Digital Assets and Probate - What you need to know

A person may own a great variety of property when they die, from homes to cars to family heirlooms. Someone who has died may, and today most likely, owned some digital assets.

In this article, we look at what digital assets are and what happens to yours when you are no longer here.

What are digital assets?

Digital assets are anything someone has in digital form (as opposed to physical form). For example, printed photographs would be a physical asset, whereas photographs on a computer or mobile phone would be considered digital assets. Similarly, cash would be regarded as a physical asset, whereas any cryptocurrency holdings a person has would be considered digital assets. Examples of other digital assets a person may have include:

email accounts,
social media accounts,
other online accounts such as PayPal and online banking accounts,
music or videos,
NFTs,
documents saved on a computer, mobile device, or online,
E-Books.

As you can see, a person may own multiple different digital assets when they die. As such, it is a good idea to keep an up-to-date list of assets you own or that someone who has asked you to be their Executor owns.

It is important to consider digital assets in a Will. Some digital assets can have great monetary value (such as cryptocurrencies), while others can hold sentimental value (such as photos and social media accounts).

Do I need to make specific provisions for digital assets in my Will?

Whatever value your digital assets may hold, the crucial question of how you ensure these are passed on to exactly who you want after your death arises.

If you leave everything to one person, this will include all of your digital assets. The same is true if you have a residual beneficiary in your will who receives the remainder of your estate. That is, any digital assets not otherwise left to another beneficiary will be inherited by the residual beneficiary.

If you intend to leave specific digital assets to someone, then it is best to be very specific about what you intend to leave them; otherwise, the asset may not be inherited by who you intended. For example, if you leave your laptop to someone then this does not include any of the digital assets contained on the laptop, such as the photographs or documents. Instead, these would pass to the residual beneficiary of your estate, as mentioned above. This is the same for all tangible devices, like your moblie phone or tablets and the digital assets held on them.

On a practical note, keeping good records of passwords and login details associated with digital assets and devices where they are stored is wise. For example, it would be wise to keep a record of login details for:

email accounts,
social media accounts,
other online accounts, such as online banking accounts,
laptops, mobile phones, and tablets,
cloud storage accounts.

Without knowing such details, it may prove impossible for your Executor(s) and beneficiaries to access your digital assets. This could mean they cannot access sentimental items or financially important assets.

If you die without having a Will, known as dying intestate, then your digital assets will be distributed in accordance with the intestacy rules along with the rest of your property. This may not result in the people you wanted to inherit your assets inheriting them.

From the discussion above it can be seen that it is best to have specific provisions in a Will to ensure that your digital (and other) assets are inherited by who you want.

I’m an Executor - what do I need to know?

As an Executor, it is your responsibility to distribute the assets and deal with the deceased's affairs. This includes dealing with their digital assets. There are a few important points to note relating to digital assets when you act as an executor.

Be aware of the digital assets of the deceased

Firstly, it is important to be aware of what digital assets the deceased owned. It is best to have a conversation about this before the person dies and ask them to keep detailed records of this. A person’s digital assets can be expansive, and as an Executor, you are responsible for all of them.

Know the login details

As mentioned above, problems can be avoided if the passwords and login details of digital assets and the sites or devices which hold them are known. Again, this is a good conversation to have before the deceased dies.

Check what can be inherited

It is important to check what can be passed on. For example, some music and E-books may only be licensed to the deceased and not eligible to be inherited by anyone.

Ensure they go to the right person

Finally, as mentioned above, if someone inherits a device, it may not mean they are to inherit what is on the device. You must ensure that you give the correct inheritance to the correct beneficiary.

Contact our Probate Solicitors in Central London today

As you can see from the discussion above, dealing with digital assets, whether when writing a Will or acting as an Executor, can be very complex. Our expert team at Lewis Nedas Law are available to help with your estate planning or administration to ensure the correct course of action is taken.