Digital assets are becoming more prominent in our world today. These include assets such as financial accounts, investments, digital files and online subscriptions. As these assets can include both financial and sentimental value it is important that you look to protect your digital assets.
There are risks to not protecting these assets including:
Loss of Access: Without proper planning these assets can be hard for family members to access these accounts after you pass on.
Identity theft: Leaving these digital assets unprotected can leave you exposed to unsuspected identity threats. Which is why it is important that your family or a loved one is able to properly take care of your accounts.
Legal complications: Without your family members or loved ones, having access to these accounts without having clear instructions via plan sets up a lot of legal hurdles for beneficiaries.
In order to protect your digital assets, you should keep inventory on your digital assets by creating a list of all your accounts, assets and passwords. This should include all digital assets, such as websites, apps, and other sites that hold sentimental value. It is also always encouraged to use a two factor authentication system, which will add an extra layer of protection to protect you against identity theft. It is also suggested to secure your digital assets by backing them up and storing them in multiple places.
Digital assets can easily be incorporated into a will or a trust which can include specific instructions for digital assets in your estate planning documents. This will include instructions, such as what should be done to your social media accounts, emails, etc. should you become incapacitated. In this process, you will also designate a digital executor who will be responsible for your digital assets once you are no longer able to. Meeting with an estate plan attorney about your digital assets can also legally protect you by providing certain information pertaining to certain laws and any state regulations surrounding digital assets.
I highly suggest meeting with an estate plan attorney to discuss the protection of your digital assets. As we move into a more digital world, it is important to understand how to protect ourselves from potential threats and have a proper plan for what happens to our digital assets once we are no longer able to maintain them ourselves.

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