Tag: Advisor Enablement

Tips on dealing with your digital afterlife in your estate plan

No matter how many fans, followers, or friends we have in this life, at some point we’re all going to die. Here are some of the most common questions people have about what happens to their social media presence after they’re gone.

Q: What happens to my social media accounts when I die?

A: The short answer: Nothing. Not automatically, anyway. Unless you take steps to outline your wishes—or adjust some simple settings on Facebook—your accounts will remain visible and “active.”

Q: How will my loved ones get access to my social media accounts?

A: As with your financial accounts, you’ll want a secure way to provide usernames, passwords, and any multi-factor authentication information to the person you designate. Remember, your Will is not the best place to reveal this information because it can become part of the public record.

There are many options for securely storing your social media access information, but we hope you’ll consider using our bank-level encrypted Vault where you can feel confident filing any important documents you want secure cloud-access to.

Q: How do I designate someone to manage my accounts?

A: Each social media platform has its own policy concerning the accounts of people who have died. They are all likely to evolve over time as this issue becomes more and more relevant. In less than 50 years, Facebook will have more dead members than living ones, so it’s not a problem that can be ignored.

In Facebook’s General Account Settings, under Memorialization settings, you can request to have your Facebook profile permanently deleted after you die or identify a Legacy Contact to look after your account. That person can accept new friend requests, manage tribute posts, delete posts, change the profile picture, and remove you from tags, but they cannot see your messages or add or remove friends.

Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts don’t yet have the same “legacy” option. However, those accounts can be deleted by a direct family member or person you’ve designated as your power of attorney by providing proof of your death.

Q: How do I decide if I want someone to delete or deactivate my social media accounts?

A: Figuring out the future of your Facebook page may seem like a slightly silly discussion topic amid all the other important end-of-life decisions you need to talk about with your family. But as with many things concerning your estate, they are the ones who have to live with the decision. Talk with them to see how they feel. A couple things to think about: Some family members might think of your social posts and photos as akin to a diary and would never consider deleting something so priceless. On the flip side, those helpful birthday reminders and “you have memories” notifications that social sites send could be painful, especially while your loved ones are still grieving. Keeping a social media page but having the legacy contact turn off notifications can be a good compromise.

Choosing a person to care for your minor children

Nominating a Guardian

To make this safeguard official, name guardians through your Will (or in certain states, a separate Nomination of Guardianship). Your designations will have a lot of weight with the judge who would ultimately decide which guardian would be in the best interest of your children. This is especially important if you suspect that your loved ones might disagree over who should become guardian of your children. Asking the person you choose for this role to be a guardian will not alone show the court your intentions.

You can also make your wishes known through a Nomination of Guardianship, which is a simple document that is separate from your Will and acts as a letter to the judge. However, in most states, the judge may give greater weight to your choice if it is included in your Will because you might have signed your Will before two witnesses and/or a notary.

Picking the right person to be your children’s guardian may be hard. You obviously want someone who knows and loves your children, and most people pick someone within the family. But you also may want someone who lives in the same geographical area, so your children’s lives will not be completely uprooted. Or you might prioritize someone who shares your values or who practices the same religion as you. You also want to consider lifestyle and age. Your brother might be your best friend, but if he’s single and travels extensively, is full-time parenting the right fit for him? Same for your own parents, who might not be able to provide the kind of care your child needs as they age.

You also can name backup guardians in case the person you choose as the primary guardian is unable to take on that role.

Whomever you choose, you should talk through the decision with your children’s other parent and with the potential guardians. Be open to the possibility that the other parent may have different wishes and that  someone you trust so much may not feel up for the responsibility.

Other Considerations

Families and plans change over the years. The best friends you named as guardians when your first child was born may no longer be as close to you, may have moved away or gotten divorced. You may now have four kids instead of one, so it would be overwhelming for the guardians to take care of all of them in addition to their own children. Just as with all parts of your estate plan, you should regularly re-evaluate and updated your guardianship nominations. To name new guardians for your children, update your Will or Nomination of Guardianship in accordance with your state’s estate planning laws. Finally, make sure you coordinate your nominations with your children’s other parent to avoid confusion and conflict.

If you don’t have one yet, ask yourself what’s holding you back.

The words most often associated with estate planning are “important” (53%), “responsible” (52%) and “smart” (42%), according to a survey conducted in the U.S. by WALR in partnership with Wealth in December 2021. Yet only 53% of us have an estate plan. What drives this dichotomy?

Put simply: misperceptions.

Here, we examine the top four reasons people aren’t doing the “important, responsible and smart” work of creating an estate plan — and how to get over those hurdles.

Misperception #1: It’s something to do… later.

The survey findings suggest that when it comes to estate planning, people are prone to procrastination. The No. 1 reason respondents gave for not having an estate plan in place is “I just haven’t gotten around to it” (40%), indicating that they don’t consider it something they need to do right now.

But here’s why you should: While nobody likes to think about dying young, if you’re the parent of small children, it behooves you to prepare for the unthinkable. This is where the Will portion of an estate plan comes in. (For the uninitiated, estate plans often include documents such as a Will or a Trust, power of attorney, a health care directive and beneficiary designations, plus regular reviews and revisions.)

To ensure that your children are cared for in the way you want them to be, you’ll need to name who their guardians would be if both parents die before the kids turn 18. Without those arrangements, the courts will intervene and decide who will raise your children.

Even if you don’t have children, there are other people who deserve protection. Surely, you’ve seen this plot on TV: Someone with money dies, and the war between family members begins. It happens IRL, too. One sibling might think they deserve more than another, or one sibling may think they’re well equipped to handle the finances even though they’re drowning in debt. Without a plan in place, you have no control over who settles these debates.

Misperception #2: Estate planning is complicated.

You’re not alone in thinking this. For respondents to the survey who didn’t have a plan, 23% said a big reason is that, well, they don’t know where to start—20% said they don’t know anything about what estate planning entails. However, many people find it easy to create the major estate planning documents on their own—as long as clear directions are involved. For example, you can draw up a simple, valid Will using software, online or via an app. (Though you may want to crowdsource to find the most reliable options.)

Of course, if you have questions or need documents that are more specific than what’s offered publicly, you should seek personalized advice from an expert.

Misperception #3: I don’t own much, so I don’t need one.

Remember, an estate plan covers both your finances and your assets. Even if you’re just leaving behind property, if you don’t decide who receives it after you’re gone, you’re relinquishing control of what happens to it.

And even if you think you don’t have much money, when you die, your estate consists of not just the money you use day to day but also your life insurance, the equity in your house, the full value of your retirement plans — and everything else you own. That usually amounts to more than you anticipated.

Misperception #4: It’s too depressing to deal with.

Creating an estate plan forces people to confront both mortality and money, two issues that can be upsetting and tough to talk about. Perhaps reframing the situation can help. According to the WALR-Wealth survey, when people who have an estate plan in place were asked to describe the process of setting up a plan, the most common words they used were helpful, simple, empowering and relieving. But respondents who said they set up an estate plan in response to losing a loved one to COVID-19 were more likely to struggle with the process and describe it as confusing, tedious and, yes, depressing. These findings suggest that when estate planning is done before a stressful life event, it’s just not that bad.

Moreover, life is unpredictable. So why not draw up an estate plan? As Chief Growth Officer of Wealth, Tim White, sums it up, “Creating an estate plan is a genuine act of compassion for your loved ones and your greater community, if part of your plan includes charitable donations. There’s real value in the peace of mind that comes from knowing your legacy — whatever that means to you — will be intact after you die.”