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.