DIGITAL LEGACY FOR AUTHORS (AND EVERYONE ELSE): DIGITAL MEDIA VS DIGITAL ASSETS
Last verified: 12 January 2026 (England & Wales)
If you are an author, your “estate” is not just your home, your bank accounts, and your car.
It is also your words.
Drafts, research, final manuscripts, contracts, royalties, your email list, your author website, and the accounts readers use to find you. In other words, the work itself, and the machinery around it.
For years, the law and day-to-day reality have been out of step. Digital life moved quickly. Estate planning did not. That has now started to change.
The law is catching up. Your planning needs to catch up too.
Quick-read summary
There are two separate issues that often get mixed together:
- Digital media (your accounts and online presence)
These are the places you exist online: social media, email, subscriptions, cloud storage, and services linked to your identity. - Digital assets (things with value)
These are things that can carry financial value or long-term legacy value: manuscripts, copyright, royalties, domain names, monetised channels, and (for some people) cryptocurrency.
This applies to Wills, Letters of Wishes, and LPAs (Property & Finance), because it affects both “while you’re alive” planning and “after death” planning.
Where this fits in real planning (in one minute)
- During life: a Property & Finance LPA can help trusted attorneys manage online services, subscriptions, and essential accounts if you cannot.
- After death: your Will sets the authority and the responsibility, including who should deal with your writing, rights, and any ongoing income.
- A Letter of Wishes often carries the human detail: what you want done, what you want protected, and what should never be published.
PART 1: DIGITAL MEDIA (ACCOUNTS, PRESENCE, AND SUBSCRIPTIONS)
Most problems in digital legacy are not tech problems. They are clarity problems. Who has authority, what they are allowed to do, and what you would want.
What “digital media” means in real life
Digital media is the online layer of your life, including:
- Social accounts (Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok)
- Email accounts
- Cloud storage and file systems (Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox)
- Subscriptions (writing tools, website hosting, newsletters, software)
- Devices and access routes (phone, laptop, tablet, password managers)
For most people, the goal is not for someone to “inherit” these accounts. It is for the right person to be able to do what is needed, lawfully and confidently, such as:
- close an account
- archive it
- memorialise it (where a platform offers this)
- preserve content that matters
For authors, this is not just “tidying up”. These accounts can be part of your professional identity and your ongoing reader relationships.
What good planning avoids
When I speak with people about digital legacy, the same three problems come up again and again:
- Nobody knows what exists (accounts, subscriptions, platforms)
- Nobody has clear authority to deal with it (or they are not sure what they are allowed to do)
- Nobody knows what you would have wanted, especially for public-facing accounts
“Please sort my accounts out” is not an instruction. It is a burden. A good plan turns it into a short, doable list with clear authority and clear intent.
Wills and LPAs: why both matter for digital media
Most people only think about digital clean-up after death. Authors and business owners often need support in life as well.
A Property and Finance Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) can matter while you are alive, because attorneys may need to manage the practical digital side of your finances and admin, for example:
- dealing with subscriptions and renewals
- accessing online billing and service portals
- keeping essential accounts running (or stopping them) during illness, incapacity, or crisis
Your Will then deals with the post-death picture, including who is responsible for your digital life and what outcomes you want.
PART 2: DIGITAL ASSETS (VALUE, RIGHTS, AND LEGACY)
A simple way to understand digital assets (especially for authors)
Digital assets are not the same thing as “online accounts”. They are things that may carry value, even if they exist entirely in electronic form.
For authors, there are three layers that matter:
- The work
Drafts, manuscripts, edits, research notes, correspondence, audio files, and master documents. - The rights
Copyright, permissions, contracts with publishers and agents, rights reversion clauses, translations, audio rights, and any co-author arrangements. - The routes to money and control
Royalty statements and portals, payment routes, self-publishing dashboards, website and domain control, mailing lists, and monetised channels.
If you miss any one of those layers, the work can be mishandled even with the best intentions.
Why this matters now: the Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025
This topic is not only “trendy”. The legal landscape has started to move.
The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 reinforces a key point: something is not excluded from being “property” just because it is digital, electronic, or does not fit neatly into older categories. It is a small Act with a big signal. Digital value is being treated more seriously.
What it does not do is just as important:
- It does not override platform terms and conditions.
- It does not guarantee that families will get full access to private accounts.
- It does not turn every online account into a transferable asset.
So the practical takeaway is this: legal recognition helps, but it does not replace planning. Your executor still needs to know what exists, where it is, and what you wanted.
Legal recognition helps. It does not remove the need for clarity, records, and sensible role choices.
Digital assets beyond writing (kept intentionally broad)
This article is written for authors, but the same logic applies to other digital assets, such as:
- cryptocurrency holdings and online wallets
- domain names and paid digital services
- monetised channels and digital products
- valuable digital libraries, paid memberships, and subscription-based income streams
The “specialist person” option: a practical advantage for authors
For many families, the main executor is chosen because they are trusted and responsible. That is sensible.
For authors, there is often a second, equally sensible question:
Who is best placed to protect and manage the writing itself, the rights, and the income routes that sit around it?
Sometimes the answer is the same person. Often it is not.
A separate person (or a clearly defined specialist role) for the “author estate” can be valuable where:
- your main executor is not commercially confident, not digitally confident, or is emotionally too close to the work
- your writing involves ongoing income streams, rights management, or active publishing relationships
- there are unfinished manuscripts or sensitive archives
- there are co-authors, agents, publishers, or collaborators who need careful coordination
This is not about making things complicated. It is about giving the right responsibilities to the right person, so your family is not forced to improvise.
