Social Media Part Two: Removing The Deceaseds’ Accounts

A total of sixty-nine percent of people living in the U.S. have at least one social media account, according to a recent Pew Research Center study. This begs the question: What happens to a person’s social media accounts when they die? It turns out, family members and friends of the deceased typically have two options when it comes to handling the deceased’s accounts. They can either be deactivated or memorialized. Last week’s post discussed how to deactivate or memorialize a deceased person’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram. These two social media platforms are the most popular, according to the Pew study. The third and fourth most frequently used platforms weren’t far behind in popularity, though. For this reason, we’ve added part two to our social media how to post. In this week’s addition to last week’s post, we discuss how to deactivate or memorialize a deceased family member’s Pinterest and LinkedIn accounts.

Pinterest

 

Pinterest is the third most popular socia media platform in the U.S., according to the Pew study. A total of twenty-nine percent of adults in the U.S. have an account and can pin posts to their boards to their hearts content. The process of removing a deceased individual’s Pinterest account is straightforward and similiar to the removal process for Facebook and Instagram. Unlike Facebook and Instagram, however, memorializing a Pinterest account is not an option. Using this link, you can send an email to care@pinterest.com to start the process for removing a deceased individual’s Pinterest account. The following information should be included in the email:

1. First, include your full name as well as the full name of the deceased.
2. Include a link to the deceased’s account. (Example: pinterest.com/JaneDoe)
3. Next, include proof of death, such as a link to an obituary or a copy of the deceased’s death certificate.
4. Send proof of your relationship to the person, such as a marriage certificate, birth certificate, or notorized proof of relation.
5. Finally, hit send.

 

It’s important to note that Pinterest cannot provide an individual’s login information to another person. This shouldn’t be a problem when deactivating an account, though. All you need is a link to the person’s page, which you can view by searching for their profile here: https://pinterest.com/all/.

LinkedIn

 

LinkedIn is the fourth most popular social media platform in the U.S. A total of twenty-five percent of adults have a profile on the networking platform’s website. Similar to Pinterest, you cannot memorialize a LinkedIn account. Using this link, you can deactivate an account of a deceased person. To fill out the form, complete the following steps.

1. First, fill in your first name, last name, and email address.
2. Next, add the deceased’s full name as well as a link to their profile.
3. Select your relationship to the deceased from the answers provided. Options include immediate family, extended family, and non-family.
4. Add additinal information about the deceased, including the date they passed away, a link to their obituary, and any extra information you’d like to include.
5. Finally, type your full name into the box to give a digital signature. Hit submit.

 

No additional information is needed to submit a request for removal to LinkedIn.

To contact Boyum Law Firm for help with estate planning, click here.

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Social Media How To: Removing The Deceaseds’ Accounts

Pew Research Center recently published a study  on the amount of Americans using social media. The study found a whopping sixty-nine percent of people in the U.S. have at least one type of social media account. Even older adults are in on the trend, but what happens to a person’s photos, pins, likes, and hashtags when they die? Can family members remove the deceased’s account? It turns out, family members can do that and more since keeping the accounts for memorial purposes is an option as well. In this post, we will discuss how to remove or memorialize the Facebook and Instagram accounts of a deceased loved one.

#1: Facebook

 

Facebook is the most widely used social media platform in the U.S., according to the Pew study. Luckily, the site’s removal process is fairly straightforward and easy to find on the web. Using this link, you can fill out a form to request the removal or memorialization of a medically incapacitated or deceased person’s account. Use the following steps to complete the form.

1. First, enter your full name as well as the name of the person’s account you are trying to remove.
2. Next, enter the URL of the person’s timeline as well as the email address tied to the account. You can copy and paste the URL when visiting their page.
3. Finally, select whether you would like the account to be deactivated or memorialized. You can also make a special request or ask a question. Then, hit send.

 

There are a few important things to note about the removal process for a Facebook account. One, Facebook cannot provide anyone with another person’s login information. This could become a problem if you don’t know the deceased’s user email for the account. Two, Facebook has to verify that you are a family member of the deceased or the executor of their estate. This verification step helps to prevent people from deactivating a living person’s account.

#2: Instagram

Instagram has been steadily growing over the last few years. As of 2018, it’s the second most popular social media platform with a total of thirty-five percent of U.S. adults owning an account. The process of removing an Instagram account is very similar to the process of removing a Facebook account. Using this link, you can fill out a form to have a deceased family member’s account deactivated. Use the following steps to complete the form.

1. Enter your full name and email address.
2. Next, enter the name of the deceased. Copy and paste the URL of their account, and include a link to their account.
3. Enter the date he or she died and provide proof that you’re a family member. A copy of the deceased’s death certificate, birth certificate, or proof that you are a representative of their estate is required.
4. Finally, type in any comments or additional information. Hit send.

 

The Instagram removal process also has some additional information worth knowing. The process for memorializing an Instagram account is the same as removing it. However, the form is under a different link, which can be found here. Proof of death, such as a link to the deceased’s obituary, is still required for memorialization. Instagram’s website says the platform tries to prevent memorialized accounts from appearing in a way that would be upsetting to the deceased’s friends and family. Similar to Facebook, the deceased’s login information is protected and cannot be given out.

To contact Boyum Law Firm for help with creating estate planning documents, click here.

