Friday, November 30, 2018

Prevent haggling over heirlooms to maintain family harmony

Prevent haggling over heirlooms to maintain family harmony

by Tom Alberts Nov 30, 2018

Summary: The distribution of heirlooms is a leading cause of friction within the family when a loved one passes away, experts say. Having a plan in place for the equitable disposition of personal belongings can help diminish the likelihood of disharmony during an already difficult time.

Having a comprehensive estate plan in place gives you peace of mind.

You’ve executed a last will and testament, and your trust will keep your assets out of probate. Your powers of attorney and advance health care directive will protect your interests should incapacity strike. Arrangements have been made to deal with your digital assets. What’s more, you review your legal and planning documents regularly.

So what’s left to worry about?

One issue rising to the top of the list is family members feuding over your belongings, experts say. They warn there’s a tendency of family members to lose their cool in a tug of war over all sorts of items.

“If the passing of heirlooms from one generation to the next is not handled with care, it can lead to long-lasting family disagreements. It is clearly not your intention that your children not speak because one received a valued, though maybe not valuable, picture of their grandfather while the other received a set of silver that had no emotional value to them. It comes as a surprise to many of my clients when I tell them that it is more common that the passing of their ‘things’ leads to family infighting than does the distribution of their money,” says Gabriel Katzner, an estate planning lawyer based in California and New York.

In her book “Who Gets Grandma’s Yellow Pie Plate?” professor Marlene S. Stum, an expert in family economics and gerontology, discusses many of the issues – and conflicts – that arise among families. Stum, like Katzner, warns of the difficulties heirs face when there’s no plan in place for the distribution of personal items.

“The transfer of non-titled property is an issue that impacts individuals regardless of their financial worth, heritage or cultural background. What surprises many people is that often the transfer of non-titled personal property creates more challenges among family members than the transfer of titled property. Why? Personal belongings usually have different meanings for each individual. The sentimental value or meaning attached to the personal property often may be more important than the financial or dollar value,” Stum says.

When passing along certain heirlooms, some families observe traditions. The first daughter to marry, for example, gets grandma’s wedding ring as it passes from one generation to the next. The oldest son has dibs on the grandfather clock, and so on. Perhaps they’ve had family discussions and reached a mutual understanding on how personal items will be distributed.

Other families might be inclined to follow another tradition of a free-for-all in which no plans are made ahead of time. Unless the executor of grandma’s estate changes the locks right away, the process of distributing family keepsakes can resemble an MMA cage match as relatives become rivals and skirmish over prized treasures and trinkets.

“Research has shown that disputes over inheritance and property distribution are one of the major reasons for adult siblings to break off relationships with one another,” Stum says. So, a key goal of the whole process of distributing heirlooms, regardless how it is carried out, is to maintain harmony within the family. Achieving that goal often falls on the shoulders of the estate’s executor.

“The person in charge shouldn’t allow people to start helping themselves,” Bonnie McPherson, who runs an estate sales company, told the StarTribune.comfor an article about dividing up heirlooms.

For most families, it’s unlikely their heirlooms will be revered with the same recent glory as those of the descendants of Alexander Hamiltonand have their own museum exhibit in Philadelphia. Some would-be heirs may consider the antiques, china sets and endless knickknacks as just clutter that conflicts with millennial modernism. Whatever the case, the future of your illiquid assets should be part of your comprehensive planning.

Katzner and Stum suggest some common-sense estate planning steps to prevent infighting and keep the peace during an already challenging time.

