Lambros Law Office LLC

Protecting a Digital Legacy

There’s never an easy time to talk about end-of-life planning, and a pandemic that has everyone thinking about death can make it harder, says the article “Wannabe Wired: Preparing your digital legacy,” from The Lawton Constitution. Most of us think about creating a will, making burial plans and ensuring that our loved ones are cared for when we are gone. However, planning for our digital legacy is often neglected.

You don’t have to be Bill Gates or own billions in bitcoins to have a digital legacy. In fact, most people don’t even recognize their digital assets as a new type of property. If you have bank accounts, social media, own any websites or have original music, artwork, or videos online, you have digital assets.

Prior planning can help your loved ones deal with your digital assets, as well as your traditional property.

Different online platforms have different policies about what happens to accounts owned by people who have passed. Sometimes there is an option to delete or deactivate a profile, if the owners have checked the right box. However, that’s not always the case. Many digital giants won’t allow someone who is not the owner, to gain access to their accounts or the data.

Start by making a list of user names and passwords. If you can, go through all of your accounts one by one to see if they allow users to make a plan for what happens if the owner dies. Some, like Facebook, allow the account owner to name a Legacy Contact. That person is permitted to manage tribute posts on your profile, deciding who can and who cannot post on your account and request the removal of your account. Just go to General Account Settings and click on the “Memorialization Setting.” You also have the option to have your account deleted after you die.

Not every platform makes this process so easy. Some will delete accounts, if there is no activity after a certain number of months or years. If you have a business that relies on a free email service like Yahoo!, this could cause your family to lose access to valuable information.

Once you’ve made a thorough list of all of your online accounts and passwords, talk with a trusted family member about your wishes for your digital accounts. Do not include the document with online accounts and passwords in your will! Remember that your will is likely to be a probated document, meaning that it will be entered into the public record. You don’t want people accessing your online accounts—it’s an invitation to identity theft.

Speak with your estate planning attorney about planning for your digital and traditional legacy. It will spare your loved ones a lot of trouble and provide you with peace of mind.

Reference: The Lawton Constitution (May 12, 2020) “Wannabe Wired: Preparing your digital legacy”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899

Digital Assets Need to Be Protected In Estate Plans

Most people have an extensive network of digital relationships with retailers, financial institutions and even government agencies. Companies and institutions, from household utilities to grocery delivery services have invested millions in making it easier for consumers to do everything online—and the coronavirus has made our online lives take a giant leap. As a result, explains the article “Supporting Your Clients’ Digital Legacy” from Bloomberg Tax, practically all estates now include digital assets, a new class of assets that hold both financial and sentimental value.

In the last year, there has been a growing number of reports of the number of profiles of people who have died but whose pages are still alive on Facebook, Linked In and similar platforms. Taking down profiles, preserving photos and gaining access to URLs are all part of managing a digital footprint that needs to be planned for as part of an estate plan.

There are a number of laws that could impact a user’s digital estate during life and death. Depending upon the asset and how it is used, determines what happens to it after the owner dies. Fiduciary access laws outline what the executor or attorney is allowed to do with digital assets, and the law varies from one country to another. In the US, almost all states have adopted a version of RUFADAA, the law created by the U.S. Uniform Law Commission. However, all digital assets are also subject to the Terms of Service Agreement (TOSAs) that we click on when signing up for a new app or software. The TOSA may not permit anyone but the account owner to gain access to the account or the assets in the account.

Digital assets are virtual and may be difficult to find without a paper trail. Leaving passwords for the fiduciary seems like the simple solution, but passwords don’t convey user wishes. What if the executor tries to get into an account and is blocked? Unauthorized access, even with a password, is still violating the terms of the TOSAs.

People need to plan for digital assets, just as they do any other asset. Here are some of the questions to consider:

• What will happen to digital assets with financial value, like loyalty points, travel rewards, cryptocurrency, gaming tokens or the digital assets of a business?
• Who will be able to get digital assets with sentimental value, like photos, videos and social media accounts?
• What about privacy and cybersecurity concerns, and identity theft?

