Digital Estate Planning: Securing Your Online Legacy

1. The Importance of Digital Estate Planning

In our digital age, an increasing portion of our lives is conducted online or stored digitally. From financial accounts to treasured photos and emails, much of what we value exists in digital form. Yet far too many people overlook the crucial task of planning for the management and distribution of these digital assets as part of their estate.

Just as you make provisions for the transfer of physical property and assets, it's vital to clearly define your wishes for your digital footprint and legacy. Without a plan, your online accounts could become permanently inaccessible, cherished memories and records could be lost, and your data's fate may be decided by legal rulings rather than your own intentions.

2. Identifying Your Digital Assets and Accounts

The first step in planning your digital estate is understanding the full scope of your digital footprint. Take inventory of all the online accounts, digital records, and digital media that you want protectedand passed on or handled according to your wishes.

Some key digital assets to account for include:

• Email accounts
• Social media profiles
• Cloud storage/online backup services
• Websites and blogs you own
• Digital/electronic records (medical, financial, etc.)
• Digital media libraries (photos, videos, music, ebooks)
• Online storage and data services
• Subscription accounts (streaming, news, etc.)
• Online selling accounts
• Cryptocurrency wallets and digital money accounts

This list covers many common digital properties, but you'll want to think through your own unique online presence and activities to ensure nothing is overlooked.

3. Creating a Digital Asset Inventory

With an understanding of what digital possessions you have, the next step is documenting each one by creating a thorough digital estate inventory. For each asset, record the following details:

• Description of asset
• Location/URL
• Username/account ID
• Password (stored securely)
• Answers to security questions
• Any PINs or 2-factor authentication details
• Instructions for access and handling

Be sure to also note whether you want the asset transferred, archived, or deleted upon your passing. An organized, complete inventory ensures your family or executor can properly access and handle each digital property according to your wishes.

Creating this inventory can be a bit tedious, but it's an essential piece of digital estate planning. Breaking it into sections like online accounts, data storage, media libraries etc. can make it more manageable.

4. Securing Login Credentials and Account Access

With your digital assets identified and documented, an critical next step is ensuring your usernames, passwords and security details stay secure and accessible only to your authorized representatives.

The stakes are high here - if login credentials are lost, important accounts and data could be permanently locked. And if that information falls into the wrong hands, your privacy and assets could be compromised.

Some best practices for securely sharing and managing login access:

• Use a reputable password manager service and share access only with your executor
• Keep a physical list in a secured location like a safe deposit box
• Set up account recovery and succession options where available (Facebook Legacy Contact for example)
• Avoid storing login details in obvious places like a file called "passwords"
• Consider a secure digital vault service to store and share access

The key is striking a balance between keeping your credentials absolutely secure today while ensuring your representatives can properly access what they need down the road.

5. Options for Securely Storing Digital Asset Information

With your digital inventory created and login access secured, you need a reliable method for storing and sharing these important details with your executor or loved ones when needed.

While you could simply print out your documented instructions and put them in a safe location, many prefer to use a secure digital vault or online storage service built for this purpose.

Services like Everplans, SecureSafe, and PasswordBox offer specialized storage for consolidating your digital life documents and details, with bank-level encryption and secure sharing capabilities.

No matter which approach you choose, the key requirements are ensuring your information:

1. Only be accessed by your authorized representatives
2. Is comprehensive and up-to-date
3. Comes with clear instructions for what to do with each asset

Regularly reviewing and updating this stored digital estate information is crucial, as your digital footprint is constantly evolving.

6. Making Provisions for Your Online Presence

In addition to pragmatic steps like account access and asset distribution, digital estate planning lets you make provisions for how you want your online presence and identity handled after your passing.

Social media in particular is an area many people have specific wishes around. Options may include:

• Memorializing your profile so no future changes can be made
• Nominating a legacy contact to manage your memorialized account
• Downloading your profile data and content for archiving
• Permanently deleting your profile and all data

Similar provisions apply to blogs, websites, online storage and email accounts you want transferred, deleted or memorialized in a certain way.

Review each online service's policies around account management and succession to understand your options. Make your wishes explicitly clear in your digital estate plan.

7. Managing Digital Inheritances and Copyrights

As part of your digital estate considerations, you'll want to determine what to do with any digital properties that have monetary value or fall under copyright protections.

This could include things like:

• Domain names you own
• Digital media you've created (writings, graphics, videos, etc.)
• Digital assets used for business or income
• Digital collectibles and NFTs
• Intellectual property and copyrighted works

Depending on the assets, you may wish to transfer ownership and usage rights to specific heirs as part of your estate. Or you may want to authorize sales and monetization of the assets for the financial benefit of your beneficiaries.

Consulting the applicable laws, terms of service, and potentially intellectual property experts can ensure you make provisions that are valid and properly Transfer or protect your valuable digital holdings.

8. Leaving Instructions for Your Digital Legacy

In planning your digital estate, don't neglect communicating your broader wishes around how you want your online presence and digital footprint preserved as your lasting legacy.

While details like access and account provisions are crucial, you'll also want to provide clear guidance on:

• What digital media, records or content you want archived for posterity
• Any online memorials, digital monuments or tributes you'd want created
• Social media profiles you want memorialized versus deleted
• Designated recipients for sentimental digital possessions like videos, letters etc.
• Wishes for digital heirlooms and generational portals for sharing your digital legacy

Sharing your values and perspective on how you hope your digital legacy lives on allows you to truly extend your personal footprint and your story into the digital age.

9. Wrapping Up - Your Next Steps in Digital Estate Planning

Bringing all these elements together into a comprehensive digital estate plan ensures your digital footprint and assets will be managed according to your direct intentions, providing peace of mind.

To summarize the key action steps:

1. Inventory all your digital assets and online accounts
2. Secure and document login credentials and access details
3. Setup a secure, restricted way to store and share that information
4. Outline clear instructions for distributing, deleting or memorializing each asset
5. Name a digital executor or give power of attorney to someone you trust
6. Store and share your full digital estate plan somewhere secure
7. Review and update your digital estate details annually

With rapidly evolving technologies, your digital legacy will only grow more extensive over time. So start planning today, and revisit your plan regularly to ensure it stays current.

Taking these pragmatic steps provides confidence that your digital memories, assets and identity will be properly handled as per your wishes when the time comes.