The new idea that should be on everyone’s mind now and in the future is your ‘digital death’ and what you can do about the digital legacy you leave behind.  Even celebrities have gotten on the digital bandwagon – committing ‘digital suicide’ in an effort to raise money for charity.  Although their death was simply withdrawing from posting for a while – and not physical death – it sent a message.

When you think about all of your online assets, posts, blogs, information and other more personal data, it can be overwhelming to think about what will happen to all of your ‘digital stuff’ should you die.

Will family and friends be able to access it; will it sit in cyberspace for eternity?  Will everything you’ve uploaded and posted become inaccessible?  Or worse, will it sit out there for hackers to get hold of your personal information?

There are some things we should all be doing now, to alleviate the possibility of these things happening.

Most of us take care of the possibilities of our death by preparing a will, or living trust, but we must take these things a step further.

1. Make a website list - Create a list of every site that you have visited or have frequented and the passwords, and user ID’s to gain access.  This might take a while, but bookmarking pages that you visit might make things a little easier.  Then, once your bookmarks are complete, start the list.

While you are at it, clean up and delete old accounts you don’t use, or have not used in over 6 months.  No need to keep them alive after you’re gone!

2. Find out site policy - Contact the Webmaster or administrator of a site you use, and find out their policy on death.  Facebook requires specific documents, so each website and social network will require something different, so add that to the list!

3. Appraise your sites - In other words, make sure that the data that is on whatever sites you use, is appropriate for your family to view and visit.  If there are things or places you’d rather keep private, start creating a place to put these things that your family will not be able to access, and make sure the passwords are not similar to the ones you use on other sites.

4. - Email clean up - Start an alias email account so that the personal emails that you want to keep indefinitely, and are highly personal, cannot be accessed upon your death.  The idea is to create this secret account, on top of your normal email account, to lead your loved ones off the track.  And by all means, delete the emails and personal items you don’t want any longer.

5. - Find a Digital Executor - This person or company can be the same as the one who created your living will, or trust.  They are best because the information you’ve assembled can just be added to the legal will, and it won’t take family members on a major search to find that important document.

If you choose a personal executor, make sure that there are instructions should that person not outlive you.  And, keep this data in a safe deposit box, or a flash drive that cannot be accessed until your death.

6. - Create a digital will - This can be done, again, through your legal advisor or also there are online services that will allow you to create a digital will and they will keep it under lock and key, although it is suggested that you keep it somewhere else, in case the site goes down. Legacy Locker is a website that provides this service as well as Entrustet.

7. - Enlist a trusted family member - Talk to this person and explain what you are doing and how they might gain access to your will, and personal information.  Let them in on a few things, so they are not completely in the dark if something should happen to you.

8. - Use digital or cloud storage (like a flash drive or Dropbox) - These are great to transfer information from your computer to an external drive.  A flash drive can hold all of your information, and it can be locked in a safe or safety deposit box, with only one family member or your executor having the key. Another option is “cloud-based storage,” which are virtual folders that are stored on secure servers.

The most popular examples are Dropbox, iCloud, and Google Docs.  Having these kinds of storage options will keep your data even if your computers crash, are destroyed, lost, or stolen. Don’t wait until you die to do this; these are great practices to have while you’re alive!

9. Create a final status - There are some third-party applications, like on Facebook,  which allow you to create a final status upon death, such as one called ‘If I Die.’ Although it’s not entirely credible.  But the idea is to create a final post, or email to let acquaintances know that you enjoyed them, and will include a goodbye email, or a funeral invitation.  It should be a final goodbye for people who don’t warrant a phone call.

10. - Be sure to include final status in will - Make sure that your family member or executor knows about your final status goodbye post, or emails, so that the people you want notified will be.  Make a separate list of people who should receive the email, and where posts should be placed, and their emails and websites should be listed as well.

In the coming years, this process will become much more familiar, and there will be many services and attorneys who are on board.  But, in the meantime, taking care of these things will ensure a smooth, digital death.

Check out this cool video to learn more about the statistics of what our online habits, and thinking about them after death.