What happens to your Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Ebay, PayPal
and other digital assets when you die? According to the current
Canadian law, we do not know.
At the present time, neither the federal nor provincial
legislatures have addressed this growing issue in estate
administration. While some electronic service providers may
cooperate with an Executor who presents a Grant of Probate or a
similarly vetted document, they are under no compulsion
under law to do so, absent a court order.
Electronic service providers may be bound by privacy laws or
other restrictive user agreements which do not provide or allow for
the succession of a deceased's digital assets. This leaves the
eerie possibility that a deceased's Facebook account might
remain active long after their death and may even potentially
generate activity through various auto updating site integrations.
Quite the dilemma for the Executor and loved ones of the
deceased.
