The concept of legacy planning often evokes wills and estate management. However, have you considered what will happen to all your online accounts and digital files when you’re no longer around? It’s estimated that only 32% of Americans have a will – and even fewer have outlined instructions for their digital legacy.
What Is a Digital Legacy?
A digital legacy refers to the sum of your digital assets – including online accounts, social media accounts, documents, photos, videos, creative works, etc. Just like arranging for your physical belongings through a will, creating a digital legacy plan ensures your digital assets can be managed according to your wishes after you’ve passed away. Without the instructions, loved ones could find themselves at an impasse with retrieving photos, cancelling subscriptions, and trying to decide between what should be deleted or shared in memoriam.
Getting Started: Take Stock and Choose an Executor
The first step in planning your digital legacy is to create an inventory of all your important digital assets. Make a comprehensive list of your online accounts, social media accounts, email accounts, streaming services, password protected devices such as cell phones and computers, as well as the location of important digital files.
Next, appoint a trusted individual who is comfortable with using devices and the internet to be your “digital executor.” Their responsibility will be to carry out the instructions in your digital legacy plan. To simplify account access for your digital executor, consider subscribing to a secure password manager service. Not only will this allow you to store all your login credentials in one encrypted location, but you can also easily share or transfer the master password to your appointed executor.
Decide What Should Happen to Your Online Accounts
Different platforms handle account closure or memorialization in varying ways after the account owner’s passing. For example:
- Facebook allows you to have your account deleted or memorialized. You can also appoint a legacy contact who can update certain sections of your memorialized profile or request its permanent deletion.
- Instagram also allows accounts to be memorialized. Lawful representatives can also request to have accounts deleted.
- Google’s Inactive Account Manager enables you to decide which types of data get deleted or passed on to designated individuals after a set period of inactivity.
- Apple allows you to name one or more legacy contacts who can access your account. They then have three years to view photos, messages, and any other files to decide what happens to them before the account is deleted.
Research the specific policies of the platforms you use most to see what your options are. Then, adjust your settings to align with your wishes and assign legacy contacts where applicable. It’s critical to share login information with your digital executor as most platforms will not provide this information to family members upon your passing.
Putting Together Your Digital Legacy Document
Once you’ve taken stock of your digital assets and determined how you’d like various accounts to be handled, it’s time to formally outline your wishes in a digital legacy document. This master file should be stored alongside your legal will and other essential documents.
Your digital legacy document should include:
- Contact details for your appointed digital executor
- A complete list of all online accounts and their login credentials (or the master password for your password manager)
- Instructions for deletion, memorialization, or data transfer for each account
- Locations of locally stored data (mobile devices, hard drives, desktop computers, etc.) and their respective passwords
- Specific wishes for how you want each digital asset to be handled. For example, you might specify that personal photos stored in a cloud account should be distributed among family members, or that certain documents should be archived or deleted.
- Any special instructions, such as who should be notified of your passing online or any messages you want posted on your behalf
Creating a comprehensive digital legacy plan is truly an act of preparation and care for your loved ones. By taking these proactive steps, you’ll be sparing them unnecessary stress by providing clear instructions and necessary tools to handle your digital assets after you are gone.
