eData held online by Facebook, cloud data etc.

radar90

There doesn't seem to be anything available that includes any edata as being available for executors when a Will is drawn up.  I am aware of friends who have tried to get Facebook photos and other edata recovered for possible distribution afte the passing of a loved one but they found there was expensive legal hurdles put up to prevent this happening.  I have tried to ask this question of my Will writers but they seem to say this isn't something they've come across before and are unsure that there is anyway of including the required access being allowed to executors through the Will but possibly the Memorandum of Wishes.  Does anyone have any experience with this and can they say how they circumnavigated around this issue.  This isn't just Facebook/social network edata, such as Photos, videos etc. but data held in the cloud servers, which might be financial information etc. 

74jax

For Facebook, you nominate a person who can manage your Facebook on death and have access. I've nominated my husband, but my friend has nominated me as she isn't married. 

For financial log ins etc these aren't needed. You access financial institutions with a copy of the will. You don't need to know their account details.

It's handy for the person making a will to list financial institutions, this can make it easier for the exec, but again no passwords etc. You are suposed to keep on top of passwords, so it would never be up to date anyway. Knowing where the list of banks /share companies /pensions etc is, is handy, but you can still manage an estate without.

Ps. I'd advise whoever it is, to not use a will writer...... If you can gently push them away, then that is a good deed done. 

Jude57

74jax said:

For Facebook, you nominate a person who can manage your Facebook on death and have access. I've nominated my husband, but my friend has nominated me as she isn't married. 

For financial log ins etc these aren't needed. You access financial institutions with a copy of the will. You don't need to know their account details.

It's handy for the person making a will to list financial institutions, this can make it easier for the exec, but again no passwords etc. You are suposed to keep on top of passwords, so it would never be up to date anyway. Knowing where the list of banks /share companies /pensions etc is, is handy, but you can still manage an estate without.

Ps. I'd advise whoever it is, to not use a will writer...... If you can gently push them away, then that is a good deed done. 

I absolutely agree about will writers. I tend to think of them as being like GP's receptionists. They've picked up some of the terminology over time and may be very helpful but you wouldn't expect them to be able to identify or treat your illness. For something as important as a will I'd only ever use a qualified solicitor or legal executive. As we can see in the Deaths thread, too much can go wrong with badly drawn wills.