Weston: Who gets digital assets upon death?

Start with a list of your devices — smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers — and their passwords, along with passwords to any important apps. Then inventory the other electronic records you use, own or control. Here are some categories to consider, along with some examples:

• Email accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, work email)

• Social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram)

• Storage and file sharing (Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive)

• Rewards (travel rewards, credit card points, loyalty programs)

• Shopping services (Amazon)

• Gaming accounts (Xbox)

• Video services (Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, SlingTV)

• Music services (Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora)

• Books (Kindle, Audible)

• Photo sharing and storage (Shutterfly, Flickr, SmugMug)

• Online dating accounts (Match,Tinder, eHarmony)

Decide who gets what

Some assets can’t be passed down. When you buy a book or song online, for example, you’re only buying a license that expires when you do, says Ray Radigan, head of private trust at TD Bank in New York. One workaround is to set up a family account that allows you to share your digital bounty now and after you die.

Many travel providers also insist in their “terms and conditions” that rewards aren’t your property, but their actual policies vary. Many airlines, for example, will transfer frequent flyer miles to the appropriate heirs, says Karin Prangley, senior vice president at financial services firm Brown Brothers Harriman in Chicago.

Some companies, including Google and Facebook, allow you to designate someone to handle your account when you die. Others simply close or deactivate accounts when they learn of a death.

Once you decide what you want to happen with each type of account or digital asset, write down your wishes. You can leave these instructions and the relevant login credentials in a letter, stored with your other estate planning documents, which can be given to the person you want to carry out those wishes: your digital executor.

Appoint your ‘digital executor’

Your digital executor could be the same trusted person who settles the rest of your estate, or you might want to choose someone who is more tech-savvy. Talk to the person first to ensure they’re willing and then let them know how to access the documents they’ll need, says Jason Largey, senior estate planning strategist at Personal Capital in Denver.

Your digital executor should be named in your will or living trust, estate planning experts say.

Your digital assets, and how you access them, are likely to change even faster than your financial and physical property, Prangley says. She makes it a point to review and update her digital estate plan annually, at the same time she’s updating her passwords.