The dead can now pass on Bitcoin and Twitter followers in their will

UK startup Planned Departure helps protect digital legacies, securely storing digital currencies and online assets for loved ones or nonprofits named in the will.

Vast areas of people’s lives are now lived out in the digital world. Social media profiles, financial accounts and professional and personal emails are now regarded as digital assets and they are closely protected in life by passwords and access codes. But these protective measures can become unwelcome obstacles when someone dies, leaving behind a complicated and confusing digital legacy.

Often relatives and friends don’t know how much their loved ones have locked up in their e-wallets and PayPal accounts. But the UK’s Planned Departure is now offering users a comprehensive way to organize and protect their digital legacy, allowing the recently deceased to pass on assets such as Bitcoin and Twitter followers.

Komal Joshi founded the startup after the death of her own father in 2010, when she encountered problems finding the passwords and secret answers for all his online accounts. Functioning similarly to a traditional will and testament, Planned Departure’s customers can rest assured that whoever is involved with administering their estate will be able to access every part of their digital existence — eliminating time and effort spent dealing with digital service companies, and the distress it can cause for bereaved loved ones.

Users can sign up for the service indefinitely for GBP 199.99 or pay an annual fee of GBP 19.99. They then list their assets and their wishes for each one. These can include digital inheritance from e-wallets, currencies such as Bitcoin and AirMiles, sentimental documents such as photographs, text files and digital libraries of eBooks or downloaded music. Users with popular social media accounts — a Twitter account with many followers for example — can even donate them to a designated charity, enabling them to exploit their marketing value for a good cause.

Are there other ways that digital services can make it easier to deal with the assets that the deceased leave behind?