Amongst Apple’s announcements this week at their annual conference they have confirmed that users will soon be offered a digital legacy service. This is expected to launch later this year and means that your data can be made available to family or friends in the event of your death. You can either choose to have your account deleted or to nominate a named individual to be granted access. If you want data passed on, you will be able to add a legacy contact to your account who will be able to request access following your death on production of the death certificate. It is expected that some restrictions on retrieving data such as financial information or access to payments will apply and Apple will set an expiry date to retrieve the data before it is deleted. It is however a step in the right direction in allowing digital data to become available for the family of a deceased person.
Other social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will delete an account on notification of a death and Google have set up tools to allow an account to be deactivated after a period of inactivity.
The important thing is to keep a list of your digital accounts, review the policies and note down your wishes if you want your family or friends to be able to access your personal memories. You may also want to provide log in details to your executors or keep this with your Will. The steps you take now will make things easier for your loved ones at a difficult time to ensure your digital data is preserved for the future.
For more information, please contact Helen Gowin on 01260 282351 or email helen.gowin@sasdaniels.co.uk
Amongst Apple’s announcements this week at their annual conference they have confirmed that users will soon be offered a digital legacy service. This is expected to launch later this year and means that your data can be made available to family or friends in the event of your death. You can either choose to have your account deleted or to nominate a named individual to be granted access. If you want data passed on, you will be able to add a legacy contact to your account who will be able to request access following your death on production of the death certificate. It is expected that some restrictions on retrieving data such as financial information or access to payments will apply and Apple will set an expiry date to retrieve the data before it is deleted. It is however a step in the right direction in allowing digital data to become available for the family of a deceased person.
Other social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will delete an account on notification of a death and Google have set up tools to allow an account to be deactivated after a period of inactivity.
The important thing is to keep a list of your digital accounts, review the policies and note down your wishes if you want your family or friends to be able to access your personal memories. You may also want to provide log in details to your executors or keep this with your Will. The steps you take now will make things easier for your loved ones at a difficult time to ensure your digital data is preserved for the future.
For more information, please contact Helen Gowin, partner, on 01260 282351 or email helen.gowin@sasdaniels.co.uk