This is how you manage your digital estate

After a person dies, loved ones have a lot to take care of. The digital estate is one of them. So determine in good time how you want your accounts and data to proceed after your death.

Status: November 16, 2021

Every few minutes in Germany a Facebook user dies without having decided what to do with the content, likes and photos posted. Others keep commenting and sharing the content because they don't know the person has passed away. Messenger receive messages, online shops carry out subscription deliveries, and electricity and telephone bills end up in e-mails, inaccessible to the bereaved. What happens then?

Digital inheritance - that must be done
Take care of your digital estate in good time and take enough time to implement all the important points and not forget anything. The easier it will be for your relatives later.

1. Make a list of your digital estate. Gather the passwords for your various email accounts, user accounts, online subscriptions and contracts. For each ministry and contract, decide what to do with it after you die. Always keep this overview up-to-date and store the list in a safe place, for example on an encrypted USB stick or in a safe deposit box. A password manager can help you keep track of the various passwords.
2. Think about your devices too. Everyone usually has several digital devices, which in the best case are secured with passwords and on which personal data is also stored. Your heirs should also have access to these, because certain programs are only used on the move and therefore the heirs can only initiate a deletion via the mobile device, for example. Not only smartphones and tablets, also fitness trackers usually save your data!
3. Clean up. Take a close look at your digital data and clean it up. You can confidently delete or dissolve files and accounts that you have not needed for a long time.
4. Take precautions. If possible, regulate online in advance who will have access to your data and what will happen to it after your death. You should make the appropriate settings, especially for social networks. On Facebook, for example, you can determine whether your profile should be deleted after your death.
5. Determine who should take care of your digital estate. Decide who will take care of your digital legacy in the event of your death. They should also know where to find the list for your digital estate.
6. Create a power of attorney. With the help of a power of attorney, your confidant has access to your data and can manage them on your behalf. It should be available to whom you grant which permissions for what and what should happen to your data.
   Write the power of attorney by hand. The document must be dated and signed by you. Make sure that the power of attorney is valid “beyond death”. If you want to be on the safe side, have the letter certified by a notary's office.
7. Hand over the power of attorney to your confidant. Give the person you trust the original of your power of attorney and inform your relatives that you have managed your digital estate in this way.
8. Do not pass on access data or end devices to companies. Companies also offer to manage their digital estate. However, it is difficult to assess how reliable these services are. Therefore, do not submit any personal data to such companies.

GOOD TO KNOW
Digitally concluded contracts with all rights and obligations are transferred to the heir. That means: Your heirs must also be responsible for possible costs. You should therefore ensure that your confidant can terminate current contracts. This applies, for example, to streaming subscriptions, premium memberships or dating agencies.

Digital inheritance - that's what it means
Two types of data can be summarized under the term digital inheritance - on the one hand, ongoing contracts that are managed online and, on the other hand, data actually left behind that can be assigned to you as a person. The list of your digital estate should include information about the following services and contracts:

• E-mail services (Googlemail, T-Online etc.)
• Social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Co)
• Messenger (WhatsApp, Skype etc.)
• Cloud services (Dropbox, Google Drive etc.)
• Shopping accounts (Amazon, Zalando, etc.)
• Streaming subscriptions (Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime etc.)

www.vzhh.de/themen/gesundheit-patientenschutz/patientenverfuegung-vorsorge/so-regeln-sie-ihren-digitalen-nachlass?pk_campaign=newsletter&pk_kwd=11-digitaler-nachlass

 

When I'm gone only meaningless avatars will remain ...

 

I gave my son a database with all my pass, so he could do what have to be done in case of necessity.
Simple as that.

 

Last edited: Nov 24, 2021

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