Do Not Let Your Online Accounts Become Ghosts
When someone passes away, their digital life keeps going without them. Email accounts, photo libraries, social media profiles, subscriptions, and online banking portals become ghost accounts, still out there but locked away where their family cannot reach them.
Unlike a filing cabinet, your digital world sits behind passwords, and federal privacy law can block even a spouse from getting access. Without planning, family photos get lost, bills go unnoticed, and dormant accounts sit exposed to fraud for years.
Fixing this takes less time than you would expect.
Did You Know?
National Estate Planning Awareness Week was created by Congress in 2008 and falls during the third full week of October. It is a good annual prompt to review your plan and, just as importantly, to tell your family about it.
Create a digital inventory. List your important accounts, from email and banking to photo storage and streaming services. Keep the list and passwords somewhere secure, or use a reputable password manager, and tell your trusted decision-maker how to find it.
Use built-in legacy tools. Most major platforms let you name a legacy contact or decide what happens to an inactive account. The settings take minutes to complete.
Address digital assets in your plan. Your estate planning documents can give your executor or trustee clear authority to manage your digital property, which makes every other step easier.
A digital plan spares your family real frustration and protects photos and records that cannot be replaced. If you are not sure your current plan covers your online life, ask us to take a look. Feel free to contact us.