power of Attorney will be managing your estate on your behalf. These tasks may include paying any bills from online accounts, managing your business, sending / receiving email, posting on social media accounts, investments, et al. Identifying all of these digital assets is becoming increasingly more important and sharing this information with whoever will be managing your estate is critical to maintaining day to day life for you and those close to you.
Have you prepared to ensure your estate is capable of carrying out your wishes across all accounts you have? Would you like help in developing a plan to identify what you have in an organized way? The Living Planner is happy to help you/ your family with this!
We would love to hear from you about what matters to YOU. Our aim is to make sure you have resources to help you and your families today and into the future.
Thanks for being a part of the community.
-Lynn