New iOS Update Is The Best Thing To Happen To Your Estate Plan Since The Annual Gift Tax Exclusion

As millennials approach age 40 and become more aware of their mortality, there is plenty of resentment between generations.  Baby Boomers are easing into retirement knowing that, even if they have had to invade their savings when dealing with the unexpected several times since their children left the nest, they can still rely on Social Security and Medicare.  For millennials, a generation that has spent its adult life with less job security and more debt, nothing is certain.  If there is one thing that Baby Boomers and millennials can agree on, though, it is the iPhone.  Whether Facebook is your bag or Instagram is your jam, and whether you wind down from the stress of seeing today’s news headlines by playing solitaire or Candy Crush, the iPhone is the cause of and solution to all of your problems.  What happens to all the stuff on your phone and all your other devices when you die?  Well, even the iPhone is old enough to know about mortality now, and the newest operating system update enables you to designate rights of survivorship for your online accounts.  To find out more about your digital estate or that of a family member who died before the most recent iOS update became available, contact a Central Florida estate planning lawyer.

Rights of Survivorship for Your Digital Estate

As stressful and exhausting as it is to sort through the personal possessions of a recently deceased relative who accumulated decades of clutter in their house, trying to access a deceased relative’s online accounts is even more difficult.  You know that there is valuable, perhaps even priceless, content saved on Grandpa’s Google Drive or Facebook account, but convincing the companies that operate these platforms to let you access this content is no simple matter.

With the most recent update to its operating system, Apple has enabled you to designate the people you trust the most as legacy contacts for your iCloud account.  That means that, when you die, the legacy contacts can upload an image of your death certificate, and Apple will enable them to access your iCloud account.  That means that they will be able to see all the files, images, and videos you stored on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple computer.  Setting up a legacy contact is as simple as installing the new update and then listing one or more of the contacts in your contact list as a legacy contact.  The process is even simpler than adding a trusted family member as a payable on death beneficiary on your bank account, except that the kinds of information people store on their phones and computers, such as family photos and unpublished writings, are more valuable than anything money can buy.

Contact an Attorney for Help

This holiday season, as you gaze at your phone during uncomfortable conversations with your family about your estate plan, remember that your phone is an important part of your estate plan.  A Clearwater estate planning attorney can help you with the simple parts of estate planning as well as the complicated parts.  Contact William Rambaum for a consultation.

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