Forman Financial Services

Cloud Account and an Estate

The Cloud technology is becoming  the norm.  We use it to save our important documents as well as photographs and other data, be it personal or business.  There is no doubt that this is a  very convenient way to store information and access it.

However, you need to be aware of what will happen if the account holder suddenly dies.  Some cloud storage providers have a policy that the account is deleted upon a person’s death.  This can mean losses of important digital information and if there is no back up this will create absolute loss.

Small business owners will sometimes create a personal cloud account and save the business information there.  Again, if this person should die the information relating to the business will be lost.

It is important to understand that a simple solution, like giving someone access to their user name & password for them to login if the person dies, can create a serious offense (as it is considered an impersonation of a deceased person).

On the other hand, if the executor of the deceased estate contacts the provider in order to retrieve the account information, the act of the contact itself may result in the information being deleted immediately if that is their policy.

The solution is simply to check with your cloud provider on their policy regarding this.  If it is an issue you should create an alternative backup plan.

For more information on this subject feel free to get in touch with us click here

To receive free updates on relevant information click here

To read more about specialised service offers for Financial Planning please click here