I recently read a blog article about a father whose son was killed in Iraq. After his son died the father was unable to access his Yahoo! email account. Eventually, through a court order, the father gained access to the account.
Of course, any virtual safe deposit box with adequate functionality is able to record information about digital assets (like a Yahoo! email account) and forward information after death. However, after thinking it through a little further, I wondered, "Is it really accurate to assume that you can assign a beneficiary to your Yahoo! email account?" The answer lies in the Yahoo! Terms of Service(TOS).
Section 27 of the Yahoo! TOS states "You agree that your Yahoo! account is non-transferable and any rights to your Yahoo! ID or contents within your account terminate upon your death. Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate, your account may be terminated and all contents therein permanently deleted." Ouch...According to this clause, my assignment of a beneficiary to this digital asset means nothing! If the account is non-transferable no one, but me, should ever be able to access it. Even worse, depending on local law, access to this account by a third party may be viewed as a security breach (i.e. criminal offense).
Section 6 of the Yahoo! TOS states "Yahoo! may access, preserve and disclose your account information and Content if required to do so by law or in a good faith belief that such access preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to...comply with legal process;" So, the only way for anyone to legally access your Yahoo! account after death is through a court order, which is costly in terms of money, time, and emotion. Alternatively, you may be able to mention your Yahoo! account in a pour-over will as part of a revocable trust. I strongly recommend that you seek out an estate planning professional for exact details on your specific situation.
You get what you pay for...The free Yahoo! email account provides no way to back up or save your emails offline. If you want to avoid the tedious process of copy/paste to save your emails, Yahoo Mail Plus ($19.99/year) allows you to copy emails into Microsoft Outlook. The Outlook pst file can be accessed offline, legally after death.
The bottom line...If access to email after death is really important you need to plan ahead. A free email account may have unacceptable terms and conditions. Business email accounts should be an important part of any business continuity plan. Most important of all, never assume that using a virtual safe deposit box can allow you to circumvent legal processes!
James Bell
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