The Idaho Legislature passed a new law to allow certain individuals, called “fiduciaries”, access to the “digital assets” of a person. The law allows the digital asset account holder to specify whether such assets should be preserved beyond death, distributed to heirs or destroyed.
“Digital assets” include facebook, e-mails and lots of other electronic files and communications.
The individuals (fiduciaries) who may be able to access the digital assets include an agent under a power of attorney, a court appointed personal representative or a court appointed conservator and a trustee.
The user (digital account holder) may “allow or prohibit in a Will, Trust, Power of Attorney or other record, the disclosure to a fiduciary of some or all of the user’s digital assets, including the content of electronic communications sent or received by the user”, if that person has not used an online tool to give direction.
The law provides specific steps to take to access the digital assets.
This law is officially titled “Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access To Digital Assets Act” [Idaho Code Section 15-14-101 through 15-14-119]. This law went into effect on July 1, 2016.
What does this mean for estate planning? You may want to update your Power of Attorney, Will and Trust to give people you choose the right to access your digital assets, now that there is a law to help enforce this right.
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Free public seminar – Thursday, August 4, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
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