Letters of Wishes: where authorship and legacy become clear
A Letter of Wishes can sit alongside your Will (and can also complement an LPA) to capture what a legal document should not try to spell out in detail.
For authors, this can include:
- what your “legacy” means to you (publish, protect, donate, keep private)
- what should happen to unfinished manuscripts
- where key material is located (and how it is organised at a high level)
- who should be consulted (agent, editor, publisher, co-author)
- what is confidential or personal, and how you want it handled
A Letter of Wishes is often where a family executor stops guessing and starts acting with confidence.
A practical support point (kept general)
If you become a client, we provide structured ways to record and organise the information your executors and attorneys will need, so they are not hunting through devices and old emails under pressure. For example:
- a clear list of accounts and subscriptions
- where key documents and files are held
- passwords and access-code continuity (recorded safely, not written into a Will)
- a record of which organisations have accepted your attorneys under your LPA
- a practical checklist of first actions and key contacts to reduce stress for families
The aim is simple: legal authority needs to be usable. Good records turn authority into practical action.
Cases
Grace is a self-published author with a growing backlist.
Without a plan, her sibling executor closes “unused” accounts and misses the publishing dashboard and email list. Royalties still arrive, but admin problems snowball and reader communication dies overnight. With a plan, the family executor handles the estate, while a publishing-savvy friend has a clearly defined role to preserve files, keep the publishing engine stable, and coordinate with platforms calmly.
Imran has a traditional publisher, a literary agent, and translation rights in two territories.
Without a plan, nobody can quickly locate the contracts or understand what the agent is holding. Rights conversations stall, and opportunities expire. With a plan, the key relationships and documents are mapped at a high level, and the right person knows who to contact and what to preserve first.
Beth has an unfinished manuscript she wants published only if it meets her standards.
Without a plan, the family executor either does nothing (fear of getting it wrong) or hands it over too quickly (pressure and uncertainty). With a plan, her Letter of Wishes explains her intention, her quality threshold, and who she trusts to review, so the executor can act without carrying the moral weight alone.
Paul has a large research archive and sensitive correspondence that must remain private.
Without a plan, cloud storage is accessed informally and copied around the family, creating conflict and privacy risks. With a plan, authority and scope are clear, confidentiality is respected, and what matters is preserved properly.
Nina runs a modest but meaningful author brand: website, newsletter, and a reader community.
Without a plan, accounts stay live indefinitely, subscriptions continue, and her family avoids touching anything for fear of making a mistake. With a plan, her attorneys can manage essential admin during life if needed, and her executors can archive or memorialise accounts after death in the way she wanted.
Tom holds cryptocurrency alongside his writing income.
Without a plan, the crypto is effectively invisible and may be lost. With a plan, it is treated as part of the wider digital assets picture, with clear authority and a clear route to dealing with it, without turning the Will into a technical manual.
If you want the technical detail (optional)
Ownership vs licence
Some digital value is truly owned. Some is only a personal licence to use a service. Planning works best when it recognises the difference.
Authority vs access
Knowing a password is not the same as having legal authority. Good planning focuses on lawful authority, clear scope, and practical guidance.
Platform terms still matter
Even where an executor has legal authority, platforms can impose their own processes and limits. Planning reduces friction, but it cannot promise full access to every account.
For authors, rights management is often the real asset
The manuscript file matters, but rights and contracts often determine long-term value. This is where role clarity and good records make the biggest difference.
Do my family automatically get access to my accounts when I die?
Not automatically. Platforms often have their own processes, and access can be limited. Planning is about authority, clarity, and practical information so the right person can act.
Can I leave my social media accounts to someone in my Will?
You can leave wishes and instructions, but many platforms do not treat accounts as transferable property. A good plan focuses on the outcomes you want (close, memorialise, archive, preserve content) and who will carry that out.
Why mention LPAs in an article about digital legacy?
Because digital life does not pause when someone becomes unwell. Attorneys may need to manage digital admin, subscriptions, and online services during life, not just after death.
What is the biggest mistake authors make with digital legacy?
Assuming the work is “safe because it’s in the cloud”, and assuming a family executor will naturally understand what matters. Clarity and role choice are what protect the legacy.
Do I need a separate executor or specialist role for my writing?
Not always. It depends on your family, your work, and the complexity of your rights and income. The point is that you have the option to choose the right person for the right responsibilities.
Is a Letter of Wishes worth it for authors?
Very often, yes. It allows you to express intention, context, and preferences in a human way, without forcing complex detail into a formal legal document.
Next steps:
If you are reading this as an author, you can also share it with the person you expect to be your executor or attorney. Used that way, it works as a starter checklist for a practical conversation.
- Make a simple list of your digital media (accounts, subscriptions, key devices) and your digital assets (work, rights, income routes).
- Decide who would be best placed to handle your author legacy, and whether that should be the same person as your main executor.
- Consider whether you would benefit from LPAs that allow trusted attorneys to manage practical digital administration during life.
- Put a Letter of Wishes in place so the people you trust are not forced to guess.
A final word for authors.
You can spend years crafting a book, then unintentionally leave its future to chance.
A good digital legacy plan does not turn your life into paperwork. It reduces uncertainty, protects value, and makes it easier for the people you trust to do the right thing.
If you want your words to outlive you in the way you intended, treat your digital life as part of your estate, and give the right people clear authority and clear guidance.
Your legacy is not only what you wrote. It is what survives, what is protected, and what is handled well.
