Digital Life after Death: The Issue of Planning for a Person’s Digital Assets after Death

23 Pages Posted: 17 Apr 2011 Last revised: 27 Jul 2015

See all articles by John Connor

John Connor

Texas Tech University School of Law

Date Written: December 1, 2010

Abstract

In “Digital Life After Death: The issue of planning for a person’s digital assets after death,” author John Connor discusses the concept of a digital asset and what happens to these assets when the owner dies. First, Connor lays the foundation to define what a digital asset is and why these assets can create problems in estate planning. Next, the author examines how various social networking sites, e-mail providers, and blog hosting sites are dealing with the concept of digital assets. Connor then provides possible solutions for dealing with digital assets. These solutions include: planning for digital assets prior to death, leaving instructions (including usernames and passwords) on how to access digital assets in the event of death, setting up a trust in which the usernames and passwords can be stored and accessed by the trustee and eventual executor, and possibly providing some information about digital assets in a will. Finally, the author describes the consequences of failure to provide for your digital assets after death.

JEL Classification: K19

Suggested Citation

Connor, John, Digital Life after Death: The Issue of Planning for a Person’s Digital Assets after Death (December 1, 2010). Texas Tech Law School Research Paper No. 2011-02, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1811044 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1811044

John Connor (Contact Author)

Texas Tech University School of Law ( email )

1802 Hartford
Lubbock, TX 79409
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,328
Abstract Views
7,104
Rank
27,915
PlumX Metrics