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Saturday, September 22, 2007

Ind. Law - Passwords and probate

An editorial today in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette talks about problems with accessing financial and other information locked behind passwords in decedents' estate. The article concludes:

The issue received national attention in 2005 when the parents of a Michigan man killed in combat in Iraq sought his e-mails, hoping to preserve the messages he sent and received. Initially, e-mail provider Yahoo! refused, saying it wouldn’t give e-mail access to someone other than the account holder. The parents sued in probate court, and Yahoo! complied.

“This used to be a fairly large problem because we had no process in place for how you deal with everything stored on someone’s computer,” said Kristin Fruehwald, an attorney with Barnes & Thornburg in Indianapolis.

“Used to” because the Indiana General Assembly – in legislation authored by Sen. David Ford, R-Hartford City – adopted procedures this year that took effect July 1. The common-sense requirements: A personal representative of an estate is entitled to receive the electronically stored account information of a deceased person by presenting a death certificate and proof of being the representative. The custodian of the information must not destroy it for at least two years after receiving a request.

Electronically stored information could have its own value, Ford said. For example, a book in progress may be stored over an online service.

The issue may seem like a good reason to keep copies of passwords, but Fruehwald encourages people to remember those warnings – writing down passwords does make you more vulnerable. And giving them to a trusted relative or friend is a risk – they don’t always remain trusted for lifetimes.

Fruehwald does encourage people to keep a written record of the account in a safe place, though, so relatives and others dealing with an estate at least know early on what accounts to look for.

Though the new law addresses how to get the proper information from banks, the password question raises other issues. What about password-protected photo albums stored on a computer, for example?

And though the law deals with estates, it doesn’t address situations when people become ill, can’t remember their passwords and aren’t able to contact the account holder.

“It’s going to be a big problem in the future,” Fruehwald said.

Here is the new law referenced in the editorial, SEA 212 (PL 12-2007, SEC. 1). You can also find the new provision, IC 29-1-13-1.1, here, in the Indiana Code.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 22, 2007 11:03 AM
Posted to Indiana Law