Last week, I wrote about how your digital assets are more than just social media. This week is all about dealing with those assets after you die.
In the old days before the internet, finding a person’s assets was not so difficult. If you were the executor, you would go through their papers, and maybe have their mail redirected to you for a few months after death so that you could see what bills or statements came in the mail. You would then liquidate the accounts and pay the bills, and give the remaining money to the beneficiaries.
These days, it’s a bit harder. Think about yourself: do you get any bills in the mail anymore? Do you get bank or investment statements in the mail? Personally, everything I can get by email, I do, so when the time comes, my husband will need access to my online life in order to take care of everything.
If you live any part of your life online, you should consider leaving a list of accounts with usernames in a secure, offline location (such as a file cabinet or flash drive) so that your executor can find you when the time comes.
