Your Digital Estate

Can you answer these four questions about the people you are financially involved with?

How many bank accounts do they have?

How many are online?

What banks are they with?

What is your significant other’s username and password for each online bank account?

The fact of the matter is that ten years ago, estate planning was easy. People typically had a will, healthcare power of attorney, general power of attorney and a living will. Once someone died or became incapacitated, the survivors simply went through their files and bills and decided what to pay, what to preserve, and where to find things.

Think if you had someone pass away or become incapacitated today. We live in a digital world and there isn’t necessarily a paper trail one everything we own anymore. Imagine if the person you are the most financially involved with disappeared from your life in the next phone call.

The Center would like to remind people that while an estate plan consisting of the four documents is important, it is also important to plan your digital estate as well preserving usernames and passwords someplace safe. This includes devices, online bank accounts, even e-mail accounts and debit accounts are important once someone passes or becomes incapacitated.