Pass on heirlooms before passing away. Katzner says the benefactor gains satisfaction during his lifetime and forms a lifelong bond with the recipients. “By gifting heirlooms during life, you can have a conversation with the recipients as to why you want them to have a specific heirloom and what you hope they will do one day with it.” Stum says that when people make distribution decisions ahead of time, it’s a big help during difficult times. “The process becomes more challenging and sensitive if family members are left to make the decisions when they are grieving over the loss of a relative, selling the home in which they grew up and/or facing the increasing dependence of an older adult.” You can list specific personal effects and mementos and their intended recipients in estate planning documents – your letter of instruction, minutes of trust and directives to a successor trustee.
Specify ahead of time who gets what – in writing. If you fail to make arrangements in your will or trust, your executor will have to serve as the referee to make sure the heirlooms are distributed equitably and to the closest relatives according to the rules of intestacy. “You will want to create a list. On this list will go a schedule of the various family heirlooms and next to each heirloom, you will indicate to whom you wish it to be given,” Katzner says. Stum also recommends preplanning. “Distribution methods that require planning prior to death include: making a gift, labeling items, making a will and preparing a list of personal property specifying the intended recipient.”
Potential heirs can ask, but it’s a sensitive subject. Stum concedes it’s a tough subject to broach and can create anxiety for all parties involved. She suggests looking for natural opportunities to initiate a discussion. “You can provide reassurances by saying something like, ‘Chances are you will be living here for a long time, but if you would have to move or if you are unable to make those decisions in the future, I would like to know what you want so your wishes can be carried out.” The best outcomes tend to occur when choices are clearly communicated and considered by the family as a group, she says.
Develop a standard of fairness. Stum suggests that fair does not always mean equal. “Some family members consider the distribution of belongings to be fair when everyone has received an equal amount. … When dealing with non-titled property, challenges quickly arise about whether equal means an equal number of items, equal dollar value, or equal in terms of emotional value. What makes dividing equally even more difficult is that the sentimental meaning or value of items will differ for each individual.”
How about an auction or lottery? Katzner says that in his experience, a successful distribution method is to auction heirlooms within the family. For example, each family member can be given a certain number of credits. “As items come up for auction, each person may bid their available credits on the item. … This process allows the heirlooms most important to each person to end up with that person.” A lottery process is another way to divvy up items with an air of fairness, Stum says. “Some individuals may feel the process used to decide the way in which transfers are done is more important than who actually gets the items.”
What if I can’t decide? Try a round-robin approach. If you’re not sure who should get what or would prefer to avoid making those decisions, you can leave instructions in your will or trust that your beneficiaries do the deciding. An example of a popular distribution option is to allow one’s heirs, typically the surviving adult children, into the house one at a time. An individual selects an item, it’s logged by the executor or successor trustee, and the next person repeats the process. Heirs then have an equal opportunity to choose items they desire, whether based on value, sentimentality or other any other reason. Once beneficiaries have determined the items they want, the remainder can be given to charity, sold in an estate sale or discarded. Your instructions can establish an order of selection, time limits and other procedures that could help minimize disputes.
Just sell everything. In some situations, family dysfunction simply may be unavoidable. Perhaps you lack confidence that your executor or successor trustee can dispose of your personal belongings without a civil war erupting. You may find that the best way to maintain harmony is to have your personal property sold via estate sale, public auction, eBay, flea market, second-hand store or other means. You can decide the method or leave it up to your representative. The financial proceeds then can revert to the estate. That way, your heirs wind up with cash instead of curios, consternation and contempt.

Do you have a comprehensive plan?

There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.

This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at www.legacyassuranceplan.com.

This article written and published by:
Legacy Assurance Plan
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Monday, November 26, 2018

You can protect departed loved ones from the greed of identity thieves

You can protect departed loved ones from the greed of identity thieves

by Tom Alberts Nov 26, 2018

Summary: Studies show that incidents of identity theft in the digital age continue to rise, and it’s a problem that plagues the deceased as well as the living. When people die, their identities easily can be exploited by impostors seeking financial gain or a new persona. However, advance planning and quick action after a person’s death can help thwart the misuse of identities of the deceased.

Thieves are plundering the good names – and homes, cars, credit and cash – of those who should be resting in peace.

The problem of identity theft persists, and the deceased are among the most vulnerable targets. That’s why experts encourage families to have a plan in place and take precautions to prevent identities of departed loved ones from being stolen.

One of the most insidious forms of the crime is known as “ghosting” in which criminals steal identities of the deceased. It’s a growing problem, especially with easy online access to government agencies, financial institutions and troves of personal information.

