Basic Question On Identifying Digital Assets

[KCB65]

California

Is any website I am registered with considered a digital asset?

If not ... what distinguishes those that are digital assets from those that aren't?

Examples ... all of which I'm registered with ...

Sites I've conducted commerce with.
Sites I post on.
Sites I only read.

Thanks!

KCB65

 

[Zigner]

Yours is not a legal question. Go to your favorite web search engine and type what is a digital asset.

 

[adjusterjack]

Is any website I am registered with considered a digital asset?

It would really help to know why you want to know that.

See:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=digital+asset+definition&t=h_&ia=web

 

[LdiJ]

California

Is any website I am registered with considered a digital asset?

If not ... what distinguishes those that are digital assets from those that aren't?

Examples ... all of which I'm registered with ...

Sites I've conducted commerce with.
Sites I post on.
Sites I only read.

Thanks!

KCB65

It would be almost impossible for sites you post on and sites you only read, to be assets. An asset is something of value to the person. A website could be your asset if you own the website and gain value from the website.

A website you don't own is generally not going to be your asset unless it is part of a customer list you have developed. In that case however, it is not the website that is the asset, it is the customer list that is the asset.

For example, I volunteer (read and post) on this website. I consider the website to have value, but it is not my asset. I would miss it if it were to close down, but it would otherwise not damage me if it closed down. It is the asset of its owners, not mine.

For example, I sell product on ebay. While I make money from ebay the site is not my asset. It is the asset of it's owners.

For example, I have my own website, that is well established, and I sell product there. That website IS my asset.

This website gives some definitions of what "digital asset" means. As you will see, it refers more to product type/monetary type stuff, than websites.
Digital Asset: Meaning, Types, and Importance (investopedia.com)

 

[KCB65]

@Zigner

It's a legal question. See response to Arizona.

@arizona

The reason I want to know is because my Trust requires me to identify my digital assets and specify how my Successor Trustee deals with them. My Trust defines Digital Asset as Personal Digital Property, Personal Digital Property with a monetary value and Digital Business Property. The gray area for me is Personal Digital Property ... which I would assume includes my website registration info, and content I've posted.

@LdiJ

Is not this site a digital asset ... to you ... because in registering ... it allows you to read content and post content (which is your creation) ... and you therefore receive value from it. Though the site is not your digital asset ... I would think the digital asset ... for you ... would be the content you post and your account information.

As to commercial sites you register to and purchase from ... in return for your registration is not the value you receive the opportunity to purchase stuff? Though the site is not you're digital asset ... isn't your digital asset your account information?

 

[Zigner]

The reason I want to know is because my Trust requires me to identify my digital assets and specify how my Successor Trustee deals with them. My Trust defines Digital Asset as Personal Digital Property, Personal Digital Property with a monetary value and Digital Business Property. The gray area for me is Personal Digital Property ... which I would assume includes my website registration info, and content I've posted.

Will telling you that you don't "own" your login information and, generally, don't "own" the content you post on websites help you understand?

 

[cbg]

It would be almost impossible for sites you post on and sites you only read, to be assets. An asset is something of value to the person. A website could be your asset if you own the website and gain value from the website.

A website you don't own is generally not going to be your asset unless it is part of a customer list you have developed. In that case however, it is not the website that is the asset, it is the customer list that is the asset.

For example, I volunteer (read and post) on this website. I consider the website to have value, but it is not my asset. I would miss it if it were to close down, but it would otherwise not damage me if it closed down. It is the asset of its owners, not mine.

For example, I sell product on ebay. While I make money from ebay the site is not my asset. It is the asset of it's owners.

For example, I have my own website, that is well established, and I sell product there. That website IS my asset.

This website gives some definitions of what "digital asset" means. As you will see, it refers more to product type/monetary type stuff, than websites.
Digital Asset: Meaning, Types, and Importance (investopedia.com)

God bless you for even trying, L. I suspect, however, that you may be wasting your time with this one

 

[adjusterjack]

The reason I want to know is because my Trust requires me to identify my digital assets and specify how my Successor Trustee deals with them. My Trust defines Digital Asset as Personal Digital Property, Personal Digital Property with a monetary value and Digital Business Property. The gray area for me is Personal Digital Property ... which I would assume includes my website registration info, and content I've posted.

I think I understand. While your registrations and posted contents might not be assets in the pure sense of the word it would be wise to have your successor trustee log into each website and remove credit card and other identifying information. However, listing all those sites within the trust documents would be cumbersome and be subject to change while you are still alive (I have over a hundred). You don't want to have to incur the cost of rewriting the trust every time you add or delete a site. A better way to handle it would be to include instructions in the trust that your trustee refer to the separate list and handle the websites accordingly. Then you just update the list as needed.

 

[LdiJ]

@Zigner

It's a legal question. See response to Arizona.

@arizona

The reason I want to know is because my Trust requires me to identify my digital assets and specify how my Successor Trustee deals with them. My Trust defines Digital Asset as Personal Digital Property, Personal Digital Property with a monetary value and Digital Business Property. The gray area for me is Personal Digital Property ... which I would assume includes my website registration info, and content I've posted.

