Attorney Katie Watson's article on the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act was featured in this week's (August 14-18) Arkansas Business. The article explains what happens to these assets in terms of estate planning and what actions you should take now to ensure your assets are in the right hands later.
Excerpt from "Digital Assets and Death"
Digital assets are pervasive in today’s society. Many people have gone paperless, uploading financial information, photos, passwords and other personal information to Google, iCloud, Dropbox and other similar digital storage websites. Even those who label themselves “technologically challenged” most likely have an email address and social media account. What happens to digital assets when an individual becomes incompetent or dies?
This spring, the Arkansas Legislature enacted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. The act sets the rules of engagement that fiduciaries — such as agents, guardians, personal representatives and trustees — and custodians of digital assets are to follow when a fiduciary seeks to access or view a user’s digital assets.
In general, users are given the power to manage and dispose of digital assets as they would any other assets.
Read full story here
Katie is an associate in the Trust and Estate Planning Practice Group and holds a master’s degree in taxation from the University of Florida. Her areas of practice include estate planning, estate and trust administration, estate and gift taxation, tax planning for individuals, entity formation, probate matters and formation and planning for exempt organizations.
For more information or if you have further questions about trust and estate planning, please contact one of our Trust & Estate Planning Attorneys. Click here for more about this practice group and a list of attorneys.