Preparing Wills and Estate Planning

The rapid recent expansion of internet-based accounts and personal websites creates a new issue to be considered when undertaking the preparation of a Will or planning for the Administration of your Estate.

It may well be appropriate for your Executor to access certain online accounts, particularly bank accounts or accounts with financial institutions which may contain assets or record liabilities that the Executor will need to deal with. However, it would not be appropriate to list all of your passwords and account details in your Will. Not only would your Will have to be updated every time an Account detail or password is changed but this could easily compromise the security of that vital information.

Additionally, they may be some other online accounts to which you may not want your Executor to have access, such as Email Accounts, Hotmail Accounts, or Facebook Accounts which may all contain private and personal information that you may not want to share. Those accounts will not necessarily automatically be closed on your death. To date, these issues do not appear to have been addressed by any Australian Legislators or in any Australian Case Law but they have emerged as issues in other jurisdictions and it seems likely that it is only a matter of time before these issues need to be confronted in Australia. When undertaking your Estate Planning and preparing your Will it is, therefore, another issue for you to consider and discuss with your advisors.

Aylward Game Solicitors

Contact
United Service Club
Level 4, 183 Wickham Terrace, Brisbane QLD 4001

Free: 1800 217 217
Phone: 07 3236 0001
Fax: 07 3236 0005
Email: mail@aylwardgame.com.au