I have written a lot about digital assets. Most people don’t think much of them, as they aren’t too concerned with what would happen to their email or social media accounts after their deaths. Leaving aside the question of your deceased parent popping up in your newsfeed on Facebook, there are some digital assets that are actually monetarily valuable. Often, there is money in eBay and PayPal accounts, and you can’t get at this without access, and preferably also authorization within your will. Even more significantly, financially, there is often a lot of money in online gaming and gambling accounts.
If you have money online, it is extremely difficult for anyone else to get at it. This is good, most of the time, as you don’t want anyone else to have access to it. After you are gone, however, it is nearly impossible for your heirs to get money that is rightfully theirs without some thought having been paid to it before you died. If you have money online, you should have a clear direction in your will to allow your executor to access it so that it can be paid to your beneficiaries.
