As published in Forbes, July 14, 2020
By Cheryl Winokur Munk
Managing digital assets in life – and protecting them after you’re gone – is increasingly complex, and a growing number of providers offers a solution.
You should also be comfortable with the provider’s security features and the steps the provider is taking to safeguard your sensitive information. Since, in many cases, these options require you to store significant confidential information online, security is a huge factor to be considered, says Gary R. Botwinick, a partner at Einhorn, Barbarito, Frost & Botwinick, a Denville, N.J. law firm.
Another question to ask is whether the provider offers an auto-update feature to help avoid the issue of digital assets being overlooked. Cost, if any, is also important to understand. There can be different price points for different features; some providers may even offer a vault free alongside other paid services.
Also, before engaging one of these services, people should contact their estate-planning attorney, Botwinick says. This is to “ensure that the provisions they are putting in place with the service are consistent with any provisions in the estate plan, whether it’s set forth in a will or a trust instrument,” he says.
