
Steps to Take for End-of-Life Planning
It isn’t just about wills and funerals—it is a reflection of your values, your goals for healthy aging, and the hopes and dreams you have for those you love.

It isn’t just about wills and funerals—it is a reflection of your values, your goals for healthy aging, and the hopes and dreams you have for those you love.

For most people, pretty much everything they owned could be held, sorted and doled out by their estate lawyer. Today, that’s far less true.

At any given time, the average American maintains between 30 and 50 online accounts. These may be with banks, financial institutions, utility companies, email providers, social media outlets, commercial shopping or travel sites and accounts unique to technology, such as an account to purchase apps for a smartphone.

In today’s digital era, the departed will be survived by their electronic footprints, such as iPhone photo albums, Spotify playlists—and cryptocurrency wallets.

Deborah Placet had no idea how to access her husband’s cryptocurrency and other digital accounts after his unexpected death at age 52.

This is an important question to ask, because the answer could tell you whether you need to worry about estate taxes, beneficiary issues or probate concerns.

This is a great time to get organized with estate planning—it will make things a lot easier for yourself and your loved ones.

Creating a list of digital accounts and instructions on how to gain access to them is now akin to having a traditional will or a trust in estate planning.

However, in a world where more and more of our personal information is stored online, it’s also imperative to make a digital estate plan, so your loved ones can access your digital property.