9136 / What options does an individual have with respect to disposing of digital assets after death?

The next step in formulating a digital asset estate plan is to decide what to do with the assets after death. Because there are likely personal, individual financial, and business-related accounts and information, the preferred disposition of those assets will likely vary. The owner of the digital assets should specify how each type of asset should be handled after death.

Personal (Nonfinancial) Information and Accounts

Digital assets of a personal nature, without real monetary value, may nevertheless be priceless to family and friends. Alternatively, there may be information that an individual wants to ensure is not preserved or passed on to family or friends. Some of the ways that such personal assets can be disposed of are discussed below. |

1. Archive and save. A person may want personal assets (such as photos, emails, contact or birthday lists, and any number of other types of information) to be saved and stored or archived for future use or reference (such as genealogical records) by others, or to preserve the individual’s personal story of life. Some ways this may be done are the following:

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  • Download online account information (when available to do so) to a home, business, or mobile computer, or other mobile device, or to tangible physical media, such as CDs, DVDs, external hard drives, flash drives, and even paper printouts.
  • Some online providers (such as Facebook and Google) allow users to download their account information (photos, posts, messages, comments, etc.).
  • There are also third-party apps and software to assist in downloading one’s online account information, when the provider does not have an easy means of doing so.¹
  • If already stored on a home, business, or mobile computer, or other mobile device, the information can be transferred, backed-up, or archived to tangible media.

2. Transfer or make available to family members, friends, or others. Whether they reside on personally owned hardware or tangible media, or is stored online in the cloud, a person may wish to transfer some personal digital assets to family, friends, business colleagues, alumni groups, or others. (Some formal and informal ways to do this are described in Step 3 below.)

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  • There are also ways of memorializing a decedent to make available the person’s life story, as told through social media, photo-sharing accounts, or other personal accounts. These include Facebook’s memorial profiles of deceased users and dedicated websites set up (usually posthumously) for a similar purpose.

3. For some online accounts, specify disposition using available online tools. Some online providers have developed online tools that a user may use to specify what should happen to the account in the event of the user’s death or the extended inactivity on the account—for example, Google’s Inactive Account Manager. (These tools are discussed in Q 9131 above.)
4. Delete or erase. Some personal digital assets and information serve no use after a person’s death (such as an Amazon wish list, an eBay buyer’s account, or smartphone apps) and may be deleted or erased.² There are also some personal digital assets and information that a person specifically wants not to be seen, read, saved, archived, or transferred to anyone else after the person’s death. These may consist of anything from sensitive medical records to racy photos. (See Q 9137 for additional information about closed, deleted, and erased accounts.)

Assets with Real or Potential Monetary Value

For digital assets with real or potential monetary value, a person will probably want to provide for their transfer or handling in a specific way, and by specific parties, after the person’s death. Here are some questions to ask when considering how to dispose of monetary digital assets: |

1. Assets with cash value. For accounts with assets such as online digital currency and the like (other than ordinary banking, investment, or insurance accounts, which are typically covered under traditional estate planning):

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  • Should the account be cashed out or remain (as an investment, for instance)?
  • Should the account be transferred to someone else, either as owner or fiduciary, to make decisions and receive or distribute any proceeds derived from the asset?

2. Revenue-generating assets. For revenue-generating assets, such as commercial websites, online stores, or registered domain names:

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  • Should it be transferred to someone who will continue to manage the asset and collect or distribute the income?
  • Should it be closed after any remaining inventory is sold?
  • Should it be closed immediately?
  • If an asset continues to generating revenue, where, to whom, or for what purpose should the income go?

3. Other assets. For valuable digital assets that do not generate revenue, such as rewards, loyalty, frequent flyer, and similar programs:

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  • Should any credits, points, or available cash value be redeemed, and if so, by whom and for whose benefit? (The terms of each such account should be checked to ensure that the redemption value remains after the death of the account holder.)

1.  For example, a service called Backupify, https://www.backupify.com/, can be used to help download content from Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and other personal accounts (accessed October 8, 2024).