Digital Will
By now with all of the ?digital death? buzz, with celebrities ?digitally dying? to get donations for a cause they believe in, you might have heard about a digital will and what that means.
A digital will is very similar to a Living Will, or Living Trust, in which you complete a document, via a legal representative, or a legal website, such as Legacy Locker, that gives a specific person or entity of your choice, directions or instructions on what to do with your assets, and personal belongings, including your digital legacy, should you die.
Creating a digital will is not difficult, and anyone who is active in this technological age should be thinking about preparing one. Many attorneys are already on board, some just extending their clients ?Last Will and Testament? or adding to their ?Living Trusts?, the digital information that has become so all encompassing in our lives.
We keep in touch with friends via social networks, we do banking online, we make online investments, and prepare online documents for work, and other important data. Our computers have become a treasure trove of digital information, including all of our personal information as well. With the birth of digital cameras, most of our family vacations and photos live in cyberspace too.
1. A digital will?s purpose:
Our lives are digital, more and more every day, and keeping track of where our information is stored, by making up a will that describes where everything is, what we want passed on and what we don?t, as well as what to do with other important financial information is something we should be all thinking about.
2. Access
A digital will should always contain information on who an gain access to your information, and include access information to every piece of your digital life.
Most of the worlds assets, banking information, personal information is on a computer somewhere, and allowing a close friend or even a legal representative access to the important information your family might need, is essential.
3. The importance of access:
Suppose a close family member dies and you have a very short time to gain access to their will, their email and contact information to inform friends of their death, and send invitations to the funeral, or even pay for their funeral and/or care for kids or animals left behind ? but access is not possible to your loved ones information.
The process of gaining access could take weeks, but you don?t have weeks, and everyone who was close to your loved one cannot be notified, even their best friends and extended family. This is where a digital will can ease the burden of figuring all of this out.
4. The red tape of access:
The hassle that could ensue after your death could wreak havoc with your family members. First, most websites, such as Yahoo mail, won?t allow access without major documentation and proof of death, including a death certificate.
Most sites that contain information, such as email contacts, bank accounts and other pertinent information could completely shut out any family members for an undetermined amount of time. This could create quite a problem for your loved ones.
5. Policies and procedures:
Each website, webmail, bank, and everything else you might use, will all have different procedures that allow another person access. So, you could be gaining access to an email server, with a specific document, however, another website might require something different.
A perfect example is that of a father, who lost his son in Iraq and was trying to contact his close friends and extended relatives through his email account? but he could not access Yahoo mail. They would not, under any circumstances, give this grieving father access. The father took Yahoo to court and gained access ? but certainly not in time to contact them for the funeral, or even notify them of his sons death. See Law.com for more information on the lawsuit.
The problem is that most of these sites have yet to set up a death policy, as they have been busy trying to keep up with the barrage of new users, and upgrading of their capacity and technology and most don?t even have a policy for the death of a user, such as Gmail.
When you search Gmail help for a death policy, nothing comes up.
6. Listing your information:
It is important, even for you, to have a list of where all of your data lives. If you have a hard drive crash, you could lose it all and this list will come in handy for you and your loved ones, to assist your them in the search to find accounts and information that are important, and/or need closing, or access.
Taking an inventory of your websites such as email, social networking, banking, investments, and anything else you use should be a priority to list.
Keeping this list in a safe place, and with a trusted friend is best. Putting the list in your digital will is important as well, although passwords change frequently, so you might leave off the passwords in the Will itself, and only list the websites, account #?s, user ID?s, etc. However, be sure to list those passwords someplace.
7. Explain policies in will:
Every online service provider has a common procedure, which is less difficult for you to gain access to, but their policy should be in their ?terms? or in help. Or, you could email them and ask what their procedures are should you die.
Find out what documents are needed, and what procedures it is going to take to allow a family member or friend, complete access to your accounts.
Then list the procedures in the digital will so that family or friends are not fishing in the dark, taking up loads of time that you could remedy quickly.
8. Have multiple copies:
Remember, if you?re creating a digital will online, such as in Legacy Locker, there is a good chance that their website or service could be non-existent at the time of your death. Most documents will go into the recycle bin with the website.
Make sure you have a copy of your digital will in paper form, locked in a safe or with a trusted friend or family member. And, just in case they die before you, have a copy somewhere in a safe place for the friend or family member who remains.
The benefits of starting now are huge, because as we all know, day after day, week after week, we add more and more information to our digital legacy. We find new websites that offer better services, or something new and we sign up.
When you start listing the websites you visit for a month, you?ll be astonished, and creating this digital will be easier on your family should something unexpected happen. Do it today, and your legacy won?t be lost in cyberspace.
This article is from William from?Life Insurance Finder. Learn more about Digital Wills with the?Digital Death?blogazine.
- Image :?William Arthur Fine Stationery
Source: http://techhamlet.com/2012/02/8-benefits-of-having-a-digital-will/
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