Protecting Your Digital Assets in the Age of "The Cloud"

In this internet age, not only do we own property, bank accounts, shares and other investments but we often own valuable digital assets including digital music, books and and photographs.

Leaving aside the value of these assets for inheritance tax purposes, the real value of these assets lies in their sentimental value to beneficiaries of the deceased person as they represent a very personal legacy.

Although these assets pass via your will or intestacy in the same way as your other property, the ability of your executors to access these digital assets maybe somewhat difficult to access due to non-transferability clauses in the terms and conditions of some online providers. As such, properly appointed executors in your will can no doubt assist in this regard especially if clear recorded guidance regarding your digital assets is set out in your will.

Furthermore, if you do not have a will and the intestacy rules take effect then your digitalised assets may end up in the ownership of those who you do not wish to benefit.

Perhaps, most importantly, how are your executors or administrators going to find your valuable digital assets if they are unaware of them because the risk is that they could be lost forever.

There are a number of practical steps that you can take to protect your digital assets:

Make a list of your digital assets and passwords and keep it regularly updated.
Store a copy of your digitalised assets with your solicitor, bank or specialist online vault*. This list should ideally be password protected itself and only kept in a secure location away from your home.
Ensure that a trusted family member or friend is aware of where your access list is stored.
Make or update your will to ensure that your digital as well as your other assets are properly gifted to your chosen beneficiary(s).
You should also consider keeping a backup of your most valuable digital assets with your solicitor or bank.

It is, of course, vitally important that your security in respect of your digital security is not compromised and as such as few as people as necessary should have access to your list with information regarding your digitalised assets..

At a solicitor specialisiing in dealing with wills genenraly I can give detailed guidance and practical solutions to my clients regarding their wills generally and the gift of their digitalised assets, specifically.

The gift and proper management of your digital assets is a topic that, therefore, needs careful consideration.

Paul Solomons - Solicitor and IHT specialist
http://www.solomonslaw.co.uk/

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Paperless Cloud for Attorneys Equals Time and Money Savings

There is a lot of talk these days about more attorneys needing and wanting to make their practice "paperless" and utilize more cloud technology. Web-based document assembly, e-discovery, on-line document back up and client questionnaires are a few of the still underutilized cloud and paperless possibilities being studied by law firms. I write this article coming from the background of both a computer software programmer and legal assistant who has performed many law firm tasks both manually and on-line, and who has utilized computer programming techniques to reduce time and money by producing documents automatically.

Law firms recognized the time and money savings the web bestowed on its users by going paperless when the U.S. Courts introduced filing via the internet. For years, the U.S. Courts have mandated that law firms use a system of electronic filing via the Internet - the Case Management/Electronic Case Filing (CM/ECF) system. It took many years for all the U.S. Courts to adopt the CM/ECF system, but it was obvious from the start that the paperless filing of court documents via the internet saved the law firms time and money. All that was necessary was to scan the document and upload it to the U.S. Court docket according to the Court's procedures, and the court would automatically e-mail notifications of the filing to all attorneys of record. Recipients of the notifications just had to click the link contained in the email to access the document and download it to their own computers. Prior to the CM/ECF system, one would routinely make and organize twenty copies of 200 page filings and exhibit attachments to serve on opposing counsel, but with the CM/ECF system came instant filing and instant service.

As regards discovery, one can spend countless hours thumbing through huge files of papers to find and copy documents in response to discovery, or one can perform similar tasks in greatly reduced time using search options on electronically stored files. And having programmed document assembly using the built-in scripting tools of office suites, I cannot imagine a law firm not having document assembly, either in-house or on-line, given the amount of time saved and accuracy achieved.

Due to the high standards of confidentiality all attorneys must strictly maintain, there still remains the 'unknown' as to how or whether Court or Bar rules could hinder lawyers who migrate their documents and client interview processes to the cloud. Given the HUGE savings in time and money, however, the only question remaining now appears to be when will security and other concerns be resolved so that more attorneys can hop aboard the paperless cloud?

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