@LdiJ

Is not this site a digital asset ... to you ... because in registering ... it allows you to read content and post content (which is your creation) ... and you therefore receive value from it. Though the site is not your digital asset ... I would think the digital asset ... for you ... would be the content you post and your account information.

As to commercial sites you register to and purchase from ... in return for your registration is not the value you receive the opportunity to purchase stuff? Though the site is not you're digital asset ... isn't your digital asset your account information?

Let me try this a bit differently. Examples of digital assets:

A website owned by the person which generates revenue either via commerce or advertising.
Bitcoin or other digital currency.
Digital property

Things that are not digital assets:

Memberships in discussion forums
Subscriptions to websites
Netflix or Hulu memberships (or any similar site)

While those have value to the person they are not assets that can be passed to beneficiaries.

Now, while I understand what Adjusterjack was saying I disagree that a trustee would handle something like getting your credit cards deleted from online memberships or subscriptions. That would not normally be a duty of a trustee, that would be the duty of an executor or administrator of your estate. Your estate and your trust are separate things, although it is possible to appoint the same person that you appoint as the trustee to your trust, as the executor or administrator of your estate. However, the simpler (and more permanent) way to handle that would simply be for your executor to cancel the credit cards. That way they don't have to keep track of all your online subscriptions. Your cards would have to be cancelled anyway.

 

[cbg]

Let me try this a bit differently. Examples of digital assets:

A website owned by the person which generates revenue either via commerce or advertising.
Bitcoin or other digital currency.
Digital property

Things that are not digital assets:

Memberships in discussion forums
Subscriptions to websites
Netflix or Hulu memberships (or any similar site)

While those have value to the person they are not assets that can be passed to beneficiaries.

Now, while I understand what Adjusterjack was saying I disagree that a trustee would handle something like getting your credit cards deleted from online memberships or subscriptions. That would not normally be a duty of a trustee, that would be the duty of an executor or administrator of your estate. Your estate and your trust are separate things, although it is possible to appoint the same person that you appoint as the trustee to your trust, as the executor or administrator of your estate. However, the simpler (and more permanent) way to handle that would simply be for your executor to cancel the credit cards. That way they don't have to keep track of all your online subscriptions. Your cards would have to be cancelled anyway.

L, on a personal level, THANK YOU for such a clearly delineated post. DH and I are in the process of making financial plans an d plans for the inevitable as I'm starting to look at retirement (DH has already retired from teaching; he will probably never retire from consulting or writing) and this was really helpful. I knew the difference but this is such an easy explanation of it.

End Personal Thread Hijack

 

[Taxing Matters]

Yours is not a legal question.

I disagree. That definition will impact a variety of legal matters for the OP.

 

[Taxing Matters]

The reason I want to know is because my Trust requires me to identify my digital assets and specify how my Successor Trustee deals with them. My Trust defines Digital Asset as Personal Digital Property, Personal Digital Property with a monetary value and Digital Business Property. The gray area for me is Personal Digital Property ... which I would assume includes my website registration info, and content I've posted.

You created the trust. If you don't know what you meant by the term, no one else will either because in trust or probate proceeding the task of the judge is to try to carry out your intentions. If something isn't clear, the judge will basically have to guess at it, and that may or may not be what you wanted.

But there are some things that would help determine if something would likely be a digital asset. An asset is something you own, and may give away, sell, transfer, borrow against and destroy it. If it's your asset you don't need to ask permission of anyone else to assert that control over the asset.

You don't own content on sites you visit that you did not create and even with things you do create (like forum posts) the terms of service of every message board forum I've participated in makes it very clear that the site owns all content on it, including what you post there, though some sites have you retain an unrestricted license to use your own posts.

Based on what I defined earlier login information does not meet the requirements to be property. You don't own it and you don't decide how it will be used, and you can't sell it. Importantly for estate planning purposes, that information has absolutely no value to the estate since no one would be willing to pay for it. You do have a copyright interest in the work you create (e.g. your posts on a site) but you may find that the terms of service of the site say you agreed to transfer any such right to the site. Again, it's very unlikely that your posts have any value to an estate or trust.

The trustee and executor won't want to deal with anything that does not benefit the trust or estate, and that is not an obligation (like taxes, etc). Just more work that falls outside the scope of what they are supposed to do.

That said, if the trustee or executor is someone who is close to you and would want to tie up all the loose ends your death created, he or she may be willing to do that as a favor to you. I've thought a lot about what should be done to wrap up my participation on the sites where I've met people and and regularly chat with them. So I'm leaving behind instructions for my executor or trustee that it's my desire that my accounts be closed out and how to tell the people I knew that I'm dead so they aren't just left wondering why I suddenly no longer come around. Those instructions include all the needed information to be able to log into all my accounts and close them out like I want. My executor will be a close family member whom I trust will do that. The list in particular contains the information to close out any paid subscriptions I have so the estate or trust doesn't lose money to monthly subscription charges.

In short, I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for someone to take up the task and do it. But once I'm dead, they'll have no obligation to do what I ask to close things out as smoothly as possible. I just have accepted I can't control everything that happens once I'm gone. I won't be around to be bothered if they decide to skip it.