Monday, September 7, 2009

Estate planning for your online accounts

I read something on this subject the other day, and realized it's something that ought to be mentioned in every estate planning session with clients--planning for online access to your accounts, and listing the accounts, for the right people to access after your death.

There are services to keep the information, and who to allow access to it, after proof of your death, like Legacy Locker and Deathswitch. It's important, as many accounts might not even be found without them--I can think of several of mine that have no paper trail--even the tax information is sent online.

I remember being interviewed for a TV news story a few years back on the family of the Marine killed in Iraq, who had to sue Yahoo (successfully) to gain access to his email account--I was asked (before the family won in court) what else the family might do, and I suggested hiring some hackers. I still laugh at the reporter's horrified expression, and she asked, "Really?" It turns out that's what a lot of people do, and have to do, if other options aren't available--perhaps the most famous case was that of a museum in Norway, which put the call for help out to hackers after one of its employees died, taking some passwords with him to the grave.