I’m a 45-year-old man from Mumbai. I’m within the means of planning my property. I additionally wish to defend my on-line and digital belongings and embrace them in my property for my household to inherit them. How do I establish and defend my digital belongings?
—Title withheld on request
Digital belongings embrace any on-line accounts or digital information that maintain worth or significance. These might be broadly categorized as:
- Monetary belongings: Cryptocurrency, on-line buying and selling accounts, digital wallets (Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay), on-line banking credentials.
- Private belongings: Emails, images, movies, cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox), blogs, digital journals.
- Social media accounts: Fb, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube.
- Enterprise belongings: E-commerce platforms, digital mental property resembling domains, and web sites.
Many digital belongings carry actual monetary worth. Ignoring them can create critical challenges on your heirs. Unclaimed cryptocurrency or pockets balances could also be misplaced without end. Inactive digital profiles are weak to hacking and misuse and, within the absence of specific directives, heirs could face difficulties accessing or managing these accounts.
India at the moment lacks particular laws governing digital asset succession. This makes it essential to take proactive steps throughout the present authorized framework:
- Info Expertise Act, 2000: Presents basic steering on information safety, however does not tackle inheritance rights.
- Indian Succession Act, 1925: Covers movable and immovable property, however not explicitly digital belongings.
- Phrases of Service Agreements: Every platform (e.g., Google, Fb) has its personal guidelines for account administration after dying.
Right here’s how one can guarantee your digital legacy is preserved and correctly managed:
Create a digital asset stock
Establish and doc all your digital belongings. This documentation ought to embrace the next particulars: asset sort, account names and related platforms, usernames, function or worth of every asset, associated units or strategies of storage, in addition to the corresponding login identifiers and passwords.
Appoint an executor particularly for digital belongings
It’s advisable to nominate a person distinct from the first executor to function a digital executor. This designated particular person shall be answerable for the administration and execution of the testator’s needs relating to digital belongings. It’s important to delineate the scope of entry granted to the digital executor and to supply specific tips on the administration of every class of digital asset.
Embrace digital belongings in your will
When making ready a will or trust deed, it’s crucial to explicitly tackle digital belongings to make sure their recognition as a part of the testator’s property and to facilitate their administration in accordance with the testator’s intentions. Though Indian succession regulation doesn’t at the moment present particular provisions for digital property, incorporating a complete clause can mitigate ambiguity and promote a extra environment friendly administration course of.
Use trusts for high-value digital belongings
For those who possess important digital belongings, resembling cryptocurrency, ponder establishing a belief to facilitate a managed and confidential switch of those belongings. This method can facilitate a managed and confidential switch of those belongings, guaranteeing correct administration and safety of wealth.
Property planning for digital belongings in India is an rising discipline, however proactive people can efficiently tackle potential gaps by taking considerate and legally sound measures. As our digital footprints broaden, the significance of safeguarding them—each throughout our lives and after—turns into more and more important. Seek the advice of with a certified property planning lawyer to make sure that your needs are fulfilled and your digital legacy is preserved.
Aditya Chopra is managing accomplice, and Moxy Shah, affiliate, The Victoriam Legalis
