What happens to your e-mail account when you die?

You may never have thought about what will happen to your e-mail or social media after your death, and you may never read those long "terms of service" agreements required by many online services. Two Massachusetts siblings have been forced to consider these topics recently, while engaged in a long legal battle to get access to their deceased brother's email.

A man named Robert opened a Yahoo! e-mail account for his brother John in 2002. In 2006, John was killed in a car accident. Robert then tried to log in to John's email so that he could notify friends and family about John's memorial service, but he did not have the correct password. Robert and his sister Marianne then asked Yahoo! to give them access to John's e-mail account to help them find his assets and administrate his estate. At first, Yahoo! agreed to do this if they could get a copy of John's death certificate. Later, it refused based on a federal law called the Stored Communications Act, which is designed to protect the privacy of online service users.

Robert and Marianne got a court order allowing them to get "subscriber and e-mail header information," but after further negotiation with Yahoo! they were unable to get the contents of John's e-mails. They brought a case in Massachusetts probate court against Yahoo!, asking that the court declare that the contents of John's email were part of his estate.

So are e-mail messages part of the property of an estate under Massachusetts law? The appeals court has not yet reached an answer on this issue. Instead, it addressed some preliminary issues stemming from the Yahoo! e-mail terms of service agreement. The court determined that the provision in the terms of service requiring Robert and Marianne to use the California court was not enforceable, because they never received adequate communication of it until they began litigation. The case will go back to the lower court for more analysis. However, this case only involves a Yahoo! e-mail account, and does not deal with social networking sites, photos, reviews, and the other types of online content you may create.

What can you do to ensure your wishes are followed after your death? Only five states currently have estate laws that deal with electronic data, and Massachusetts is not one of them. If you have a Google account, you can sign up for "Inactive Account Manager," which gives access to a trusted person after a specified period of time without account activity. For your electronic data as well as all other property, it is wise to have an estate plan in place. Although the law around electronic data is complex and is still developing, Glickman Turley attorneys can help you come up with a plan that fits your needs.

2012 Estate and Gift Tax Exemption Increases

While the future of the gift tax and estate tax remains in the hands of Congress, we have some certainty for 2012. The Unified Credit Exclusion amount for gift and estate taxes is indexed to inflation and is set at $5.120,000 for the year 2012. The top gift and estate tax rate remains at 35%. Other inflation adjusted numbers have changed including the personal exemption ($3,800) and the standard deduction. More information can be found at Revenue Procedure 2011-52.

U-Visa for Victims of Crime

Attorneys at Glickman Turley LLP represent a variety of clients on U-visa petitions. Our clients who have been victims of domestic violence, sexual crimes, and racially motivated attacks have been granted protection in the US in the form of a temporary 4-year U-visa and later permanent resident status.

You may be eligible for a U-visa if you have been the victim of a crime in the US, have suffered substantial physical or emotional injuries, and helped or will help law enforcement with the investigation or prosecution of the crime. Please contact our attorneys if you believe that you may be eligible for a U-visa or if you would like to discuss representation on other immigration matters. Our attorneys also represent clients on matters relating to real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil ligitation, business litigation, business law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, adoptions, and guardianships, animal law, gay lesbian bisexual transgender law.

Also, please see a recent USCIS memorandum regarding its approval of 10,000 U-visa petitions in the past year.