How to handle online assets that will survive after your death, plus tips for reducing various service fees.
By Janet Groene, F47166
August 2015
August 2015
The Internet, smartphones, and Wi-Fi allow full-time RVers to communicate in ways that were unheard of a generation ago. Today your online inventory might include email addresses; a website or blog; and accounts on eBay, Etsy, YouTube, or Facebook. You may even have your own domain name or names and a full-time e-commerce business.
Your online identity and content may be valuable assets. You own them. But what happens when you die?
Let’s say you publish your FMCA chapter’s newsletter, and you are the keeper of the encrypted email list. Or, decades of family photos and videos are filed in your account in the cloud. Or, the only digital copy of the book you wrote, the product you invented, or the pattern you designed is stored in your computer. Or, you’ve spent years gathering family genealogy in your motorhome travels. It may be worthless to some of your heirs, but invaluable to others. You want your years of research to be passed down to the right people.
The law has been slow to catch up with technology. Some states have introduced laws that deal with digital assets as part of one’s estate, and other states have enacted such legislation. Even so, the laws vary widely. More statutes and more uniform wording are sure to come, but as a full-timer with footprints in many states, your needs are unique. Some planning is in order, according to Jim Lamm of DigitalPassing.com. And the sooner, the better.
A good place to start is TheDigitalBeyond.com. It’s everything you need to know about digital legal rights, obligations, and privacy beyond the grave.
Your entire digital presence — everything you’ve ever written, sent, or received online — lives on, with or without your knowledge or consent. For example, your blog or Facebook account, no matter how intimate and private, will exist forever unless someone closes it. Meanwhile, important notifications and correspondence will continue to come to your email addresses. Action may be required, and soon.
In a worst-case scenario, if you have contractual obligations to deliver a product or service via eBay or other e-commerce websites, fines could accrue while your estate is being sorted out. Also, automatic payments will continue, and someone must challenge them.
That someone is your digital executor. Therefore, begin by amending your will to name an executor for digital assets, even if that person has no other role in your estate. He or she needs more than passwords to access your digital accounts. The executor also must be given the legal right to work with the accounts.
Consult an attorney to get the right wording in your will. The phrasing likely will include “the right to access, control, and/or delete” digital accounts. Each online account’s terms of service may determine the executor’s rights to change or delete the account. At the same time, protect your other heirs by specifying this executor’s powers, which can be limited to digital matters.
The digital executor will need a liaison, either the family member or attorney who is handling the estate. And even if the digital executor does not handle any other portion of the estate, it’s customary to give this person a fee, so work that out in advance.
Your digital executor will need a list of your accounts and their passwords, but don’t put that information in your will, which, generally speaking, becomes a public record when you die. Store the information where it can be accessed immediately on death — on paper, on a thumb drive that can be given to the digital executor, or in sites such as PasswordBox.com or SecureSafe.com. Don’t put them in a safe-deposit box, especially in a state where such boxes are sealed when one owner dies.
Don’t forget valuable intellectual rights such as e-books or music you have published, or a YouTube video that will continue to bring in royalties. An account must be changed to allow a continuing flow of income that’s due to your estate for the life of the patent, trademark, or copyright. Your domain name may also have monetary value.
For now, it’s almost impossible to erase your digital presence on some sites. If you’ve ever tried to close a Facebook account, you know how sticky it can be. However, things are changing. Google, for example, has an Inactive Account Manager that lets you decide what you want to happen to your accounts after you’re gone.
It’s time to add cyberspace to your list of areas to consider.
Beware Of Fees
An increasing number of stealthy fees are raising costs so subtly, busy travelers may not even notice. By being aware, you can minimize the sting of “gotcha” fees and fines.
Banking. Seasoned travelers have learned to open bank accounts that don’t have monthly fees and to avoid out-of-network ATM fees. Inactivity fees also can surprise you if you don’t use an account for six to 12 months, depending on the bank. Prepaid debit cards can include an activation fee and a charge each time you use an ATM.
Campgrounds. Know each campground’s cancellation policies. If your plans change and you don’t cancel a reservation in time (perhaps as much as a week ahead), you may be charged. Features such as Wi-Fi, 50-amp service, and cable TV that were free on your last visit may now have a fee.
Credit Cards. The fee for a cash advance on a credit card typically ranges from 3 to 5 percent of the amount withdrawn, plus interest rates of 20 percent or more. Some retailers, including certain fuel stations, charge a fee if you pay with a credit card instead of cash. Ask. And if you have a credit card that was free the first year, make sure no annual fee will be charged after that.
Traveling out of the country? Some credit card companies charge extra for international exchanges, but you won’t see this until the bill comes. Ask before you leave home. Capital One, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and a number of other credit cards have no foreign transaction fee.
If you’re tempted to shift your balance to another card that charges less interest, beware the balance transfer fee that some credit card companies charge. Miss a payment date and the fee is as high as $35. Worse still, your interest rate could rise if you’re habitually late. If it’s a one-time mistake, though, it may be waived. Call and ask for a mulligan.
Telephone And Data Services. With prepaid phones and phone cards, you pay only state and local sales tax on the minutes you purchase. Taxes and fees on a monthly phone bill, by contrast, can exceed 25 percent. Compare phone contracts, and also consider contract versus prepaid plans.
Data overage charges can sneak up on you. Say you’ve been coasting nicely on a 2-gigabyte plan and now you’re streaming movies and video, which eats up gigs. You can avoid overage fees with an unlimited data plan. But such plans cost more upfront, and not all carriers offer them.
Activation and installation fees can add as much as $150 to a cable or phone bill. Before signing up, ask for a freebie. Eager to make the sale, the salesperson often will waive start-up fees. It’s not as easy to escape early termination fees, but some companies are now luring customers to their brand by offering to buy out your contract with a competitor.
Tickets. To be sure of getting tickets to a popular ball game, auto race, or concert, many travelers now buy online weeks in advance. However, online tickets come with “service and convenience” fees that can add as much as 50 percent to the total cost of the seat. Worth it? You decide. On the plus side, more ticket services now are letting buyers print their own tickets or store them on a smartphone to avoid paying a delivery charge.
Price, cost, and value are different things in today’s high-tech world, and they can shift often. Caveat emptor — let the buyer beware.