KPMG Canada
By Andrew Higdon
September 26th, 2023
More than ever, Canadians are living their lives online. As our digital footprints grow, so too does the importance of planning for the management of digital assets on death or incapacity.
What are digital assets? It’s an interesting question, and one that’s surprisingly elusive. When we think of an “asset,” most of us imagine a form of property, something that is owned and can therefore be sold or gifted. But the term “digital asset” extends beyond traditional notions of property to include a wider range of electronic things.
Social media accounts, electronic communications (such as emails), cloud storage, accounts with retailers and loyalty programs are all examples of digital assets—some of which more clearly satisfy our notions of property than others.
The value of digital assets can be financially significant in a traditional sense, but digital assets often have special sentimental value (digital photographs, emails and music) or are personally revealing (search histories, location data or private messages). Digital assets provide clues about a deceased individual’s private life in a way that nothing before ever has.
Given the amount of digital information that is recorded about each of us, digital assets are unique in estate planning for their potential, for better or for worse, to reveal us as we lived. Given their importance, planning for death or incapacity now requires planning for the administration of digital assets, balancing privacy against the orderly transfer of intangible property and the decedent’s digital legacy.
But there are complications.
The rights of digital asset holders are often determined by the user agreements entered into at the time the digital asset is created. Opening a social media account, for instance, usually requires the user to agree to a briefly displayed and easily ignored “clickwrap” user agreement. The user agreement often restricts the rights of the user’s estate to access an online account on death. It may also prohibit sharing password information (which would permit a trusted person to access the account in the event of death or incapacity).
More often than not, the user agreement subjects the user to the laws of a foreign jurisdiction and requires that all claims against the internet company with whom the user agreement was made be brought there. On death, these agreements bind the estate and can force the executor into long battles to gain access to the account, often in the jurisdiction of the internet company.
Consideration of digital assets is now a necessary part of a complete estate plan. This is a rapidly evolving area of the law, and one that is increasing in importance each year.
