You may already realize that you need an estate plan for yourself and your business assets, but are you also ready to make a digital estate plan? We live more and more of our lives online these days, and this also applies to businesses. Your business could have important digital assets that need to be accounted for when you pass away. A Rockland County estate planning attorney can help you with that.
Why Do I Need a Digital Estate Plan?
A digital estate plan helps you keep track of any important digital assets that your business relies on. Having a plan can help you ensure a smooth transition to your heirs when you pass away. Without a digital estate plan, whoever takes over your business for you could end up locked out of crucial accounts or unable to access important information.
What Are Some Examples of Digital Assets?
You probably have a lot of different digital assets that are key to your company’s operation. They are often so ubiquitous that people do not even think about them. Some good examples include:
- Email accounts
- Online banking accounts
- Blog and domain names
- Cloud storage accounts
- Online store or shopping accounts
- Subscriptions to digital services
- Social media accounts
All of these help your business run smoothly every day. If your heirs are locked out of things like cloud storage accounts and email accounts, they are going to run into some headaches.
How Do I Make My Digital Estate Plan?
Your first step in making a digital estate plan should be to inventory and organize any digital assets your business uses. Then you need to figure out how you want to leave behind important information, like passwords, for your beneficiaries. You can use a password management program or write down the passwords and user names in a Word document. Just find a secure way of dealing with these things and make sure that your loved ones can find what they need to keep your business running smoothly once you have passed away.
Who Do I Leave in Charge of My Digital Assets?
You can pick an executor for your digital assets just as you would pick out an executor for your more conventional assets. Obviously, it is important that you choose someone who you can trust to follow your instructions and keep these assets safe.
Some people make an executor their digital executor as well, but you don’t have to do that. In fact, if your executor is not that tech-savvy, it might be a better idea to have two different people play these important roles.
Contact Our Lawyers Today
If you have any questions about digital assets and how to protect your business, contact the Lauterbach Law Firm. We can schedule a consultation and tell you more about what we can do to assist you.
