STEP, a global body of estates and probate practitioners, and Queen Mary University of London’s Cloud Legal Project, published a report this week, ‘Digital assets: a call to action’, highlighting families’ concerns about digital assets such as social media accounts, photos and emails.
The report’s authors call on legislators to put in place much clearer rules on property rights and rights of access by personal representatives, and on cloud providers to meet with inheritance planning experts to find more effective solutions for post-mortem account access.
Out of 500 practitioners surveyed for the report, nearly 60% have had clients concerned about digital assets, and 90% expect these concerns to increase.
Clients’ questions mostly concern social media, email, cryptocurrencies and cloud storage. The top five providers of cloud services mentioned by clients were Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Dropbox.
Nearly one quarter of the practitioners have had clients who experienced difficulties accessing their loved one’s digital assets, causing significant distress and frustration. They highlighted a lack of legal clarity about property rights. One in five respondents reported an uncooperative attitude from service providers where accounts could not be accessed.
Only six per cent of practitioners thought the process for accessing digital assets stored in the cloud was straightforward. More than 85% wanted cloud providers to provide better ways to manage access after death or incapacity.
Emily Deane, technical counsel at STEP, said: ‘In just a few short years, digital assets have become fundamental to many aspects of our lives. STEP and its members want to see better engagement from governments and service providers globally so that families can plan for their futures with certainty and clarity.’
The Law Commission is currently reviewing the property status of digital assets in English law.
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