9139 / How are digital assets ultimately disposed of after death?
If a person has incorporated digital assets into estate planning, the disposition of the digital assets will be accomplished in accordance with the decedent’s wishes. In the process of administering the digital estate, some digital assets, such as online accounts, would have been either closed and deleted or transferred to someone else designated by the decedent. The ultimate disposition of the digital assets will include the following:
Ownership or proceeds of assets distributed or transferred. Control of ownership of the assets, or the proceeds from their sale, goes to the designated beneficiaries.
Online accounts archived (offline), closed, and deleted for privacy reasons, because they are no longer needed, or pursuant to the wishes expressed in a digital assets estate plan.1
Data on storage devices securely deleted. Computers, external hard drives, flash drives, memory cards, and similar devices holding digital assets should be securely erased or ‘wiped’ (for privacy). This may require deleting and then overwriting the data several times to ensure that it cannot be recovered.
Hardware sold or recycled. After securely deleting any data, electronic devices memory storage items may be sold (as proceeds of the estate) or responsibly recycled.
Physical media destroyed and discarded. Physical media such as CD- and DVD-ROMs should be destroyed (e.g., by shredding) and discarded.
Decedent’s private or potentially embarrassing data should be discretely and completely deleted or destroyed, according to the decedent’s instructions or wishes or merely for the decedent’s privacy.
1. The terms of service for most online accounts prohibit transfer to other individuals. However, it is possible that future changes to those terms may occur, or a transfer mechanism could be created by the online service provider, by legislation, or by judicial action. In that case, the digital fiduciary would be able to transfer the accounts to beneficiaries.