Essential steps for digital accounts

If your caregiving duties have grown to include help with managing finances, chances are you need access to online accounts your loved one has created. But while that may seem simple, it isn't always so. Here's what you need to know.

Password intel isn't enough. 

While you may know the user names and passwords to all your loved one’s accounts, you need to be sure you have legal permission too.

Why? Passwords can be changed or re-set. For example if the company recognizes a new login from a new computer, it could block your access for security reasons. You could get cut off, and without legal permission you would have no way to get back into the account.

New rules to know. 

An act passed in 2016 called the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) for the first time recognizes digital assets as property. That can make it easier to authorize your power of attorney and other people authorized to act on your behalf to access your assets online.

Consider this legal document.

“We recommend a Digital Asset Authorization for all of our clients,” says Margaret Barrett, owner of Safe Harbor Estate Law in St. Paul, Minn.

Like a will, power of attorney or any other legal document, there are online services that can help you DIY. But an elder law specialist can simplify things.