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3 Primary Measures Leading to an Effective Estate Planning

Capital Markets CIO Outlook | Thursday, August 13, 2020

The proliferating digital transformation requires the estate owners to consider the management of their digital data and portfolios.

FREMONT, CA: Digitalization is transforming all walks of life. Legacy systems are being replaced or upgraded with digital solutions to keep up with the emerging requirements and trends. Estate planning is one such vertical, which is experiencing a new wave of transformations with an increase in digital assets and data. At present, an estate plan is incomplete if it doesn’t include the various aspects of digital life, such as transactions, files, accounts, and others. The above statement can be justified from the fact that there are three million bitcoins that are currently irretrievable. The above situation could be avoided with the private keys to the bitcoins left to the next of kin.

Deciding on how to manage digital assets is a pressing issue in estate planning as it will ensure asset management even beyond the owner’s lifespan. Here are the four measures that can assist in estate planning:

List of Passwords for the Online Accounts

Apart from day-to-day internet security, password management sites can play a key role while formulating an estate planning strategy. Further, these sites will serve as a central hub for several digital aspects of life. Such a centralized facility will require the owner to login via one password, thereby enabling access to all the digital information pertaining to the user.

Access to the Digital Password

The executor needs to have the master password to the password management platform, which should be accessible after the owner passes away. As it is sensitive data, it would be advisable to consider placing the master password credentials on a safety deposit vault, which can be accessed only by the authorized person such as a financial executer.

Authority to Act on Owner’s Behalf

Identifying the digital executor on a will is an important step in estate planning. Logging in to someone’s online account can have legal issues. However, the owner of the will can designate a financial executor to do so. Such a proposition will ensure the execution of the owner’s will after he passes away.

Estate planning is evolving with digitalization. Financial advisors and estate owners must evolve accordingly to actualize an effective wealth management strategy.

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