Media reports detail a wide array of schemes, motives and victims involving so-called ghosting. Consider a few examples that made headlines of thieves who eventually were caught:

A Chicago man used the names and Social Security numbers of dead people to file 645 fraudulent federal tax returns. He received nearly $20 million in refunds.
A New Jersey accountant misappropriated the credentials of a deceased tax preparer and filed hundreds of bogus federal tax returns. He received nearly $400,000 in refunds using stolen identities of living taxpayers.
A Cincinnati man was convicted of stealing the identities of at least five deceased children and then using their information to file fraudulent tax returns. He netted more than $40,000 in bogus refunds.
An Army staff sergeant from New York state was killed by a roadside bomb in 2009, but memberships to online dating sites in his name were active long after his death when a thief stole the Green Beret’s identity in a scheme to lure women.
An Indiana man left his family and then assumed the identity of a deceased Florida man to obtain a driver’s license and a pilot’s license, buy property and remarry, all in the name of the victim. The man even had a child who inherited the stolen surname.
For nearly 30 years, a Wisconsin man lived under the identity of a boy who died of muscular dystrophy at age 12 in 1957. The man was issued a Social Security card in the boy’s name and subsequently obtained a driver’s license, credit cards, bank accounts and eventually government benefits.
A Colorado woman, 67, stole the identity of a 2-year-old Texas girl who died in an accident in 1960. She used the child’s identity for 28 years. She used a bogus birth certificate to obtain a Social Security card, open bank accounts and created businesses in the name of her deceased victim.

How bad is the ID theft problem?

e Federal Trade Commissionreports that consumers lost $905 million in 2017 due to fraud with a median loss amount of $429. Credit card fraud was the most common type, and about 30% of consumers annually register complaints about fraud. The other most common types were employment or tax fraud; phone or utilities fraud; bank fraud; loan or lease fraud; and government documents or benefits fraud.

Meanwhile, the FTC’s top complaint in 2017 involved impostor scams in which the swindler poses as a person known and trusted by the victim. The FTC also found that those in the 60-69 age bracket – baby boomers – were the most common victims of fraud.

Data breaches are another major vulnerability that exposes the identities of both the living and the dead. An Identity Theft Resource Center study found that 14.2 million credit card accounts were exposed because of data breaches in 2017, which was a whopping increase of 88% over the previous year. Nearly 158 million Social Security numbers were exposed in 2017, the center said, eight times more than in 2016. The study, which surveyed victims, reported that 26% of them had to borrow money from family members or friends as a result of identity theft – and 7% had to take out a payday loan to deal with the situation.

We are grieving. Why the urgency?

When a person dies, it can take several months for the Social Security Administration and financial institutions to learn through legal and official notifications that an account holder has died. In the meantime, thieves exploit that window of time to pillage identities. Thieves also exploit lengthy passages of time to assume the identities of children and adults who died years ago, sometimes several decades.

“When a person is deceased, the Social Security Administration will eventually contact the credit bureaus and share that information. … Thieves won’t hesitate to take advantage of the grief family members might be going through, so the sooner you can alert the credit bureaus, the lower the risk,” Neal O’Farrell, executive director of the Identity Theft Council, told Time.com.

For the living, identity theft can be a nightmare, but they at least can take action on their own behalf. The burden to battle identity theft involving a deceased loved one usually weighs on surviving family members. They’ll have to deal with the stress and potential hassles – such as calls from debt collectors trying to track down the deceased victim – in addition to their sadness and grief.

“Just when the family is dealing with their loss, before they have even touched the probate issue, they now have to take additional steps to protect their loved ones,” writes Connecticut-based author and personal financial coach Jill Russo Foster. “How does it happen? We give our loved ones’ identities to the world on a silver platter.”

A comprehensive estate plan should include a list of all bank and credit card accounts that are to be managed by a person’s personal representative, power of attorney or successor trustee. The list will come in handy in protecting the identity of a deceased family member.

“Having an effective plan and to-do list in place could make this difficult time more emotionally manageable,” writes Texas Tech law professor Gerry W. Beyer. “Also, having a deceased loved one’s identity stolen can be a painful reminder of their absence, and a great violation to their memory, so taking steps to prevent it is important.”

