Digital will?

What happens to your digital life when you die? This is a question asked by Ben who works at Which? yesterday. It seems there is no perfect answer to this, because UK wills are not designed to cope with ever changing digital possessions such as movies, songs, pictures, email accounts and websites etc. Some digital possessions can be worth hundreds or thousands of pounds. Also, what is the legal position of an email account for example, or business generated from a website? So long as the owner is recognised, income is treated as any other income, and will be distributed according to the will, but the transfer of goods can be a different matter. It is vital to seek professional accounting advice to ensure a business entity can be transferred. This is best achieved through a limited company, as the business share can be transferred on death.

For accounts that require passwords however, it may be that terms and conditions will dictate how an account can be transferred. I will be looking into this in more detail soon, so please check the blog for an update and some examples.

One easy method however, would be to ensure your executors get access to your passwords and account information. So long as this does not go against the terms of service, a service such as www.dataorganiser.com can store almost any personal information or data files so that your executors or family members can access the information after you die.