We live in times where having digital assets is not uncommon. What are digital assets? Digital assets are items such as social media accounts, like Facebook, Instagram, or Photobucket, or items such as emails, photographs, or online bank accounts. All in all, a digital asset is an online account or digitally stored content owned by an individual.
Generally speaking, it can be very difficult to gain access to these assets. Gaining access to close these accounts can be a difficult and trying process. Common issues occur when the service providers have privacy guidelines that need to be followed and there are family members going through the grieving process who simply want these accounts closed.
A common digital asset that many people own is a Facebook account. On Thursday February 12, 2015, an article written by Geoffrey A. Fowler was posted online for The Wall Street Journal. While very informative, the article goes into detail about creating a “legacy contact” for your Facebook account while you’re alive. As previously mentioned, many people do not realize how difficult it is to obtain access to an online account. In the past, Facebook would “freeze” a decedent’s account and keeps all information posted as it was. With a legacy contact in place, your account can be accessed after death and turned into a “kind of digital gravestone”. Posts can be made, new friends can be added, profile photos can be updated, or they can delete the account all together. This is a new update that can be accessed by going to “Settings”, choosing “Security”, and then “Legacy Contact.”
