People serving as personal representatives of the estates of departed loved ones or clients have always had to take charge of the real and personal property of the deceased. With the internet now such a part of our lives fiduciaries also have to deal with what’s left of a departed one’s online presence. On October 16 The Supreme Judicial Court issued a decision in Marianne Ajemian v. Yahoo, Inc. The Justices vacated a Probate and Family Court decision that would have allowed Yahoo to deny estate administrators any access to the email account of their late brother, a bicycle accident victim, who died without a will.
The case attracted several amicus briefs on a topic that’s likely to grow in importance going forward.
Helpful materials on digital assets in the collection include:
Estate Planning Symposium 2017 http://encore.socialaw.com/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1144677
48th Annual Estate Planning Institute http://encore.socialaw.com/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1144900