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A digital Will tells your executor what to do with your online assets when you die. It’s a document that focuses on what you would like to have said and done with your online memberships and accounts.
A digital Will isn’t as crucial as a Last Will And Testament in many ways but given that most of us spend a great deal of time in the digital ecosystem and have a strong online presence (even stronger perhaps than we’re always aware), we think it’s extremely wise to have instructions in place on what to do in the event of your death. Without such details, your loved ones may have a very hard time indeed managing and wrapping up certain of your affairs.
Your online presence includes not only your social media and gaming accounts but also your email boxes and any subscriptions, cryptocurrency and shopping accounts.
A digital will generally include your login details and instructions for the following:
Generally speaking, a digital will starts with you providing the usernames and passwords necessary to log into your various digital devices. These might include a smartphone, desktop computer, laptop, tablet and external hard drive. Without these, your executor won’t be able to enact any of your subsequent wishes.
This is also a very important section of the digital will, as most online accounts use emails for certain activities such as billing and verification purposes. In this section of the will you provide the following information for each email account:
A common instruction includes sending an email to all contacts notifying them of your passing and the upcoming closure of the email account.
For your social media accounts such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp, you provide the following information:
Your instructions might well include posting a certain message (and perhaps some other sort of media, such as a photo or video) on your behalf. We provide space for you to create separate instructions for each social media platform.
It’s also up to you if you would like the account shut down, or kept open. Really, the ball is in your court in terms of the instructions you give with regards to each account. That said, an executor won’t of course maintain a social media account for you – such wishes will be passed on to the specified person (like a spouse, sibling or child).
For online shopping accounts, you provide the following information:
If you’re an online gamer, you should provide the following information:
We provide space for you to create separate instructions for each game.
For a monthly subscription you provide the following information:
All of those precious photos and videos that you’ve collected over the years and stored in the cloud – it’s doubtless important to you to ensure your loved ones will have access to these upon your passing.
For cloud-storage accounts such as DropBox, MS SkyDrove and Google Drive, you provide the following information:
While a Google Drive, for instance, is likely linked to your Gmail address, and so your executor will have access through the email login details provided, it’s important to give specific instructions for this as well.
If you’ve created any websites of your own, whether for business or as a hobby, it’s very important to leave access details and instructions on what you want to be done here.
Creating a digital will can be a positive experience
Thinking about your digital will doesn’t need to be a drawn-out process. It also doesn’t have to be a morbid experience. The Western world isn’t very practised or comfortable when it comes to talking about death. But there are some cultures where talking about death is actually commonplace, and even encouraged. In Bhutanese culture, for instance, you’re actually taught to think about death five times a day. The reason for this is that it helps to bring much-needed perspective to everyday life.
We encourage you to see the process of creating a digital will as a positive exercise that can offer you valuable insights into who you are, who you want to be, how you want to be remembered, and what sort of legacy you’d like to leave behind.
As always, we’re more than happy to chat and guide you through this process. We understand that it can be an emotional exercise to think about your passing, but again, we believe that you may well find writing a digital will to be rewarding and more importantly, you will be able to rest assured that your online presence will be managed carefully and according to your wishes when the times comes.
You can purchase your Digital Will template in our resource library here: Digital Will Template.
Established In 2020, ‘Marsh Fidelity’’ exists to create an enduring difference. We are passionate about helping families navigate through difficult times in their lives, when they are vulnerable and in need. We want to be your guiding light and give you peace of mind.