Digital Assets & Estate Administration
As we are nearing the end of 2022, I can’t help but reflect on how far technology has advanced in our day-to-day lives and in our professional world. Gone are the days of paper ledgers, fax machines (sort of), and handwritten notes. Instead, businesses have adopted SharePoint, Google Drive, and even RocketBook for note-taking. With the adaption of technology in our businesses, I have started thinking about how our clients’ digital lives impact our business processes and how estate professionals are gearing up for this digital tidal wave.
Recently I had the pleasure of reading Jennifer Zegel and Sharon Hartung’s latest book Digital Asset Entanglement: Unraveling the intersection of Estate Laws & Technology. Her book lays out what estate professionals should be thinking about concerning digital assets for clients’ estates while focusing on the case study of the Estate of Gerald Cotten. While the book is incredibly extensive and a must-read for anyone dealing with estates professionally, some takeaways can easily be implemented in our practices.
1. Start familiarizing yourself with the legalities of digital assets. The second chapter of Digital Asset Entanglement: Unraveling the intersection of Estate Laws & Technology provides an excellent overview of the different legal constructs, privacy laws, acts, and so much more. Understanding how the legalities come into the estate planning and estate administration realms will allow us to be better practitioners for our clients. The book states, “we will need to make our clients aware of the nuances and challenges surrounding planning for digital assets and help guide them through this new planning paradigm that is ever shifting.” (page 13)
2. Understand the types of user personas your clients may be. The third chapter provides an excellent guide to understanding how people use technology and the kind of user personas each person may have. The book continues with a breakdown of the following personas:
a. Basic Users
b. Super Users and Tech Support
c. Gaming and entertainment Users
d. Digital Platform Economy Users
e. Small Business Owners and Content Creators
f. Tech Innovators and Nomads
3. Review the type of persona you may be and start setting up a plan for how to deal with your digital assets. I am a true believer that you cannot preach what you have not tried, so have you gone through the exercise of cleaning your own digital life based on your persona and set up procedures based on what you learned to implement with your clients? With Sharon’s voice in my head, I think of her words, “exploring a client’s digital life by their user persona can assist in planning for this new landscape.” (page 124)
Technology is here to stay and will get more complex as the years go on. Our duty as estate professionals is to understand this digital landscape and its impacts on our clients and their families. Currently, Jennifer and Sharon’s book sits on my desk, highlighted, tabbed, and heavily “dog-eared,” I would encourage other professionals to utilize this guide in their estate practices.
This blog is not intended to be legal advice and should not be relied on as such. If you require legal advice, please contact a legal professional concerning your particular circumstances.
