Protect your assets, the person you are appointing to handle them and the beneficiaries of your estate.
State and Federal Laws effect access to these assets while the owner lives and transfers of these assets after the owner dies.
Examples of Digital Assets: Online brokerage account, online bank account, digital wallet, cryptocurrency wallet, Facebook, LinkedIn, PayPal, Amazon, Google, Yahoo, iTunes, domain name, online business, Bitcoin, and digital photographs.
Examples of Firearm distinctions that effect planning: Title I. Title II. Some Firearms and other weapons are subject to the National Firearms Act (NFA).
Step 1: Start with an Inventory. Identify and create an inventory of all your assets. Regularly update the list with current username, logins and passwords for digital assets.
Step 2: consider who you would place in the position of handling your assets if you were to become physically or mentally incapacitated and someone must step in and take over.
Step 3: consider what will happen to your assets after you pass away. A last will and testament or a trust can specifically devise digital assets and certain firearms. You might consider a Gun Trust if you own Title II firearms.
Step 4: explore your options carefully and choose the best ones for your situation. Review your current documents for sufficiency in these areas.
Avoid unintended negative consequences such as:
-Gifting, a firearm to a non-Florida resident without going through a Federal Firearms Licensee is a federal crime whether done outright while owner is alive or through a last will or a trust after death.
-Accessing someone’s digital assets without proper authorization can lead to charges of fraud, theft, identity theft and hacking.
-Terms of Service agreed to when opening digital accounts may prohibit access to the account by anyone other than the owner. Does anyone read this agreement before clicking to agree?
-Funds within a bitcoin account with no estate planning and no information about the private key are inaccessible after the account holder’s death and lost forever.
-A caregiver, hired by a POA, is shot and harmed (maybe killed) by a mentally incapacitated person with access to a gun. The assets of a mentally incapacitated person are subject for a lawsuit and the assets belonging to the POA may be attached as well.
Diana Mangsen focuses her practice as an elder law attorney in Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Dunedin and the Tampa Bay area.
For more information, visit our website at
https://www.mangsenlaw.com/
or call (727) 888-6282.