To prevent the theft of a departed loved one’s identity, experts suggest that survivors:

Immediately notify the Social Security Administration. The executor of the estate will need to provide a copy of the death certificate and a letter of testamentary. A death initially can be reported by calling the SSA at 800-772-1213.
Be discreet with obituaries. One main source of information used for nefarious conduct is the traditional obituary. Obituaries, laden with biographical details, are published in newspapers and on websites and are an easily accessible resource for those with ill intentions. Exact birth dates, middle and maiden names and places of employment are among the most valuable bits of specific personal information. Also, when addresses are published, it can be an invitation for a burglary during funeral services.
Notify existing creditors. A decedent’s representative needs to provide the account holder’s banks, credit card companies, insurance issuers, brokerages and related creditors and institutions with a copy of the death certificate and request accounts be marked “Closed: Account Holder Deceased.”
Advise the DMV. Identity thieves often seek to have driver’s licenses issued in the names of the deceased, so the local Department of Motor Vehicles also needs notification and proof of death.
Contact the credit reporting agencies. To thwart new accounts being created or credit issued in the name of a deceased person, the three major agencies – Experian, TransUnion and Equifax – also must be mailed a copy of the death certificate so the person’s credit can be frozen. When a deceased alert is placed on the credit report, new credit cannot be issued.
Prevent tax fraud. Notifying the Internal Revenue Service of a taxpayer’s passing can help frustrate the filing of a bogus tax return.
Deny digital access. Social media and email accounts of the deceased should be closed or memorialized to prevent unauthorized access by impostors. Information and instructions about digital assets should be included as part of a comprehensive estate plan.

Do you have an estate plan?

Thursday, November 22, 2018

For Thanksgiving, serve up some talk about life and estate planning

by Tom Alberts Nov 22, 2018

Summary: When the family gets together for Thanksgiving, it’s an ideal time to catch up on the past year and look forward to the future. Some topics of conversation are more palatable than others, but when families discuss issues related to life and estate planning, they can make significant progress toward protecting their interests and the legacies they leave behind.

Every year on the fourth Thursday in November, far-flung relatives trek home for an annual feast and a long weekend with family.

Americans look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with overloaded plates, a full day of football and a good long nap. They travel far and wide to endure countless hours surrounded by chatty and opinionated family members, which is why politics and religion are wisely kept off the discussion menu.

Topics like favorite movies and Black Friday sales are safer territory and can prevent food fights. But another way to maintain family harmony in the present and for gatherings and generations to come is by engaging in meaningful conversations about life and estate planning.

Some candid conversations among family members can help keep future misunderstandings and surprises to a minimum and reduce the potential for friction among heirs. Even though discussions about serious matters involving life and death are delicate and can be met with resistance, talking in advance about family values, shared goals and planning objectives is easier than during a period of stress and sadness.

Thanksgiving is a holiday about family, tradition and reflection. A big part of Thanksgiving is simply catching up on what has happened over the past year and sharing our appreciation for the good things in life. Family gatherings are a unique opportunity to assess priorities and make or update plans that protect the interests and legacies of you and your loved ones. If it’s possible to broach the big topics – like planning for incapacity, guardianship, long-term care, burial wishes, avoiding probate and other matters – you’ll be a step closer to being prepared for some of life’s most challenging issues. They are serious and sometimes contentious matters, but at some point, they will need to be addressed. Thanksgiving provides a unique opportunity to have those conversations.

Your family is likely to resist having these discussions, since, for many of us, talking about debilitating diseases, nursing homes and what happens if we become incapacitated or when we pass away is awkward, but those dreaded discussions don’t get any easier when it’s too late to deal with life events after they’ve happened. Remember, a family’s time together should be a positive experience, and useful discourse doesn’t need to devolve into inquisitions about who gets granny’s grandfather clock or Aunt Edna’s antique armoire. Legal documents can come later, but simple communication is needed to start the process and can include discussing the family’s shared interests and values.

If there were any changes in the family tree over the past year, that’s a good place to begin. It’s never too early, for example, to envision a bright future for a baby making a Thanksgiving debut. Have the parents created or updated their wills and nominated a guardian for their minor children should the unthinkable happen? If there is a child with special needs, is there a plan in place to deal with long-term obligations? Does the grandparents' planning include the recent addition?

Besides the addition of bundles of joy, there are a multitude of other life-altering events that may have taken place over the past year. Marriages, divorces, separations, deaths and other circumstances mean that existing planning documents require review and possible modification, and life’s changes can create unanswered questions. Should an alternative guardian be nominated for a new child? Should a new in-law be added as a beneficiary? Do planning documents like wills and trusts need to be changed because of a divorce, separation, death in the family or other circumstances?

