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Planning your digital legacy

In today’s world, planning your digital legacy should be an important aspect of your overall legacy planning. We’ve created a helpful checklist to get you thinking about the future of all your digital assets.

Your digital legacy

A digital legacy is the digital information that is available about someone following their death. Someone’s digital legacy is often shaped by interactions the person made and information that they shared online before they died. This might include their emails, social media profiles, online conversations, photos, videos, gaming profiles and their website or blog.

You may want to think about what you would like to happen with these digital assets and document your wishes, so your loved ones are aware of how you want your digital legacy to be handled. For example, would you want your social media profiles to be kept online, or deleted?

Your digital asset checklist

1. If you have a security password on a mobile phone or any other electronic devices, you may want to think about how best to pass on your passwords.

2. If you have any social media accounts (like Facebook and Instagram) you may want to assign administrative access to your social media accounts to someone you trust. Facebook allows you to add a legacy contact who can manage your account when you die. You may want it simply deleted, or “memorialised”, which means the word “remembering” will be placed next to your name. Instagram also has memorialising and deletion features.

3. If you have online subscriptions or other online accounts, you may want to make suitable plans for each and leaving your passwords to someone you trust with clear instructions on what you’d like them to do.

4. If you store photos or videos on electronic devices or in the cloud, you may want to make a folder of your favourite photos and share them with a friend or family member. Sharing can occur through various internet services or by using an external memory stick or a hard drive. Alternatively, you may wish to share the password for your cloud account giving the people you trust full access.

Get in touch

For further information or to ask any questions about planning your digital legacy, please get in touch with Sophie at sophie.gray@hje.org.uk or on 020 7806 4011.

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