Digital Assets and Estate Planning

Digital Assets and Estate Planning

As a follow-up to our email discussion of including digital assets in your estate planning, there are several websites and services designed to address these issues. These sites use either a “dead-man switch” function in which a non-response to regular email reminders triggers the forwarding of password to your heirs; or a “notification” function in your Will or emergency document directing your heirs how to find your passwords. Some of the current options are:

• Dead Man’s Switch (www.deadmanswitch.com)

A simple posthumous email service where you create messages to be sent after your death.  Failure to log in after their periodic reminders will release the messages.

• Death Switch(deathswitch.com).

Another simple posthumous email service which also sends your messages after the service stops hearing from you on a periodic basis.

• Dashlane 3(lp.dashlane.com).

This is a full function password manager that includes an Emergency Feature to make sure your family or friends can access your important data in an emergency or upon your death.