Legacies fail when plans are not made, when plans are made but remain secret and when outdated plans are not reviewed and update. Most of all, plans fail when those we leave behind don’t understand them. For the more senior members of the family, Thanksgiving also provides a unique opportunity to talk about what decisions they have made, their goals and their values. If you have a plan, discussing it, and the choices you made, while the family is together may avoid future hard feelings and arguments. You are the best person to explain your plan so that your family understands and accepts your choices.

It’s a far-fetched goal to expect everyone in the dining room to experience an estate and life planning epiphany. But if your goal is to get the rest of your family talking and thinking about the subject, you’ve already made significant progress – and perhaps preserved family harmony for many Thanksgiving dinners to come.

Do you have a plan?

Friday, November 16, 2018

Pursuing the American dream means having a comprehensive plan and sleeping easy at night

by Tom Alberts Nov 16, 2018

Summary: A Pennsylvania couple shares how their Legacy Assurance Plan membership has given them peace of mind that their financial interests and legacies are protected.

Legacy Assurance Plan member Miguel S. says that, in retrospect, he appreciates the persistence of his wife.

Over the years, Margaret, 60, had been politely nudging Miguel, 67, about taking care of something that most Americans prefer to put off – getting their estate plans in order.

“She was always telling me, ‘We have to do our wills.’ And I kept forgetting about it,” says Miguel, speaking with an infectious chuckle and a slight accent that reflects his rich Latin heritage.

The rural Pennsylvania couple has worked hard to pursue the American dream, Miguel explained during a recent interview about his experience as a Legacy Plan member. He says their membership has enabled them to create a comprehensive estate plan and take action to protect their assets and the legacy they’ll leave behind for their twin sons, now age 24. One of their sons serves in the Army, and the other lives nearby, working as a mechanical engineer.

As baby boomers, Miguel and Margaret realized they weren’t getting any younger. The occasional hospital visit provided more reminders about the need to plan ahead each time the admissions attendant would inquire about living wills, he says.

“But I never paid any attention to it because I was immortal,” says Miguel, a retired engineer who remains busy with a part-time job as an interpreter.

These days, Miguel also is active with the local Rotary Club and volunteers as an Extension educator, imparting knowledge to the younger generation. He receives Social Security income and a regular distribution from an annuity. Margaret teaches Spanish at a local high school and hopes to retire in a few years. They met after Miguel moved here to escape the political turmoil and uncertainty of his native Venezuela.

They’ve been dedicated in their long pursuit to own their own home, raise their children and build a nest egg to provide for their retirement. When they learned of Legacy Plan and received an invitation to receive more information about planning for the future, they decided to take advantage of the no-obligation opportunity.

“Being here and not having an extended family and stuff, you think more about yourself and more about who is going to take care of you and what can happen to you at a later date,” he says. “If you subtract that worrying time from your daily life, you have more time to think about more creative stuff and more enjoyment.”

Before working with Legacy Plan recently, Miguel and Margaret were like the estimated 60 percent of their fellow Americans who have failed to create planning documents. Prior to their membership, they had no last will and testament, revocable living trust, powers of attorney for health care and finances or advance health care directive (living will).

For Miguel and Margaret, part of the American dream is being able to sleep easy at night. He said they take comfort in knowing their estates will avoid probate and benefit their sons when that eventuality comes.

“My wife was very afraid of it,” Miguel said of the probate process, which involves delays and additional expenses that burden survivors. Probate’s lack of privacy was another factor that motivated them to develop a comprehensive estate plan.

They created a revocable living trust and beneficiary designations to enable their retirement savings, bank accounts, the family home, insurance proceeds and other assets to skip probate and pass directly to their beneficiaries. Today, those important legal documents comprise their estate planning binder.

Miguel said that in his experience as a Legacy Plan member, he has learned that planning is much more than distributing assets when the time comes. He now realizes that comprehensive planning deals not only with our estates after death, but also our preferences on how to handle challenges we confront during our lifetimes.

He was reminded recently by a co-worker about the perils of failing to plan for life events. The co-worker’s mother is confined to a nursing home and was forced to sell her home and devote her Social Security income to pay for the costs of her long-term care. Miguel’s colleague is only able to provide clothing and incidentals to help her mom get by.

According to recent estimates, the current cost of long-term care averages about $7,000 per month. It was a key reason Miguel and Margaret opted to invest in long-term care insurance.

“And then I think about myself,” Miguel said. “Would that happen to me?”

