November 11, 2024
This week, Trusts & Estates chair Suzanne Brown Walsh was quoted in an article by The Minnesota Star Tribune on the topic of digital assets in estate and lifetime planning. The article discusses the challenges families face when trying to access the digital assets and property of their deceased loved ones and offers insights from Suzy Walsh and Jim Lamm (Lathrop GPM), seasoned estate planning attorneys.
Both Jim and Suzy played roles in Ajemian v. Yahoo, a case where siblings of a Massachusetts man sued Yahoo for access to his email account after his death and engaged in a years-long legal battle that went to the state and U.S. Supreme Courts.
For those with online accounts, Suzy recommends signing a consent form, which allows online platforms to disclose digital assets otherwise protected under the Stored Communications Act, a federal data privacy law that prohibits disclosure of a person's communications without their lawful consent. By doing so, the individual can facilitate the disclosure of their digital assets to loved ones in the event of their passing.
Suzy has frequently written and spoken on the topic of digital assets in estate planning and has been quoted in several publications including New York Times, Time Magazine, Bloomberg BNA’s Electronic Commerce Law Report, The Chattanooga Times Free Press, The Kansas City Star and by NBC News, CBS News and Agence France-Presse.
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