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3 Est. Plan. & Cmty. Prop. L.J. 301 (2010-2011)
Digital Life after Death: The Issue of Planning for a Person's Digital Assets after Death

handle is hein.journals/epcplj3 and id is 305 raw text is: DIGITAL LIFE AFTER DEATH: THE ISSUE OF PLANNING FOR A PERSON'S DIGITAL ASSETS AFTER DEATH I. THE ISSUE OF DIGITAL ASSETS AND ESTATE PLANNING...................302 A. Defining Digital Assets... ............................302 B. Issues in Estate Planning Created by Digital Assets................. 304 II. HOW THE WEBSITES ARE DEALING WITH DIGITAL ASSETS: THE EFFECTS OF PRIVACY ACTS AND DECEASED-USER ACTS.................308 A. Social-networking Sites...........................309 B. Web-Based E-Mail Accounts .............................. 310 C. Blogs and Online Content .................. ........311 III. SUGGESTIONS FOR DEALING WITH DIGITAL ASSETS IN REGARDS To ESTATE PLANNING ...................................314 A. Proper Planning. ................................ 315 B. Giving the Keys to the Estate. ................. ...... 316 C. A More Workable Alternative? ................. .....319 D. A Note on Wills......................................... 320 IV. THE FATE OF THE ILL-PREPARED ...................... .....321 A. Post-Mortem Identity Theft.................. .......321 B. Post-Mortem Content Theft from the Deceased's Blogs ...........321 V. CONCLUSION .................................... ......322 On November 13, 2004, Lance Cpl. Justin M. Ellsworth was killed in action while serving as a Marine in Fallujah.' His father, John Ellsworth, decided to create a memorial for his son by using the e-mails that Justin had sent and received while he was serving in Iraq.2 In order to do this, however, John Ellsworth needed access to his son's account, a request Yahoo! denied. Yahoo! claimed that if it granted Justin's parents access to his account, Yahoo! would be in direct violation of the privacy agreement that its users must agree to.4 Finally, after a heated court battle that lasted over three months, a Michigan court granted the Ellsworths access to their son's e-mail.5 1. See Who Owns Your E-Mails?, BBC NEWS, Jan. 11, 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hiluk-news/ magazine/4164669.stm. 2. See id. 3. See id. 4. See id. (stating that survivors have no rights to the e-mail accounts of the deceased). 5. See Yahoo Will Give Family Slain Marine's E-MailAccount, USA TODAY, Apr. 21, 2005, available at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-04-21-marine-e-mail-x.htm?POE= TECISVA. 301

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