it's your legacy... Entrustet HIWI Blog

At the end of the Account Guardian, you will have created a secure list of all of your digital assets, nominated heirs and chosen a digital executor.  You will have also nominated a Digital Executor to notify us when you pass away and help manage your digital estate after your death.  You will have chosen to backup your files using our document storage or by signing up for Mozy automated backup.

At the end of the Account Guardian, you will be able to print out a summary of your digital assets, last wishes, heirs and digital executor.  For security reasons, your summary will not have any usernames and passwords on it.

What do you do with this summary?  How can you make your last wishes legally binding in a will or trust?  How can you add your digital assets to a will or a trust?  What are your options?

Entrustet users can choose from three options for legally protecting their digital assets.  All three have pros and cons, which I will go through in this post.  You can print out your summary of your digital assets and store the printout in a secure place like a home safe or a bank safe deposit box.  You can take your printout to your existing lawyer or a new lawyer you find in the Entrustet Lawyer Directory or you can add your digital assets to a will from Legal Zoom.

What does this chart mean?

All three options use the Account Guardian to securely organize your digital assets, nominate heirs for your digital property, nominate a digital executor, control access, make last wishes, streamline transfers and deletions of your digital assets in accordance with your wishes and use Entruset’s double verification process for verifying that you have passed away.

Account Guardian

The first column on the left represents using the Account Guardian and then deciding to store your digital asset summary in a secure location, like a fireproof safe in your home or a safe deposit box at your bank.  It is a solid DIY solution instead of adding your digital assets to a will.

Pros:

• Free – The Account Guardian is free, so printing out your digital asset summary and storing it in a secure location is the lowest cost option for protecting your digital assets.
• Easy – Print out your summary and store it in a safe place
• No extra action – You don’t have to take your digital asset summary to an estate planning attorney or take any further action
• Private – You do not have to discuss your digital assets with anyone else
• Effective – This solution should be successful most of the time, except for cases where there are legal challenges from heirs who feel slighted or companies that do not want to grant you the right to transfer your accounts.

Cons:

• Not legally binding – Since you did not add your digital assets to a will or other estate planning documents, if any of your heirs feels slighted, your estate may be open to legal challenges.  Companies may push back against allowing access.
• No legal advocate after you pass away  – Your Digital Executor will be on her own after you pass away, without any guidance from a lawyer.

Account Guardian + Legal Zoom.

The second column in the chart represents using Entrustet’s Account Guardian, plus a DIY will solution called Legal Zoom. to protect your digital assets.  Legal Zoom. is a 3rd party company that specializes in do it yourself legal documents.  Legal Zoom. is not a law firm and does not practice law.  They only give you the forms necessary to create a legal document.  You can find out how to add your digital assets to a Legal Zoom. will in one of our previous blog posts.

Pros:

• Legally binding – Legal Zoom wills are legally binding wills.  Adding your digital assets to a DIY will like Legal Zoom makes your last wishes legally binding.
• Low cost – Legal Zoom wills are inexpensive, ranging  from $69-$119.
• Do it yourself from home – You can add your social media and other digital assets to a Legal Zoom will from the comfort of your own home.
• Cheaper than going to estate planning attorney – Estate planning attorneys are more expensive than adding digital assets to a Legal Zoom will.
• Easy to add digital assets to legal zoom – It is very easy to add your digital assets to a Legal Zoom will.

Cons:

• No personalized legal representative – Legal Zoom does not give you personalized advice, it is a do it yourself will.
• More open to legal challenges than estate plan prepared by estate planning attorney – Legal Zoom wills are more open to legal challenges than estate plans prepared by estate planning attorneys.
• No help from legal zoom after death – Legal Zoom does not support heirs and executors after the will writer passes away
• Not customizable – Legal Zoom wills are fill in the blank forms.  They do not allow maximum customization compared to wills prepared by estate planning attorneys.

Account Guardian + An Estate Planning Attorney

Pros

• Legally binding – An estate planning attorney can easily add your digital assets to your will
• Personalized legal service – You can meet face to face with your attorney to discuss how to add digital assets to your estate plan.
• Advocate to help digital executor through post death duties -  Your estate planning attorney can help you through the post death process and probate.
• Use your own lawyer or find an attorney with expertise adding digital assets to wills and trusts in our lawyer directory.

Cons:

• Most costly solution – Attorney’s fees vary for creating estate plans.
• More time consuming – You have to make an appointment with your attorney to add your digital assets to your will or trust

Every person is different, so each of the three options can work well for people in different situations.  We recommend using option #3 and taking your digital asset summary to an estate planning attorney.  You will receive personalized service and customized documents from a legal professional that will help you stay organized and protected under the law.  We believe that the time and money that you spend creating an estate plan with your digital assets will be worth it.  If you need help finding an attorney to help you add digital assets to your estate plan, check out our lawyer directory.

Tags:

Digital Estate Planning · legal zoom and digital assets · legally protecting digital assets