Published on Wel Partners | Blog
October 29th, 2020
A recent CBC News story has demonstrated the obstacles that people can face when they try to deal with digital assets after the owner of those assets has died.
The story, covers the experience of a Toronto woman who has so far been unable to access an Apple account that she shared with her later husband, but that is in his name, and to which she has forgotten the password. According to the CBC, Noble was first told by Apple that she needed to “prove she has the legal right to her husband’s estate.” She sent certain documents that would normally be sufficient to access most assets of an estate, including her husband’s death certificate and will, but then was told that she would need a court order.
As documented in the CBC story, Canadian fiduciaries can face lengthy and expensive legal battles, involving both Canadian and American court proceedings, or be forced to give up and abandon digital assets that they should rightfully possess.
Apple declined to comment for the CBC story, so the specific reasons that Noble was denied access are not entirely clear. An expert interviewed for the story appeared to suggest that a company’s handling of this type of situation is to some extent subject to its whims. He noted that digital assets are often “being governed by a privately held corporation,” commented that large American tech companies have a tendency to “brush off” Canadian users, and suggested that Canadians lack “leverage” in dealing with these companies as long as Canadian jurisdictions lack laws directly governing access to digital assets.
