Middle-aged man working on his digital estate while sitting at table

Even if you are not tech savvy, you likely have a digital estate comprised of assets with financial and sentimental value. You probably also have plenty of personal information floating around out there in the digital universe. To protect these assets, and to ensure you don’t leave behind a massive digital mess for your loved […]

Elderly lady typing on laptop

It has been nearly impossible for the family of the deceased to gain access to digital accounts in the past. However, there is some progress. In response to the problem of digital accounts of the deceased being accessed for an estate, some state legislators have slowly been passing new laws to permit access to digital accounts […]

Older Couple Using Webcam

Families sometimes face a challenge because of federal law. A federal law called the Stored Communications Act can make it difficult for families to retrieve digital information when someone passes away, according to the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog in “Court Holds Personal Representative May Provide Lawful Consent Under Stored Communications Act.” The Stored […]

Elderly lady typing on laptop

Online communications is gaining importance not only in social lives but in financial lives, as well, as seen in recent cases. Requests for access to digital assets by families, executors and trustees are being made with more and more frequency. Sometimes access is requested to a social media account to assess the deceased’s state of […]

Older Couple Using Webcam

Nearly two-thirds of all Americans have a robust social media life, as well as an average of 25 online accounts, including social networking accounts, banking and financial accounts, according to a Microsoft study conducted in 2007. By now, those numbers may have increased. These digital accounts are now considered personal assets, and figuring out how […]

Senior Couple on Computer - Vertical

The digital afterlife is among many conversations that people can engage in when making end-of-life decisions. Ignoring or evading such talks for emotional reasons may have the opposite desired outcome in the end, and prevent loved ones from enjoying their limited time together. Have you considered how many digital accounts you have out in cyberspace? […]

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A bill in the General Assembly would treat individuals’ Facebook, Twitter, email and other online accounts the same as physical assets after death. By default, the law does not treat digital assets the same way that it treats physical assets. After a person passes away, physical assets become part of the estate. Executors and loved […]

Instructor with Students in Computer Lab

Does a person’s right to privacy extend past death? In this digital age, yes, according to legislation passed by the 2015 General Assembly — the first of its kind in the country. The Privacy Expectation Afterlife and Choices Act aims to assure that a person’s electronic footprint remains off-limits after death — even to his […]

Two Young Women in Front of the Computer Talking

If you die unexpectedly, should your “digital assets” like text messages, e-mail and photos die with you? One cold night in December 2013, Jake Anderson left a party near the University of Minnesota campus and was inexplicably later found frozen to death in his car. The medical examiner ruled the death accidental, so there is […]

Senior Couple on Computer

“It used to be when someone passed away, there were all these clues — a paper trail around the house about what the deceased person owned and owed,” says Karin C. Prangley, an estate attorney at Krasnow Saunders Kaplan & Beninati in Chicago. “Now there is no more paper trail. All of that is digital. […]