In most cases, people unwittingly exclude many types of assets when creating an estate plan in Ohio. Modern technology has given rise to less physical assets that are important, valuable, and often overlooked. A few examples of these overlooked assets that people often do not think about when constructing an estate plan include:
cryptocurrency, future inheritances, potential judgments or settlements from lawsuits, images, and social media websites. Today’s new estate plans now should include digital assets.
The innovation of social media pages, cloud storage, and other digital assets has moved a decent amount of the estate planning administration process from paper documents to electronic files. A notable number of people now use the Web to handle financial transactions, intellectual property interests, and investment accounts. Digital Assets may also include irreplaceable photos, digital currency, development plans, creative works, and much more. These digital assets are an essential part of constructing an effective estate plan.
Since the world is becoming more of a paperless society in terms of financial records and transactions, access to online bank accounts and websites, including email accounts, pension accounts, real estate accounts, or 401K accounts, is essential to managing an Ohio estate plan. Without the appropriate digital asset management, letters, photos, and documents with sentimental value could be lost forever. Also, an increasing number of people save photographs on photo websites like Shutterfly or Flickr. Proper digital asset estate planning involves making sure someone is designated to access accounts and protects these treasured records. When an individual’s estate plan shows a decedent’s intentions regarding access to these items stored on cloud locations or related websites, the materials will be available for subsequent generations.
If you have questions about estate planning and the succession of digital assets, we welcome the opportunity to talk to you and answer your questions. We invite you to call Dawes Legal, LLC at 614-733-9999 or submit an inquiry form through this website to schedule your initial consultation.