Obituary hijackers

Wired describes the rise of obituary pirates hijacking online death notices and obituaries on YouTube. 

Resources newly available online

 In July 2020, after nearly 40 years of active, full-time practice, I scaled back to part-time practice. I continue to work about half-time. 

I have spent some time updating and, in some cases, annotating some of the tools that I had been using in my practice, and they have now been posted online at tech.906law.net. With one exception, all are free for anyone to use. They include: 

2021 Tax Calculator (Excel) - There are times that you want to have a projection of what the overall tax burden will be, assuming a certain level of earned income. This calculator will give you that projection. 

IRA Calculator (Excel) - Assuming a specified value for an IRA, 401(k) plan, or other similar retirement plan, this will give you a projection of what the required distributions (RMDs) will be when they begin at age 72, and how the increases in value and drawdowns over the next three decades will affect its overall value. There are two versions included, one that begins at age 72 and another that begins as early as age 60 and tracks increases with or without distributions until the age 72. (Free for personal use, but subject to a $50 licensing fee when used by a planner to advise a client.) 

SECURE distribution calculator (Excel) - For IRAs (etc.) inherited by a designated beneficiary who is not subject to one of four specified exceptions, the amount in the account can no longer be distributed over the beneficiary’s life expectancy, but rather must be distributed over the ten years following the death of the IRA owner (or her surviving spouse in many cases). This calculator again plots out increases in value and drawdowns with yearly or occasional distributions. 

Digital and Online Inventory (Word) - A place to record email accounts, online accounts, web pages, domains, electronic access to bank accounts, investment accounts, credit cards, software registration, etc. with contact information and passwords.  

US LawNet - A directory of the sites and resources most useful to practicing lawyers in the states that it covers. This site had its origin in a personal web page that I developed for my own use in the mid-1990s, and later posted online as a “publicly-accessible private site” as www.michlaw.net. It has now been expanded to include ten states - five Great Lakes states and the five most populous states - and is publicly available for free use.  

Recently encountered

How to Help When It's Not Your Money
The Washington Post's Color of Money Book Club introduces the series of informational booklets published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to assist fiduciaries in managing money for another. There are four, for the assistance of trustees, court-appointed conservators, agents under a power of attorney, and representative payees / VA fiduciaries.

Compassionate Allowances
The Social Security Administration's guide to the medical conditions that permit a disabled person to quickly qualify for SSDI benefits. Provides links to the full list of diagnoses and contact for the Compassionate Allowances Team.

The Underwriting Library
published by First American Title Insurance Company

An online compilation of forms, rates, standards and guidelines, etc. for real estate title insurance.

Discussing Death over Dinner
The Atlantic

Discussing a new organization and its website, which is aimed at encouraging frank talk about death - and life. Somewhat like the Conversation Project, also briefly mentioned in the article, but with a twist.

Control over a decedent's information

An article in P.C. World reports that Yahoo is voicing opposition to Delaware's new "Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets and Digital Accounts Act," which gives executors of estates (called "personal representatives" in Michigan) broad access to the online messages and accounts of a decdent. The statute provides: "A fiduciary with authority over digital assets or digital accounts of an account holder under this chapter shall have the same access as the account holder." Yahoo's terms of service instead call for the information to be deleted when it is notified of the death. This approach, it says, is more compatible with the wishes of its users. Unlike money or physical property, Yahoo notes, it is incorrect to assume that the decedent would want his information turned over to his executor.

The article reports that Google and Facebook have generally expressed agreement with Yahoo's stance.

Note, however, that Delaware's new provision would still permit the individual to designate a person other than his executor to carry out any special directives he may have with respect to digital assets, accounts, and information.