What will happen to your digital assets? Facebook and Google offer Legacy Contact and Inactive Manager, online tools they provide to designate third-party account access. Some, but not many, other online platforms have similar tools in place. The best way, for now, may be to make a list of all of your digital accounts and look through them for death or incapacity instructions. It may not be a complete solution, but it’s at least a start.

Reference: Bloomberg Tax (April 10, 2020) “Supporting Your Clients’ Digital Legacy”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899

How Do We Keep Important Papers Protected?

Once an estate plan has been created, the next step is to determine where to keep these and other important documents, so that they will be safe in an emergency.

CNBC’s recent article, “Here are the best ways to secure important financial documents,” says that you must make sure you keep documents safely secured. The same is true about digital assets, passwords and social media accounts.

Some states have public will registries, and there are also private will registry companies.  While estate planning documents don’t need to be registered, it may be a good idea. However, registering documents may not be sufficient.

It is important that your family knows about your wills and other documents, and where to locate them. Don’t forget about your digital assets, since these assets can be bequeathed, just like bank and investment accounts.

Make multiple copies of information to protect yourself against loss.

Here are some action steps to take:

• Buy a multifunction scanner and use it when you get a new important document;
• Back up your digital documents on a thumb drive or a secured digital card that you can easily remove from your device. Make a copy of that storage device and put it somewhere offsite;
• Create a cloud storage account with Google, Apple, Dropbox, or Box, specifically for backing up your documents;
• Secure the data on your mobile devices and be careful with your computer, tablet and smartphone. Keep sensitive data on external storage or in the cloud;
• Choose an individual to look after your social media. Companies have their own policies for when an owner passes away; and
• There are online companies that assist in storing passwords in the cloud, but you also need to have a directive for your accounts, so that someone besides you can access the accounts and manage your data.

Even if you live in an area that has never experienced a hurricane, flood, tornado or wildfires, that doesn’t not mean that some kind of natural disaster could strike. Planning ahead will make rebuilding your life less challenging.

Reference: CNBC (August 19, 2019) “Here are the best ways to secure important financial documents”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899

Why Everyone Needs a Plan for Digital Assets

The loss of a spouse creates havoc for the surviving spouse or family members in new ways today. Access to a desktop computer, tablet, smart phones and other devices can be lost completely. Accounts that were on autopay may take months to be discovered and turned off. Just the simple act of paying the cable and electric bills can become time consuming, not to mention the potential for cryptocurrency or emails to be lost forever.

To help crack the codes, it many take hiring a tech person, and even then, it may prove fruitless. It can also take a lot of time, says Kiplinger’s recent article, “Make Sure Your Spouse Has Your Passwords.” The article explains that getting access to key financial and estate information has always been a critical issue for women. They’re statistically more likely than men to be widowed or may have a spouse who suffers from a serious illness.

With digital records and passwords, there’s no paper trail to help you locate accounts no one knew existed. It’s also common for women of all ages to delegate key financial and estate responsibilities to their spouse.

To address that problem, women need to organize both personal and financial records. This can include vital documents, like a will, powers of attorney for financial and health affairs, a living will and perhaps a trust. Women can also get organized with other important information, such as finding the warranty for a new TV, car titles, frequently contacted services (landscaper, electrician) and other professionals, like your CPA and insurance agent.

Make sure that, with your estate planning, you also check the beneficiary designations on life insurance policies or retirement accounts. People neglect to update these, after a spouse passes away.  You should also confirm that your joint bank account actually is in both of your names. Get a credit card in your own name and get a copy of each spouse’s credit reports. You should also have a copy of your will secured outside of your safe deposit box.

You can use a digital password manager, or a plain old notebook. However, whatever system you choose, it will be better than nothing. Make sure family members know where the password information is kept, and consider an online solution, if the family is tech savvy.

