As a business owner, you may already be making a plan for your business estate alongside a plan for your personal estate. When conducting this additional planning, you must not forget to include a digital estate plan for your business. Read on to discover the necessity for creating a digital estate plan for your business and how a seasoned Putnam County estate planning attorney at The Law Office of Andres D. Gil, PLLC can help you establish a legally valid one.
Do I need to create a digital estate plan for my business?
For starters, a digital estate plan is a plan that covers what will happen to your intangible assets (i.e., digital assets, media, and online accounts) upon your unfortunate passing. With this, your business may be made up of more intangible assets than you initially realize; making a digital estate plan for your business all the more necessary. Without further ado, this plan allows you to give explicit directions on the following:
- How can your appointed heirs access your business’s website and social media accounts (i.e., what are the logins and passwords)?
- How can your appointed heirs continue to run your business upon your passing (i.e., what are the standard operating procedures and long-term goals)?
- How can your appointed heirs renew your business’s licenses when they are set to expire (i.e., where can they access necessary funds and documents)?
- Who is legally authorized to access your business’s financial data (i.e., who can look into the budget/spending spreadsheets and online banking accounts)?
How do I choose the fiduciary of my digital estate plan?
You may rest assured knowing that the directives you give in your digital estate plan may work to ensure that your business continues to run smoothly when you are no longer around. And so, an important facet that you must not forget to include in this plan is to choose a digital fiduciary.
Essentially, you may grant a digital fiduciary to legally access your digital assets to the extent you have or had a right of interest. This role is comparable to that of an agent established in other estate planning documents. Overall, this individual should be someone whom you trust to fulfill your best wishes and maintain the safety of your business assets. Undoubtedly, this individual must also be digitally savvy. Otherwise, you may designate your business’s bank or financial advisor.
This is not to mention that you must also choose an executor for your digital estate plan. So in the end, we believe a competent Putnam County estate planning attorney is the best fit for you. Please get in touch with The Law Office of Andres D. Gil, PLLC as soon as you can.