What will happen to my virtual assets upon my death or if I become incapacitated?

In the event of your death, your virtual assets become part of your estate. Your accounts with various service providers, such as Google, Twitter, Hotmail (now Outlook.com), Yahoo, etc., will continue to be active until your heirs or the liquidator of your estate asks to or to close them, depending on the conditions set by the suppliers. suppliers.

In the event of incapacity, your accounts will remain active once you become incapacitated. Your mandatary for property will take care of them, as you will no longer be able to do so due to your incapacity. For example, your mandatary will be able to ask your suppliers to close your accounts, if that was your wish as expressed in your mandate for protection in case of incapacity.

Today, many digital service providers have procedures for managing accounts in the event of the death or incapacity or incapacity of the user. For example, Facebook offers a memorial" functionality, and Google offers an "inactive account to forward data to a trusted contact after a certain period of inactivity. contact after a certain period of inactivity. Nevertheless, requirements and procedures can vary considerably depending on the service provider, and account management can still be a difficult task for the estate liquidator of the estate, the attorney for property, the guardian or the curator.

This makes it all the more important to discuss the management of your digital assets with your loved ones, and to provide clear instructions in your will or mandate for protection in the event of incapacity.