A deceased person’s identity deserves protection even after their death.
3. Digital Devices and Private Accounts
This is one category that many families overlook.
A deceased person’s old phone, laptop, tablet, external hard drive, or USB device may appear to be nothing more than an electronic object.
But inside these devices could be years of private photographs, messages, financial information, emails, passwords, documents, and personal conversations.
For that reason, you should think carefully before giving the device to someone else, selling it, resetting it, or simply leaving it accessible.
Digital possessions can also create complicated questions about who has the right to access certain accounts or files.
Rather than guessing passwords or accessing private accounts without authorization, families may need to follow the relevant legal and service-provider procedures for handling a deceased person’s digital estate.
Sometimes the most respectful thing you can do with a person’s digital belongings is protect their privacy.
Too Painful to Keep
This final category is different.
There may be nothing physically wrong with an item, yet keeping it can make grief harder.
Perhaps it is the chair where your loved one always sat. Maybe it is the coat they wore during their final months. Perhaps it is an entire room filled with belongings that you cannot look at without feeling overwhelmed.
