How the Personal Representative Can Preserve a Decedent’s On-Line Assets

The growth of on-line accounts, social media sites, online gaming rights and other digital property has raised various ownership issues which have only just begun to be addressed in probate law. To date, Michigan law has not addressed the specific rights and duties of a Personal Representative to access, transfer, or terminate these types of online assets owned by a decedent. Much of the problem is attributable to the “terms of service” (TOS) contracts established by the site controllers. However, there are certain steps that a Personal Representative can and should take immediately upon the death of the decedent to access and preserve digital property.

Digital property can be divided into three categories – financial, professional, and social. Upon a decedent’s death, the Personal Representative should take the following steps with regard to the digital property that the decedent owned:

1. Access the decedent’s computer and phone to search for information such as e-mail accounts, bank accounts, credit card accounts, investment accounts, personal blogs or websites, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social and professional pages, Twitter and/or Tumblr accounts, and others.
2. Next, gain access to the decedent’s e-mail accounts. E-mails that are saved by the decedent often provide password verification e-mails from other digital assets. Do not close the e-mail account immediately, because the decedent will continue to receive e-mails that will inform the personal representative about other accounts.
3. Watch for automatic debits from bank accounts from such sites as Netflix, Pandora, PayPal, and others.

Some of the larger digital sites have publicized their accessibility after a user’s death. Facebook will follow the Personal Representative’s instructions to either remove a decedent’s profile or to keep the profile in a memorial state that cannot be updated and has limited “friends.” Twitter will provide an archive of the decedent’s Tweets and/or close the account upon receipt of the petitioner’s full name, contact information, relationship to the decedent, proof of death, and the Twitter link to the decedent’s profile page. Hotmail will provide a compact disc of all e-mails if the Personal Representative provides a death certificate and letters of authority.

Taking the above steps will preserve the decedent’s on-line assets. Once a list of the digital assets has been made, the Personal Representative should e-mail a scanned copy of the death certificate and probate court letters of authority to the account provider and to any other account provider that he/she believes the decedent had access to. This e-mail should inform the provider of the death, request the decedent’s password and user name, request specific information, and, if appropriate, ask that the account be closed. Don’t be too hasty to close accounts. Some accounts, like World of Warcraft accounts, have value as they can be sold online for hundreds or thousands of dollars to fellow gamers who are looking for advantages.

We would be happy to assist you in the preparation of an appropriate e-mail letter to a digital provider, or with regard to any other aspect of the accessing of a decedent’s digital property.