- Take inventory of your digital assets.
Once you know what you have, you’ll be able to plan what happens to it and who will manage it. Think of big categories: your personal files – including cloud or local storage of your photos, videos and documents – as well as email, social-media and financial accounts. - Add a digital executor to your will.
Name a person to receive permission to access your digital files and online accounts when you die. In some states, your existing executor may automatically get this ability but making it explicit will make sure that they can. It’s worth asking your attorney to specify someone, especially if the job would be better handled by somebody other than your executor. - Add digital heirs to your accounts.
Some tech companies allow you to assign someone to take some actions directly through the account. On Facebook, add a legacy contact who will have the power to memorialize or delete the account. On Google, add an Inactive Account Manager, who can download data. - Take an inventory.
What do you want to make sure others have access to? Cloud accounts? Email? Twitter? PayPal? Multifactor codes? It will be hard to figure out how someone can take care of your digital assets if you don’t know what they are. - Plan for passing on your passwords.
Maybe set up a password manager. Many let you set up an emergency contact who gets access after a waiting period. There are some specialty services that can handle this, too. And make sure you include access to any multifactor authentication apps or code generators. If you keep all your passwords written down somewhere, make sure that your executor know where to find them. - Consider making a “final post.”
Yes, it can be a video where you say the classic movie line, “If you’re seeing this, I’m dead.” Or it could just be a final Facebook post. It’s your call. But these could be your real last words. Store the files someplace safe but accessible.
Joanna Stern, Wall Street Journal, December 18, 2020
https://techrepublic.com/article/top-5-things-to-do-before-you-die