A widow had to get a court order to enable her to access her late husband’s Apple account. Have forum members experience of drafting a ‘digital will’ or clauses identifying ‘trusted contacts’ enabling access to digital accounts?
Ray Magill
Chartered Tax Adviser
There is an enormous amount of good stuff on the Practical Law site but of course for subscribers only. The main point is that what the Testator can do in his Will is a function of the contractual terms and conditions with each and every ISP. Keeping a log of passwords etc is advisable but in at least one case disclosing these to third parties is a breach of those terms
Jack Harper
I should have added that in my view this is an area which is overwhelmingly more suitable for a Letter of Wishes rather than inclusion in the Will itself
Jack Harper
I agree that the letter of wishes should contain much of the information executors need. Clearly it is absurd that disclosing passwords is a contract breach. Probably the sheer length which is now typical of terms and conditions make them ineffective…
The problems will be magnified if - as is being suggested - passwords are replaced by such personal aspects as your thumbprint or the iris of your eyes.
Ray Magill
Chartered Tax Adviser