Reference: Kiplinger (June 6, 2019) “Make Sure Your Spouse Has Your Passwords”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899

Here’s How to Overcome Your Natural Instincts and Get Estate Planning Done

Way back in the Stone Age, say evolutionary psychologists, we developed our brains and our instinct to survive. That meant avoiding threatening situations and learning how to defend ourselves. Part of our primitive brain still recognizes death as the ultimate threat, and that’s why we procrastinate on planning for our passing.

Insurance News Net’s recent article, “What Human Behavior Tells Us About Estate Planning,” says that when people think of estate planning, they think about death,. Because we’re programmed to secure our survival, thinking about our demise is counterintuitive. With this in mind, you can begin to see why more than half of Americans don’t have essential estate documents in place.

Some say that we have to be able to see and identify it, be motivated to act by pain or some negative stimulus and believe we can do something about it without feeling dumb in the process. However, estate planning hasn’t met any of these criteria. The need for estate planning feels remote, and, therefore, it isn’t visible or painful. Sometimes estate planning can be complicated and overwhelming, which can leave people feeling incapable and inept. The need to create an estate plan also feels chronic—a nagging problem people don’t want to address and want to avoid.

However, in the digital age, estate planning has become about more than just the systematic disposition of assets upon one's death. With bank and email accounts, social media and other digital assets scattered throughout cyberspace, it has become necessary to find a way to connect our assets to us. There’s an immediate upside to spending time on organizing our financial lives: the peace of mind of knowing everything we have is accounted for. It’s intrinsically satisfying when we can bring our assets together under one virtual roof.

With comprehensive planning, we can benefit from being able to monitor every account with ease, giving us a full financial picture at a glance.

In addition, today we can capture stories and memories to create a living, breathing legacy. Remember, your legacy is about more than the money left behind—it’s also about sharing the values and valuables with the right people at the right time.

If you think about legacy planning as an active part of life and family history, the concept of estate planning shifts from one of planning for death to one of planning for the generations that will follow you. Estate planning then becomes a different narrative and something that can be more easily embraced on an emotional level. Think of your legacy as your children’s future—and make an appointment to meet with an estate planning attorney to ensure that your legacy is documented and secured.

Reference: Insurance News Net (May 9, 2019) “What Human Behavior Tells Us About Estate Planning”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899

Millennials Need Estate Planning Too

It was about a year ago that a tragic shooting took the lives of 58 people in Las Vegas, many of them in their 20s and 30s. Chances are that very few of them thought they needed any kind of estate plan, and as a result, few of their families or friends knew what their final wishes would have been. Sadly, their wishes died with them, said Think Advisor in the article, “Yes Millennials DO Need Estate Planning.”

There were probably a lot of families that didn’t know if their loved one wanted to be buried or cremated or what they would have wanted for funeral arrangements. They didn’t know who should receive what assets. Perhaps these young people had best friends that should have been remembered to help them ease their grief.

All young adults must think about creating an estate plan. Here are a few simple steps that could save their families a lot of pain, if the worst happens.

• Work with an estate planning attorney to draw up a will to create a plan for your belongings—who will inherit what, both financial and personal. You should also remember your virtual assets, such as your iTunes and social media accounts.
• Create a list of your usernames and passwords to all your financial and personal accounts. Make certain that your family knows about it and has access, if it’s online.
• If you have a 401(k) and company-sponsored life insurance, be sure to name beneficiaries on these accounts to avoid probate.
• Ask your bank for a payable-on-death (POD) account. This lets you name a beneficiary, keeping the account out of probate.
• Designate a durable power of attorney and health care proxy, which let others make financial and medical decisions for you, if you become incapacitated. If you want to give your proxy specific instructions, create an advance directive, also known as a living will.

For those who think that estate planning is only for the wealthy or for the elderly, think again. Estate planning provides families with clarity during a time of grief and allows anyone over the age of 18 to express their wishes. It’s not something you expect to need until you marry, when you have children, or when you are preparing for retirement. However, everyone needs an estate plan, as tragedy, illness and accidents can occur at any time, at any age.

