Planning what happens to your digital assets

According to new Which? research*, most people don’t have a plan for what will happen to their online accounts and digital assets when they’re no longer around. What steps can you take to ensure yours, or your loved ones’, are dealt with?

From social media profiles to email accounts and online subscription services, digital assets can be defined as anything that someone owns that exists in a digital format.

Our solicitor, Leah Vincent is a member of the STEP Digital Assets Special Interest Group and recently discussed the issue with Nicky Price on her daytime BBC Radio Gloucestershire show. To hear her suggestions on how to get started, listen to the full interview above.

Online assets can be divided into four groups:

• Financial (such as bank accounts, shopping accounts and online trading accounts).
• Sentimental (such as personal letters, emails, texts, photos and videos).
• Intellectual (such as domain names, websites, blogs and digital art).
• Social (such as social media accounts and gaming accounts).

For more details on the types of assets you might have and how to plan what will happen to them, download our ‘Dealing with digital assets’ guide below:

*The survey, conducted by Which? shows three-quarters (76%) of 14,631 of their members had no plan for what to do with their online assets after they’ve died, leaving a huge risk of emails, photos and social media accounts being locked up and inaccessible to loved ones when they pass away.