OBA Trusts & Estates Law PROGRAM | 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM (ET)

From electronic assets of financial value (e.g., cryptocurrency), to those of sentimental value (e.g., photos), as well as personal information stored with a third party (e.g., Facebook, Google, Amazon), “digital assets” now form a part of almost every estate. Despite this, most Canadian laws fail to adequately address digital assets.

Absent legal certainty in the area, the ability—or often inability—of executors, trustees and/or beneficiaries of a deceased person’s estate to access their digital assets is an ever-growing challenge in estate planning and administration.

 Third parties may be reluctant to disclose personal information regarding online accounts for privacy reasons. This appears to be in direct conflict with estates law, which generally entitles executors, trustees and/or beneficiaries of an estate to full access to the deceased's "property".

Are digital assets property, personal information, or both? Join us to unravel the intricacies of digital assets from these and other perspectives (including contract law and intellectual property law). Gather valuable advice and best practices from top experts on how to manage digital assets in your estate planning files with this Part 1 of our 5 part series on Estate Planning in the Modern Era.

PROGRAM CHAIR

Demetre Vasilounis, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

PROGRAM SPEAKERS

Sayuri Kagami, RBC Wealth Management, Royal Trust
Daniel Nelson, Massey Law LLP
Edward (Ted) Marrocco, Stockwoods LLP Barristers