what-is-a-digital-vault

3 minute read

What is a Digital Vault?

Digital vaults are becoming more common and can be a powerful estate planning tool. Continue reading this short guide to learn what a digital vault is.

When it comes to Estate Planning, there are many different factors to consider regarding your assets, which include essentially anything you own that is of either monetary value or personal value to you and your family. This might include boats, houses, bank accounts, jewelry, antiques, and digital photos. You will want to create an Estate Plan to protect these assets and ensure that they end up in the right hands should you become incapacitated or pass away. 

There is now a tool that is becoming more widely used in Estate Planning that can protect all digital assets. This tool is called a digital vault.

A digital vault is an online security vault. It is common to keep treasured items such as jewelry and family heirlooms within a safe, and a digital vault is an online safe for your digital assets, keeping critical information in the digital realm secure. A few of the items you may include within a digital vault are your banking information, any digital files such as videos and photos, online login information, and more. 

Why are Digital Vaults Growing in Popularity?

It has been reported that from 2019-2024 the digital vault market will rise around 12%, a highly significant increase. However, this is not surprising as the amount of information we store online has only increased over time. It is common for many people’s personal documentation to be stored online. Today, it is even possible to complete all transactions online, as we can cash checks through baking apps and pay for purchases at brick and mortar stores with apps such as Apple Pay. If this stored information were to be hacked, we would be in a dangerous position, adding unnecessary stress and complications to our lives. Digital vaults help to give an extra level of security to keep our sensitive information safe, which is why there has been such an increase in demand. 

Why Digital Vaults Are Important 

High Security

One of the biggest advantages of a digital vault is that it is highly secure. Services that offer digital vaults each have their own specific processes and procedures for ensuring the security of your private information, but they usually involve different forms of encryption and authentication to maintain safety. It can be common for them to also have different levels of secure digital vaults depending on how much you are willing to pay, as can be seen by DGLegacy which offers digital vaults. 

By offering a high level of data security, digital vaults can be a viable solution for protecting personally identifiable information online. With almost all critical information being stored online today, it makes having the option of a digital vault even more important.

Protected From Harmful Situations

As digital vaults are fully stored online, all documents within them do not run the risk of being destroyed by the elements. Natural disasters such as fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and more can easily destroy your house, including your belongings. It is even possible you may experience a home invasion in which your documents could be stolen. However, if all of your most significant documents are securely stored online, you can rest at ease knowing your most essential documents are secure. 

Hackers 

As it has become more common for things like banking information and credit card information to be stored online, the risk of hackers who are looking to steal your information for their own purposes has become more threatening. Digital vaults give you an extra layer of protection from hackers, keeping your information safe.

Easy to Use

Because all information is stored within one place in a digital vault, it makes it incredibly convenient to access all information when needed. Without a digital vault, you may try to store login information and sensitive documents in multiple locations to help keep them private. The problem with hiding your personal data is that in the event of your demise, your heirs will have to engage in a treasure hunt of sorts as they try to locate where you stored the information they need to handle your estate properly. Digital Vaults are highly secure, which means you can easily store all information in one safe location that the executor of your estate can access when necessary. 

Why Digital Vaults Are Important in An Estate Plan

As previously mentioned, digital vaults are simple to use and allow for quick access to all information, which is an important consideration when creating your Estate Plan. Within your Estate Plan, it will be necessary to designate someone who will be responsible for all digital assets when you pass away. This can become a complex process if you have separate locations for all online documentation because you will have to specify the whereabouts and access codes for each piece of information. This is where a digital vault makes the process easier as it is all in one place, allowing a seamless transition of ownership of all digital assets. 

Digital vaults often allow you to designate who you want to be responsible for your digital vault when you pass away, making the transition that much easier. Having this feature can help minimize the chance that your online information ends up in the wrong hands, as there will be clear instructions laid out by you, in regard to access and ownership. 

Digital vaults are not only beneficial in Estate Planning for keeping all digital assets in one secure place, they are also useful because you can store all of your Estate Planning documents within the vault to keep them safe until they need to be accessed. By keeping your Estate Planning documents, such as your Will and Trust, within a digital vault, you can ensure its safety while also giving easy access when it becomes necessary. 

Digital vaults are a beneficial element to include within your Estate Planning process, which can often be a confusing task to tackle. Trust & Will, a leader in online Estate Planning, wants to help make your Estate Planning easier with our online Estate Planning services. With Trust & Will, you can create state-specific, customized Guardianship documents, Wills, and Trust-Based Estate Plans from your computer, making it easier than ever before, while remaining at a price that is right for you. Having trouble deciding where to start? Trust & Will offers a free online quiz to set you on the right path. Visit our website today to learn more about your online Estate Planning options!

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