By Roberta M. Gubbins
Legal News
“The Internet is a fun way to share information,” said Farmington Hills attorney Patricia E. Kefalas Dudek, “Twitter and Facebook are growing exponentially. People are using them both personally and professionally,” but a problem arises when the user dies or becomes disabled.
Who can access the accounts and what can they do with them?
To date Michigan has no statute dealing with these matters leaving the solution to the problem to the individual or the provider. Only Oklahoma and Idaho have passed laws dealing with the matter and Nebraska is considering a statute.
What is your digital legacy?
Your digital legacy, Dudek explained, includes items on the Internet such as pictures, communications (e-mail), social media and online profiles, finances such as banking, Quicken or QuickBooks, online store accounts, digital media, iTunes, Amazon, fantasy sports, on-line poker and so forth.
These are all good things, but how do you save all this?
The first step is to create an inventory of your online assets, which includes personal and professional digital information from your computer, other devices and the “virtual world” such as the Internet or a cloud. The inventory should contain the name and contents of the asset, its location, username and password, and instructions for its disposal and the recipient.
What happens to personal cyberspace pages after death?
If no instructions are left and there is no law, the distribution is left to the provider of the pages.
For example:
Facebook memorializes the account. The profile is kept on Facebook but only friends and family can look at pictures or write on the user’s Wall in remembrance. They close the account if requested by the next of kin.
Twitter helps family members recover public Tweets from the account. They will not hand over access to the account or share any non-public information related to the account to an unauthorized person.
Linkedin may memorialize an account and restrict profile access or close an account if they receive a formal request to do so.
Other posthumous options—There are online memorial sites such as Online-Legacy.com or MyWonderfulLife.com. Greatgoodbye.com sends an email, previously written by you or by your executor upon notice of a death.
“How do we avoid the headaches,” she asked. “Give those we trust our passwords, maintain your inventory or use online storage. There are password keepers such as Robo Form.com or Sticky Password. com to store your passwords. DataInherit.com, from Switzerland, is a ‘highly secure online storage for passwords and documents.’”
If there is no plan in place there are sites such as DigitalEstateServices.com or compforensics.com that help survivors get into locked computers to archive the contents and gain usernames and passwords.
Where do you put your intent?
Put your information in powers of attorney, last will and testament or revocable living trust. “There are sites that will release your digital content either due to lack of response, after the passage of time or a response from your identified digital executors. For example, DeadMansSwithch.net will release your information if you fail to respond to three emails in a row.”
There are some websites that have breaking news on the subject of protecting your digital assets such as thedigital beyond.com, yourdigital afterlife.com or @onlinememorials (twitter). “I like the book, ‘Your Digital Afterlife,’ which is kept up to date on Twitter.”
Dudek graduated from Michigan State University and Detroit College of Law. Her practice specializes in elder law, Medicaid, estate planning, probate and trust administration and disability advocacy.
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