That nagging question helped motivate them to create a plan that deals not only with their estate but also addresses life’s contingencies, such as incapacity. It’s reassuring, he says, knowing that the agents under his powers of attorney are trusted people of his choosing who will manage his health care and finances if the need ever arises.

“Someone is going to make a decision for me when I am not around about my assets,” he says with confidence.

Miguel says he now encourages others to consider developing their own plans and take advantage of the free information that Legacy Plan makes available.

“In my case, the trust and the plan that I did with you guys protects me,” he said. “It was something we considered, and it was a good investment in terms of peace of mind. It gets us a lot of uncertainty eliminated from our lives. Now we know what’s going to happen, and we don’t have to worry. It makes your life more settled.”

He says he appreciates the customer service he has received from the Legacy Plan staff. “Every one of you have been nice, knowledgeable, serious people.”

Miguel also likes the idea that his Legacy Plan membership enables him to review and update his plan regularly.

That’s especially important, he says with a hopeful chuckle, if grandchildren are in the future.

Do you have a plan in place?

Monday, November 12, 2018

Include dealing with your social media afterlife among planning responsibilities

by Tom Alberts Nov 12, 2018

Life these days extends beyond the physical world with increasing numbers of people maintaining a digital existence on social media platforms and other online venues. Those who “live” in the digital world need to take into consideration the continuation or termination of their web-based presence upon incapacity or death. A key step is to develop an inventory of your digital assets and online accounts and provide instructions on how they should be handled for you by an authorized representative.

Like it or not, social media platforms dominate how we communicate with friends and family and have a say on the topics of the day.

These popular and pervasive platforms feed us endless streams of posts, links, commentary and click bait. In return, we contribute to the collective deluge by adding to our incremental “stories” on the popular apps that we rely upon to connect with billions of fellow users anywhere, anytime. With Facebook leading the way, digital venues over the past few decades have replaced water coolers as the preferred place for sharing gossip, reviewing “Dancing with the Stars,” showing off the grandkids, blowing off steam and curating cat videos.

In the digital age, we live online. If you don’t, according to recent statistics, you are in a shrinking minority. Treasure troves of details about our lives, preferences, peeves and opinions live in cyberspace. Our data will survive long after we do and reside (some say forever) in stacks of servers and information-soaked clouds. Our texts, tweets, photos, videos, emails, likes, favorites, instant messages and other elements of our online existence can continue to speak for us long after we are silent.

Year after year, the popularity of social media continues its steady rise. The percentage of adults using at least one social media site reached the 50% mark in 2011 and has steadily increased ever since, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center study.

Baby boomers make up a big chunk of the social media crowd. As of 2018, 64 percent of adults in the 50-64 age bracket used at least one social media site, and 37% of those 65 and older had gotten into the act. Leading the pack, of course, are young adults with 88% of the 18-29 cohort immersed in social media.

Older adults also are keeping up with technology. “Boomers are now far more likely to own a smartphone than they were in 2011 (67% now versus 25% then). Further, roughly half (52%) of boomers now say they own a tablet computer, and a majority (57%) now use social media,” Pew reported in May 2018.

Surveys show that Facebook remains the most popular social media site with 68% of U.S. adults using the platform. The other most popular social media platforms were Instagram (35%), Pinterest (29%), Snapchat (27%), LinkedIn (25%), Twitter (24%) and WhatsApp (22%).

“Currently, the generations most affected by digital asset transference are baby boomers and their heirs who are most likely to be passing without any provisions or instructions for transferring their online assets,” says attorney Laura McCarthy in an article published by Boston University.

As of 2016, there were 74 million baby boomers (born 1946 to 1964) living in the United States, according to Census estimates.

The numbers leave no doubt that our digital dealings are woven into the fabric of our lives. While we may ponder our own spiritual fate, it’s also worth considering the afterlife of our online existence upon one’s incapacity or death.

Do you have a plan for digital assets?

Control of your digital assets, just like all your other assets, should be part of both incapacity and postmortem planning, advises George Washington University law professor Naomi Cahn.

“Planning for digital assets requires contemplating mortality — just like drafting a trust, writing a will or executing an advance directive,” Cahn writes.

