Recently Arizona passed a law that greatly increases individuals’ ability to control what happens to their digital assets after they die. This has been passed in many states but in Arizona it can be found in Arizona Revised Statutes §14-131111, 14-131112 and 14-131113.
We can’t tell you how many times the successor trustee or executor comes in for a consult after the client has died and tells us that they cannot find an account or its values because all activity for that account was done online. Typically they are “locked out” of the account because they do not have the log-in information or passwords. This law gives this person the right to get digital information IF you give him or her this power in your estate planning documents.
Your digital property likely has more value than you think. In addition to the sentimental value of family photos or videos stored online, there may be significant financial value in any domain names you own, PayPal and eBay accounts, or a novel you wrote on your home computer. But you need to plan ahead and get this power into your estate documents.
So there is no excuse for letting your digital information, online photos and witty blog posts pass into oblivion.
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