We live in the information age and this is something to consider when you are making preparations for after you’re gone. If you are like most people, you have online accounts and you are going to have to pass along information about them to your executor or the trustee who will be administering your estate.
This includes financial services since many people do their banking and stock trading online these days. Paperless billing has also become a widespread practice. You may receive your credit card bills online with no paper record at all, and this information will be important to the individual or entity that is left behind to pay your final bills.
You may also store information online that would be invaluable to your estate administrator such as electronic copies of important documents.
There is also the matter of social networking. For example, if you have a Facebook account, you don’t want it lingering in cyberspace as though you are alive and well forever. Facebook allows people to memorialize the account of loved ones who have passed away.
If your representative lets them know that you have passed away, Facebook will no longer allow access to the account. Your status updates will be removed but existing friends and family members will be able to post on your wall, and you will no longer be recommended as a friend to others.
It is important to cover all of your electronic bases when you are planning for the future. The best way of doing so is with the assistance of a northern Kentucky estate planning lawyer who is aware of the way that people use the Internet in the 21st-century.
John’s practice focuses on the use of Wills and Living Trusts in Estate Planning to help individuals protect their families and preserve their legacies after their deaths, but his practice also focuses on the critical issues of protecting individuals with dementia or other diminished capacity, assisting individuals in qualifying for Medicaid and other government benefits to offset the costs of long-term care, and providing special needs planning.
John is admitted to practice law in North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Ohio, and he is accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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