Whatever your desire, it is important to discuss the matter with a qualified estate planning attorney before making any decisions. You can give your executor the power to access and dispose of these accounts, or you can name a separate individual as a “digital executor” to serve that purpose. In fact, because wills are made public when admitted to probate, putting that information in your will means that your financial or social media accounts could be at risk when your estate enters probate.Ī better practice to create a digital estate plan could be to list the information in a separate document but refer to it in your Will. You should take steps to ensure that your fiduciaries or family members can access your online accounts for various reasons, including, but not limited to accessing online bank and brokerage accounts, ensuring bills are paid and all subscriptions are canceled, preserving photos and memories, and deleting private data.ĭigital estate planning is not as simple as including screen names and passwords in your will. Although the Trust does not take immediate control of the asset, the Trust will take immediate control of the asset at the moment of the Grantor’s death. Examples of when the Trust is named beneficiary is when the asset is life insurance or retirement accounts. The second way of “funding” a trust is to name the Trust as a beneficiary of the asset. Typically, people transfer ownership of their brokerage accounts, CD’s, checking/savings, mutual funds, and real property, into their revocable trusts. The first way is to obtain change of ownership forms and transfer the asset into the name of the Trust. There are two basic ways to fund a Trust. If you do not fund your Trust, then you will not avoid probate. Some people create trusts strictly as a probate avoidance vehicle.
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