Reference: Think Advisor (December 11, 2018) “Yes Millennials DO Need Estate Planning”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899

Have You Accounted for Your Digital Assets?

 Mindy checked her email, checked the balance in her bank accounts while live streaming her favorite music, paid two bills, posted her thoughts on a social media site, and logged into her work account – all before finishing breakfast. We live in a digital world, with much of our lives occurring behind login screens. What happens to digital assets when we die, though? Is there some way to allow access to digital materials while preserving confidentiality?

Digital Assets for Fiduciaries

Some states have enacted the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act that allows executors and agents access some digital accounts. For example, the personal representative of an estate is expected to gather information about the estate assets. This may prove difficult to do when the information is all in digital form.

At this time, Rhode Island law permits fiduciaries (like executor and personal representatives) to access email accounts only.

What are digital assets?

Accounts that you maintain online, but also hardware and data stored on your computer. Other digital assets are:

• Social media accounts,
• Websites,
• Cryptocurrencies,
• Email accounts,
• Bank accounts,
• Investment accounts,
• Financial accounts,
• Retirement accounts,
• Collections and subscriptions, and
• Anything maintained in digital form.

Even if the personal representative of an estate is permitted to access digital assets, how hard will it be to locate them?

Should I prepare a digital assets inventory?

Yes, absolutely. Assets that can’t be found can’t be managed by your executor.

Your digital assets inventory should include:

• Hardware. List all equipment you own with serial numbers, location, and logon information.
• Social Media Accounts. Include all accounts with logon information and instructions to your executor. (Some social media accounts, like Facebook, allow users to name a legacy contact to take over their accounts if they pass away.)
• Stored Data. List what you have saved and where it is located. This includes data stored on flash drives or the cloud.
• Online Accounts. List every financial account, with logon information and instructions to your executor.
• Websites. List any websites or domain names you own.

Once your list is complete, store it in a safe location. Make sure your executor knows where you have stored it.

Some Final Thoughts.

If you do mention your digital assets in your Will, never include personal information or logon information. Your Will becomes public record during probate.

At the Lambros Law Offices, we do more than hand you a stack of documents and tell you where to sign. We explain everything every step of the way until you have an estate plan that fits.

Call us at 401-383-9899 or check out our website. Though our office is located in Cranston, we assist clients through Rhode Island including Providence, Kent, and Washington Counties.

 

Are Your Digital Assets Addressed in Your Estate Plan?

Most wills do not include provisions concerning digital assets, as reported in the Financial Post’s article, “What happens to your Bitcoin when you die? Digital assets complicating estate planning process,” because digital assets are still relatively new. After a death, heirs scramble to figure out accounts and passwords, so that they can gain control of the digital assets.

In addition to cryptocurrencies, digital assets can include social media accounts, rewards programs, travel miles, and even gaming profiles. Email accounts can also have massive amounts of information, sentimental history and value. This information and content is worth safeguarding. Making conscious decisions in advance is the best way to ensure that these assets and accounts are passed along in the manner intended.

One potential solution is appointing an “electronic” estate trustee within a will. This person would have the same general duty as the executor or “traditional” estate trustee: executing the wishes of the deceased. However, the role would be much narrower. He or she would be tasked with managing and administering digital assets and accounts. They could be selected based on their trustworthiness and technological savvy.

Just knowing what exists may not be enough. This is because cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, are tracked on a public ledger, and they can only be accessed by a person who has the private password. Individuals need to be sure that the electronic estate trustee gets this. Bitcoin has no central registry, so a forgotten password and backup means a huge loss.

A big part of the electronic estate trustee’s roles would be to navigate the specific rules and regulations of each digital account provider, and each provider’s terms and conditions can seemingly change at will.

