Thursfields Talk Legal: dealing with digital assets in wills and estates
How to plan what happens to a person’s digital assets after their death will be the focus of a free Thursfields Solicitors’ webinar later this month.
Ian Bond, Head of the Wills & Estates department, will host the Talk Legal webinar at 10 am on Wednesday 16 December.
Ian will introduce the event live on Zoom, then play a short vidcast explaining the modern phenomenon and how it can be tackled, before returning to the screen to answer any questions.
The session is expected to last no longer than 30 minutes, and attendees will leave knowing what to do next when dealing with digital assets in wills and estates.
Ian said: “The exponential growth of the internet, smart phones and social media means that digital technologies now help us to run most of our lives.
“On top of our physical possessions, we are building a parallel world of digital assets, ranging from WhatsApp and Instagram pictures and texts on our smart phones, to Facebook, LinkedIn and commercial accounts like Amazon, not to mention all those email accounts.
“But what happens to people’s digital assets on their death? This is an important question to consider when preparing clients’ wills, and one we will answer for everyone attending Thursfields’ next Talk Legal webinar.
“With all corners of our lives becoming increasingly digitised, we really do need to consider how technical innovations should be dealt with as quite often family members may not have any regard for digital assets at all, let alone give proper consideration as to how they should be distributed.
“Aside from the legal requirement to administer these assets, families will want to protect the deceased’s information which could otherwise be easily deleted or lost.
“And whilst some digital assets may have financial value, most of them will have much more sentimental value, such as messages, photos and videos stored on social media platforms.
“We hope this webinar will help people to plan for how digital assets are properly dealt with. After all, everyone wants to be remembered for the person they were, and not the mess they leave behind.”
The webinar on 16 December will be the ninth in Thursfields’ Talk Legal series which was launched during the COVID-19 lockdown to ensure the company continued its regular free workshops for businesses and the community.
Michelle O’Hara, Managing Director at Thursfields, said: “We’ve been pleased at the popularity of our Talk Legal webinars, with nearly 50 people attended our last one in November.
“The way we approach these with a skilful vidcast interview and then a detailed question and answer session enables both existing and new contacts to access our experts’ wide in-depth knowledge on a variety of legal topics.”
People can register for Thursfields’ Talk Legal webinar on dealing with digital assets in wills and estates here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/thursfields-talk-legal-in-conversation-with-ian-bond-tickets-129717860613
Meanwhile, a full archive of all other Talk Legal episodes can be viewed here: https://thursfields.co.uk/talk-legal-videos/
