March 28, 2024

Your Electronic Estate: Who Controls It?

Posted on August 1, 2014 by in MoneyWise

If you use online banking, social media, save photos in the cloud, have an e-mail account or Dropbox where you retain important information, you have “electronic assets.” As a result, you also probably have potential electronic entanglements. Last month we started looking at preparation for the inevitable—the day when someone else will have to manage or wrap up your affairs. This month we’ll look at the need to plan for the growing array of electronic relationships that might be affected when the user is disabled or dies. Initially you might think this is a silly idea.ComputerPadLockedW

“If something happens to me, my heirs can shut those accounts down or leave them dormant.”

But suppose one of those accounts is an individual checking or credit card account, with monthly debits coming out to pay for services, and the statement is delivered electronically to your email account.? Your heirs may not know about the financial account or e-mail account, may be unable to access them, or know to notify the financial institution. Money might keep flowing out for some time for services no longer needed or wanted. How much money might drain away unnecessarily?

Have you accumulated frequent flyer miles or points in another customer loyalty program? What are the rules for transferring those assets to someone at your death? Have you done what you need to so that they are not lost?

Suppose that your family wants access to your Facebook account to notify your friends that you have had a health change? Unless they have your login and password, they cannot, and you may not be able to tell them at that point. Furthermore, I understand FB shuts down accounts when it learns that the user has died. Suppose there is information there your family wants. How will they access it? Is your contact list in your smart phone? Can your heirs get that information if they need it?

A growing number of people are storing photographs in the cloud or a Dropbox. If you are among them, do you want your family to have access to those photos if something happens to you? If so, you better plan ahead.

The purveyors of electronic accounts (financial institutions, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, etc.) have legal agreements which users must accept before using the service. Therefore, access to the particular account is ultimately controlled by that provider under the terms they set. If the account user becomes incapacitated or dies, another person may not be able to step into their shoes and use the same account, even temporarily, without breaking the terms of the agreement.
Since this realm of electronic accounts is new and rapidly changing, users should think through the possible ramifications of each decision they make when opening and using them. Ask and answer the following questions.

— Am I using this account or facility to transfer or hold resources (data, pictures, etc.) that my family might want when I can no longer access it?
— Do others in my family need to know about this account or arrangement? If so, what do they need to know?
— How will the provider’s terms and conditions affect my family’s ability to get into or retrieve things from the account?
— What should I do now to make access to this account easier for my heirs later?

By planning ahead, you may save yourself or your heirs time, money, aggravation and actual loss of unique material you would like them to have.

Alan Wallace

Alan Wallace

 

Alan Wallace, CFA, ChFC, CLU is a Senior Financial Advisor for Ronald Blue & Co.’s Montgomery office, www.ronblue.com/location-al. He can be reached at 334-270-5960, or by e-mail at alan.wallace@ronblue.com.

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