Including your online life in your Will

With almost 2million Facebook users, worldwide, expected to die this year (yes, you read that right), and over 200,000 of them over the age of 55, the time has come to consider your digital footprint in your Will.

Clients are being advised to leave their usernames and passwords in their Wills, to make it easier for executors to tie up their e-mail, internet banking and social networking affairs when they die.

In many cases, if you do not have the correct login details, you cannot gain access to personal profiles and details. As the online industry is new and un-regulated, there is significant discrepancy between the policies of different websites and, as a result, relatives may never be able to access web-based assets or the social networking profiles of their loved ones.

If you are writing or revising your Will, you should consider including details of how to deal with your digital footprint. This could include a list of passwords and usernames, as well as instructions on how things should be 'wound' up. In many ways it comes down to including instructions about your online life, in the same way you would include instructions about your offline life.