As technology begins to make its way into more and more areas of everyday life, the concept of creating online wills has recently become more popular. While that premise may sound appealing based solely on convenience, Wisconsin residents need to know how to best utilize this option for estate planning, including dealing with digital assets. The concept of digital assets may not be familiar, but they are a very real part of proper estate planning today.

What are digital assets?

Digital assets include anything an individual owns that’s online. Such examples include social media accounts, online bank accounts and personal photos that are stored on the internet. For those who have invested in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, these financial assets which are considered digital as well.

While digital assets may or may not hold any sort of tangible monetary value, they still need to be accounted for when creating a total estate plan. Fortunately, there are estate planning steps that can be taken to also protect these assets.

How do digital assets work in estate planning?

Today, only half of the states have laws concerning digital assets. However, the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act of 2015 has led to every state at least introducing such laws. Due to the newness of this law, to ensure that digital assets are handled according to the wishes of the testator, a highly detailed will that focuses on these digital assets is encouraged.

As technology continues to change our society, it’s even more important for people to partner with estate planning lawyers. These attorneys can work with their clients to ensure that all of their assets, including digital assets, are handled according to their wishes.