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Love, Marriage, and Estate Planning

Though it may not be obvious, love and estate planning go hand-in-hand. After all, protecting and providing for loved ones is what estate planning documents are for. Or, what they’re usually for. When it comes to married couples and estate planning, history has proven all bets are off. Some people choose to leave a sweet surprise for their surviving spouse. Others make bizarre requests, bequests, and demands. Read on to discover a round up of the sweet and sour couples that have used their estate plans to express their love – or lack thereof – to their spouses.

The Sweet: Flowers from beyond the grave

Radio and television comedian Jack Benny included a provision in his will to have flowers delivered daily to his widow, Mary Livingston. Livingston wrote about the sweet gesture in a biography about her husband of nearly 50 years. The title of the biography is ‘One Long-Stemmed Rose’ because according to Livingston’s obituary printed in the New York Times, “every day since Jack has gone the florist has delivered one long-stemmed red rose to my home.” The daily flower deliveries were said to contradict her husband’s TV persona as a penny pincher.

The Sour: Inheritance Restrictions

The will created by German poet Heinrich Heine falls on the opposite end of the love spectrum. After battling with spinal tuberculosis, Heine died and left his estate to his wife, Mathilde. However, his bequest came with one condition: she must remarry so that “at least one man would regret” his death. Mathilde fulfilled the condition and inherited the estate. No one knows if her second marriage proved to be as rocky as her first.

The Otherworldly: Yearly Seances

Escape artist Harry Houdini was a spiritualist, which is why he and his wife, Bess, promised each other that whoever died first would try to contact the other from beyond the grave, according to magictricks.com . The couple created a secret phrase in advance, which spelled out “believe” when the first letter of each word of the phrase was put together. After Houdini died on October 31, 1926, Bess began to conduct seances on the anniversary of his death. She gave up after receiving no contact for ten years.

The Snub: The Second Best Bed

William Shakespeare left his wife, Anne, his second best bed. The best bed was given to the couple’s daughter, Susanna, since she inherited the house. Though leaving your wife your second best bed instead of the best one would be considered a snub in modern society, experts say it wasn’t in 1616, according to this Telegraph article. They came to this conclusion after scientists at the National Archives and British Library used x-ray and infrared technology to study Shakespeare’s will. They discovered that the clause leaving his second best bed to his wife was added a month before his death. The scientists believe Shakespeare knew he was dying and since the best bed stayed with the house, giving his wife the second best bed ensured she was taken care of.

To contact Boyum Law Firm to create estate planning documents, click here.

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Three Things to Consider When Leaving Inheritances

From family heirlooms to property to wealth, people often have a variety of items to pass on to heirs. However, knowing what you have to pass down is usually easier to figure out than deciding who gets what. Divvying up your estate doesn’t have to be difficult or lead to family warfare. With a well thought out plan in place, you can make sure all your heirs are happy. Read on to discover three things to consider when deciding how to split inheritances among heirs.

1. What does fair mean to you and your heirs?

Many people try to keep things fair and equal among their heirs. In order to do so, people often give each heir the same amount of assets. However, life isn’t fair or equal, so odds are the inheritances you gift shouldn’t be, either. As discussed in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, parents often provide one child with more financial support than the others throughout their life. If you’ve paid for a child’s education or loaned them money, it’s fair to consider leaving them less than their siblings since you’ve given them more already. Additionally, if one of your heirs has a medical disability, it makes sense for you to leave them more. That way, they will have access to the financial resources they need even after you’re gone. However, caution and communication are important if you go this route. You should talk to your heirs about why you’ve made the decision to split things unequally in order to avoid hurt feelings and family warfare. Since splitting things unequally often does cause conflict, many people choose to split things equally. Ultimately, you know your heirs best and can make the decision that’s best for everyone.

2. What value does an item or asset have?

Some items or assets in your estate have obvious, concrete value, such as bank accounts. Other assets, like stocks or houses, have a value that fluctuates with time. Then you have a third category of items, which don’t have any monetary value but are sentimentally valuable. When it comes to the first and second categories, it’s easy to figure out how to divvy up who gets what based on how you decide to split inheritances. The third category is where it gets tricky. Items with sentimental value are tricky to divide because if more than one heir wants an item, there’s no way to split it equally. You can’t just give an heir another item worth the same amount of money because they don’t want a sentimental item for its monetary value.

To solve this problem, you can go about dividing sentimental items in a variety of ways:

• • • Leave it to chance: Ask heirs if they’re interested in a sentimental item in order to see who wants it. Then, draw names out of a hat and let chance decide for you.
    • Split items equally: Divide up all the sentimental items in your estate and tell each heir they can only have one item.
    • Make the decision yourself: Give the item to a specific heir of your choice. It’s your estate, so you do have final say. However, if you choose this option, you should provide your heirs with an explanation as to why you’ve chosen a specific person to receive the item. This will help prevent hurt feelings and fights.

    The possibilities are endless when it comes to deciding how to divide sentimental items. Ultimately, you should choose the option that best fits your families needs.

    3. Do your heirs need a test run?

    Another important thing to consider when deciding how to leave inheritances is if your heirs need a test run with your assets. Suddenly receiving assets or being handed the family business could cause heirs to crash and burn, as explained in this Huff Post article. Assets could be wasted or the family business could struggle to stay afloat if your heirs aren’t prepared for the responsibility. One way to ensure your heirs are prepared is to give them a test run. With a test run, you can watch over your heirs and provide guidance. Your heirs will have a chance to ask questions and seek out advice on how to manage assets or run the business. If your heirs have experience with running the business or handling assets, they might not need a test run. Still, it doesn’t hurt to give them the chance to seek help while you’re still around.

    To contact Boyum Law Firm for help with estate planning, click here.

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