Comment Magazine Issue 5

A digital legacy
Billions of people around the world use the web every day. It has made our
lives more connected and often easier. Whether ordering the weekly shop,
a new outfit, updating our social media profiles, or simply downloading music,
a book or a film, we leave a clear digital footprint.
But what happens to that footprint and the digital assets we own when we die?
Sally Pike, Head of Family Law, Disputed Wills & Inheritance explains.
Our digital lives fall broadly into
three categories. Firstly, there is
our personal material; this may
include, for example, social media
accounts, photographs and video,
and blogs. Whilst these may have
sentimental value, they tend to have
little financial value. The second is
financial information – not assets in
themselves, but information that may
lead us to our online banking, PayPal
or eBay and shopping accounts. The
final category is our digital assets –
books, online games, films and music
downloads.
All three areas can leave significant
challenges to family and the executors of
a Will should you die.
Many people would be forgiven for
wondering where the problem lies. The
law surrounding inheritance both where
a Will exists and where one is absent is
clear and established. Executors and
next of kin, usually with help from their
solicitor, will gather the assets of the
deceased, settle any liabilities, pay any
inheritance tax where due, and then
distribute the assets. Why should digital
assets be any different?
There are three problems: access,
location and valuation.
A significant problem lies in that most
internet or digital service providers regard
their offer as a lifetime service, meaning
you don’t actually own those assets.
Instead, when you download a book from
Amazon or a film from Apple, you are
buying a license to use those assets for the
rest of your life with that license expiring
with you. It is a common contractual
term that when an account becomes
permanently inactive it is deleted.
This often surprises individuals who
mistakenly believe they own that film
or book, much in the same way they
would if they were to buy a physical
copy. The terms and conditions – which
all too often are skipped to the click ‘I
agree’ – will set out clearly what happens
to purchases when a subscriber passes
away.
Where assets, or information that will
lead to those assets does not exist, it can
be very difficult for executors or next
of kin to physically locate them, and if
they do, to actually access them. This
can be particularly distressing to family
and friends if treasured photographs, for
example, face being lost permanently.
In 2014, the Law Society began
to encourage people to leave clear
instructions on what digital assets
and services they use and what they
would like to happen to them. This is
particularly important if an individual
is holding cash online –commonly on
shopping sites.
Whilst it is sensible to include
usernames and passwords with this
information, be sure to leave them only
with trusted individuals, for example, your
solicitor or executor. It is also worth noting
that following recent significant cyber
attacks, users are now encouraged to
regularly change passwords, making it yet
again harder to access information.
Like Facebook, Instagram can
‘memorialise’ an account when a user
dies. The account will remain open,
with friends and family able to share
pictures and video. Memorialised
accounts do not appear, however,
in searches or in public spaces on
the platform.
22