There is a whole new world of digital planning that financial planners need to learn about. Specifically, they need to learn about their clients’ digital assets and help build estate plans that include them.
On a recent Journal on the Round webinar hosted by Bill Harris, co-founder of WH Cornerstone Investments and chairman of the FPA of Massachusetts, he asked a survey question and received 199 responses.
Poll of attendees: Which of the following best describes your engagement with digital asset estate planning?
• 3 percent answered: A lot. I have worked with my clients to develop a plan (management, inventory, etc…)
• 42 percent answered: A little. I have discussed digital assets planning with my clients, but have not integrated it into their estate plan.
• 55 percent answered: Not at all. I don’t know enough about it so have not addressed the issue with my clients.
The poll results made it clear that the majority of the webinar attendees need to know more on this topic. Thankfully Richard Ploss, counsel to Porzio, Bromberg & Newman P.C., and Michael Dribin, a partner of Harper Meyer Perez Hagen O'Connor Albert & Dribin, LLP, were able to educate the attendees on the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (“RUFADAA”), which has financial planning and estate planning implications.
What Is A Digital Asset?
Now, like tangible personal property, there are rights to digital property. Ploss shared three points about digital assets:
• They are electronic records in which an individual has a right or interest.