Article on Digital Afterlife
The world is changing around us as we move into theInformation Age. Before industrialization,wealth resided in real property and tangible personalproperty, such as precious metals. In theIndustrial Age, people accumulated wealth frommanufacturing, making profits from industry,and in banking and financial systems to store wealth infinancial accounts. During the estateplanning process, people managed conventional types ofassets such as real estate, financialaccounts, financial instruments, precious metal, tangiblepersonal property and the like.
Times have changed, though. People now realize the value ofdigital assets and data. Whathappens to your digital assets and data after you die? Howare they handled if you becomedisabled during your lifetime? Our legal system is just nowbeginning to address these issues.
The Internet has created an ecosystem of online servicesallowing us to communicate, conductbusiness, hold value, share information, display photos,art, and works of authorship, andentertain ourselves. For instance, people are increasinglyusing online service providers to hostemail, such as Google Gmail. Also, people use online PayPalaccounts to store money, receivepayments from customers and relatives, and make payments tovendors. People can store andback up files using online services instead of local harddrives. Examples of these servicesinclude Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, Box, and Dropbox.Many cloud computingapplications are available to perform functions and processand store data remotely through theInternet.
In virtual worlds, people can explore synthetic 3D worlds,engage in social networking, ownvirtual real property, and enjoy virtual goods such as cars,furniture, and decorations. The Second Life® service is the leading example of a virtualworld, while in many ways the World ofWarcraft® video game is itself a virtual world. Onelandholder in the Second Life, Anshe Chung,has real estate holdings exceeding $1 million USD. Themarket for virtual goods in the U.S. hasgrown rapidly and likely exceeded $3 billion in 2012. Themarket is expected to grow briskly inlater years.
With online assets having real, or at least sentimentalvalue, individuals, estate planners, andthe legal system will need to determine what happens toonline assets upon death or disability.As a society, people are spending more time on the Internetand moving their assets online.Accordingly, estate planners will need to account for theirclients’ online assets in the estateplanning process. Moreover, the legal system will need toaddress the enforceability of estateplans specifying a disposition of online assets anddetermine what happens when people havenot specifically planned for their assets’ disposition.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.