When a loved one passes away, one important issue that needs to be addressed is the transfer of their digital assets to their heirs. Legacy Suite, a developer of digital asset management solutions, highlights the importance of establishing a “digital executor” role in estate planning to ensure a smooth transition of digital assets.
As the world continues to shift towards digital, electronic assets have become a significant and complex part of a person’s estate. Digital executors play a crucial role in managing these assets. Legacy Suite’s CEO and founder, Sean Foote, emphasizes that incorporating a digital executor into the estate planning process provides peace of mind for both the deceased and their loved ones.
The primary responsibility of a digital executor is to identify and catalog the deceased person’s digital assets, which can include online financial accounts, email accounts, social media profiles, blogs, websites, digital photos, videos, and other digital files. Once these assets are identified, the digital executor must secure them and establish ongoing access, which may involve changing login credentials, passwords, contacting service providers, and taking other measures to prevent unauthorized access.
After securing the assets, the digital executor is responsible for managing them according to the deceased person’s wishes as expressed in their estate plan. This may involve transferring ownership to beneficiaries, closing online accounts, deleting specific files, and maintaining websites or social media profiles as a memorial. The digital executor may also need to address financial obligations, such as outstanding debts or recurring fees associated with digital assets, as well as legal obligations related to copyright or privacy concerns. Confidentiality and privacy are important considerations throughout the process.
Legacy Suite offers a comprehensive solution for managing digital assets, including an encrypted vault for saving and backing up critical files such as identification documents, guardianship directives, family records, power of attorney documents, and insurance policies. This solution enables the digital executor to share these documents with designated representatives and beneficiaries, streamlining the transfer process.
Legacy Suite’s solution aims to create efficiencies in managing digital assets, allowing the digital executor to accelerate the inheritance timeline for the heirs. By providing support for wallet monitoring, crypto wallets, and secure self-custody of digital assets, Legacy Suite ensures that the transfer of digital assets is secure and seamless.