You may want your Facebook page to remain online as a “memorialized” presence, or your preference may be to have it permanently deleted. Perhaps you want to download your content from the site. Account owners should consider their various options while they are alive and well. Facebook also allows those with an eye on planning to appoint a “legacy contact” ahead of time who can manage the account in the event of incapacity or death. Instagram, Facebook’s sister social media behemoth, allows accounts to be removed or memorialized with a big difference – the decision is out of the hands of the account owner, according to thedigitalbeyond.com. Instagram requires memorialization or deletion to be initiated by an authorized representative. Twitter has even stricter controls over the postmortem fate of its accounts, and rules vary among the other popular platforms.

Many of the instructions on how you wish your digital assets and online accounts to be handled can be contained in your planning documents. In your will, trust and power of attorney, you can authorize your executor, trustee or agent to follow your specific instructions regarding your digital legacy. The person in charge of your digital assets can act on your behalf to manage and maintain or close and dispose of your email and social media accounts based on your preferences.

There are a wide variety of digital assets beyond the social media realm, and many involve financial interests. Planning experts suggest creating an inventory of all your digital assets with the relevant user names, passwords and security questions as part of the instructions you pass along. The inventory may include online accounts for checking, savings, credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, cloud storage, music services and others. Don’t forget accounts for utilities, such as the cable or electric bill, and online retailers like Amazon, Wayfair and Overstock or membership clubs for meals, wine and other goods and services. Keeping a detailed inventory that lists all passwords and privacy protections does present a security concern, so precautions such as encryption and secure physical storage of the list are advised.

The transferability of control over online accounts is typically addressed by the service provider’s terms of use in one of three ways: it’s prohibited; it’s allowed at the provider’s discretion; or it’s allowed at death with required documentation as proof. Don’t count on providers to automatically disclose user names and passwords upon an account holder’s death to surviving family members or legal representatives of the estate, since most will refuse.

As of 2018, 41 states had enacted the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, according to the Uniform Law Commission. As the name implies, states have enacted the act to extend “the traditional power of a fiduciary to manage tangible property to include management of a person’s digital assets.”

FADA automatically gives fiduciaries – your executor, trustee or power of attorney – the authority to manage computer files, web domains and virtual currency. However, FADA requires authorized proxies receive consent in a will, trust or power of attorney documents to access and manage social media accounts – one’s living embodiment online – as well as email accounts and text messages.

Can my ‘friends’ still ‘like’ me?

You can think of the instructions you leave behind as another type of will to add to the list of required planning documents. There’s the traditional last will and testament – a cornerstone of estate planning and a document that 60 percent of Americans lack, according to a Caring.com survey. Another is the living will, also called an advance directive for health care, that states your wishes for end-of-life treatment.

The Information Age has initiated another informal type of planning document – dubbed by some as a “social media will.”

The government-sponsored website USA.gov encourages the creation of a social media will that addresses the future of your post-life online existence. The first suggested step is to create a statement that details for your executor, trustee or agent what you want done for each account.

USA.gov suggests that those with social media accounts take the following steps:

Review privacy policies and terms and conditions of the social media platforms in which you are engaged.
Create instructions on how your profiles will be handled when you no longer can manage them.
Provide the person serving as the executor of your digital assets with a document listing the websites where you have a
presence and include user names, passwords and security questions.
Require in your will that the executor of your digital assets be provided with a copy of your death certificate, which may be
needed for the executor to act on your behalf.
Determine if social media platforms allow for proactive management of your accounts in the event of your incapacity or death.

Facebook and Google are among the websites that allow the designation of a legacy contact who can manage digital accounts of he departed. The assignment of a digital assets proxy is a task that needs to be done while the account holder is alive. Meanwhile, there are other popular social media sites that do not allow legacy contacts. Among them are Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat.

For some sites, if accounts are dormant for a specified period, they may be closed due to inactivity. For those without a plan for their social media accounts, family members may be burdened with providing proof of the death and requesting that accounts be memorialized or deactivated by the host.

Your options for dealing with your digital afterlife depend on several factors, according to Singularityhub.com, a website that chronicles technological progress. “Companies like Google and Facebook have processes to let you choose who should take control of your accounts in the event of your death,” the website says. “But if you’ve forgotten to do that, the fate of your virtual remains comes down to a tangle of federal law, local law and tech company terms of service.”

Do you have an estate plan?

There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for
generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.