Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
In the movie Spider Man: No Way Home. Spider Man faces a dilemma that may require everyone who knows him to lose all their memories of him forever.
You may not care what happens to your Netflix account or your Spotify playlist when you die, but what about all the photos and videos you’ve backed up to iCloud? Or your Contact list? Or Apple email or anything else associated with your iPhone and other Apple products?
Would someone be able to retrieve that information, or would it be gone forever?
In my family, everyone takes pictures, and they all get stored on the same computer (well backed up, of course). Over 100,000 photos and videos are stored on my iCloud account. If something were to happen to me, all those photos and videos and all the memories associated with them could be lost forever.
In a recent iOS update, Apple launched a feature called Digital Legacy that allows users to designate another person, known as a Legacy Contact, to have access to your iCloud account, saving your digital world after you die.
With a death certificate and access key your personal Peter Parker, aka Legacy Contact, can save your iCloud account and everything in it including photos, videos, notes, anything stored in Keychain, etc. Basically, your Legacy Contact has access to everything associated with your Apple ID after you die.
Establishing a Legacy Contact is easy. Simply open your phone, go to settings, click on passwords & security, and scroll down to the Legacy Contact button. Or you can follow the steps outlined here on the Apple website.
You can list up to 5 contacts. Your spouse may be a logical first choice, but any trusted adult friend or family member will qualify. Listing two or more maybe helpful if someone on your list dies before you do. Legacy Contacts may be deleted or updated just as easily.
Don’t stop there. Establishing Legacy Contacts for your Mac or iPhone is a great start, but it’s doubtful that all your digital information is stored in iCloud. What about your accounts with Dropbox, Google Docs or OneDrive. What about social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok?
Not every company offers a digital legacy option. Those that do allow access to a deceased person’s data may have significant hurdles to jump and can disallow access altogether.
Having password information alone may not be enough. While someone may be able to technically log on to your account after you die using your log in info, actually doing so may be illegal. Depending on the terms in the User Agreement, they may not have the right to access your account.
Your surviving spouse, children or other close family members may not care what the law says about their ability to access your accounts, but the executor of your estate trying to play by the rules might.
Next steps.
If you own an iPhone, iPad or Mac computer update your settings to establish one or more Legacy Contacts. At least your Apple data will be covered.
For everything else, contact an estate planning attorney to update your will to include language giving the executor of your estate or another trusted individual access to your online accounts. Most attorneys will offer this service as part of their estate plan, but you may need to ask to be sure.
If your will hasn’t been updated recently, it’s likely that you will need to specifically add accessing digital assets as part of your estate plan. Until then, pick a Peter Parker for your iCloud account and click here to update your iOS device.
To discuss any of the topics in this blog or to learn more about how we can help you Cross The Bridge To A Confident Retirement, please contact me through my web site mikebranch.net, call me directly at 651-379-3935 or email me at mpbranch@focusfinancial.com.