For example, Facebook has stated that the handling of pages of people who have died is a growing concern. They now let users appoint a legacy contact who’s provided with limited access to a user’s page after the original user dies. While a legacy contact can write pinned posts and update a user’s profile, that person can’t technically log in to the account, or remove or change past posts.

In the absence of a legacy contact, Facebook will require that the executor or an immediate family member reach out to Facebook. This is an example of where an electronic estate trustee role could be helpful to manage or remove the account.

One helpful note: do not put passwords or user names into a will. Many wills become public documents, and the results could be disastrous.

Reference: Financial Post (January 29, 2018) “What happens to your Bitcoin when you die? Digital assets complicating estate planning process”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899 .

Common Estate Planning Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

There are many mistakes made in estate planning, but some of them crop up more often than others, as reported in a useful article from WMUR, “Estate planning mistakes.”

Delay. The easiest mistake to avoid, and probably the biggest, is procrastination. Just doing nothing at all in your estate planning is a common mistake. If you fail to create a plan for yourself, the state may apply the intestacy laws and determine who will receive your assets and how they’ll acquire them. This might not be the plan you wanted.

Review. You should conduct a periodic review of your estate planning documents to be certain they still match your current wishes. There are changes that occur over time, like life circumstances and the estate tax laws. Be sure your chosen executor is still able to take on the responsibility.

Titles and Beneficiary Designations. The correct titling of your assets and up-to-date beneficiary designations are also areas where people commonly make mistakes. Update your retirement plan and life insurance policy beneficiaries, so these proceeds pass to the correct beneficiaries. An asset owned in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship will pass directly to the surviving joint tenant.

Trust Funding. Another common mistake is not funding your revocable trust. Perhaps you have a trust that accomplishes all that you wish. If you don’t fund the trust with assets, it’s of no use to you or your beneficiaries. Trusts are helpful when dealing with younger heirs, because a trust can control when the income can be received and for what purposes, until the beneficiary reaches a certain age or other milestone.

The Barry Manilow Records. Think about the disposition of family heirlooms, collectibles, and other items of sentimental value. You’d be surprised what siblings fight over, and sometimes the squabbles grow into all out fractures for families.

Passwords. Create a master document that has all your social media, online accounts, and passwords, allowing your heirs ready access to them to close them.

Accessibility Tell one or two trusted family members where your estate planning documents and any other important papers are located. If no one knows that these documents exist, or knows where they are, it’s highly unlikely your wishes will be followed. You should also provide them with contact information for your estate planning attorney, CPA and financial advisor.

Reference: WMUR (December 28, 2017) “Estate planning mistakes”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899 .

A Relatively New Task for Executors: Digital Footprint

Executors today are facing a relatively new task: managing online accounts, photos, posts and more that comprise an individual’s digital footprint. According to an article in The Catholic Register, “An executor must deal with digital footprint,” taking care of someone’s social media accounts are just the start of what has become a challenging process.

Think about what’s on your digital footprint: your Facebook account has many details of your daily life and personal history. Your email account(s) have your personal and business communications. You also probably do your banking online.

After you’re gone, do you want your heirs looking at virtual territory you that would rather keep private? How will your digital accounts be wrapped up? It's important that you name a digital executor.

In many instances, the person who is handling your estate may not be the person who has the technical aptitude to take care of your digital assets.

Remember that the executor named in your Will has to settle all issues relating to your life. Clearing out your digital footprint is one more task. Be specific with your instructions and keep a list of all the websites and login credentials, so the executor can take action as appropriate.

Speak to someone you trust about your online legacy and tell them “Just so you know, I put my passwords here, this is where I store them, and these are my accounts. Make sure you take care of those.”

Some social media platforms are more helpful than others when it comes to allowing executors to manage or shut down an account. This is not yet a standardized process, and every platform has its own requirements. You’ll definitely need to have a death certificate, which you’ll need to scan or take a photo of so that you can send it—by email, of course.

Reference: Catholic Register (November 6, 2017) “An executor must deal with digital footprint”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899 .