The WSJ Keeps the Digital Estate Bandwagon Rolling Along

Every day we’re seeing more and more stories addressing what happens to your iTunes account, Twitter, Facebook and every other aspect of your digital estate when you die. And this is a great thing! The Wall Street Journal, which has covered this topic before, once again tackles this important issue with the recent story “Make Sure You Know Who Will Inherit Your Twitter Account.”

The WSJ also provides a nifty chart outlining the five states with digital estate laws (Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island,) and the 12 states with proposed legislation (Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia).

Other Worthy Tidbits From The Story

• The most important thing, estate attorneys say, is to establish procedures for protecting and granting access to passwords and for transferring assets and account ownership.
• By placing the license and necessary passwords in a trust, access to such accounts can be preserved.
• Estate advisers caution against listing digital assets and passwords in a Will because the Will can become public. Such information instead should go into a separate letter.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

Ask yourself: What do you want to happen to all your online accounts when you’re gone? Check out our Digital Estate World to get started.