An important review is about to start to determine whether New South Wales needs special legislation relating to the accessing and transference of what have become known as “digital assets”.
Have you thought how your loved one or executor could access important digital accounts or platforms including bank accounts, PayPal accounts, iTunes accounts and the like without knowledge of your passwords or numbers?
Have you considered what you would like to happen to your Facebook page?
The Attorney-General of New South Wales, Mark Speakman, summarised the issue well, saying “family friends and lawyers are left to untangle digital asset ownership issues, applying laws that were developed long before the arrival of email, blogs, social media and cryptocurrency”.
While some platforms make provision for memorialising of accounts, there is still risk as to who can operate these accounts after you die.
Here is a link to the statement from the New South Wales government around this issue, including an opportunity for you to have your say via the NSW Law Reform Commission site. It is important to have your say and we urge you to make a submission to the Law Reform Commission.
We also urge you to consider whether your existing Will makes provision for your digital assets. If it does not, then contact one of our solicitors to arrange an appointment to draft a Will which gives effect to the entirety of your testamentary decisions.
