Website Owner Death: The LegalitiesWebsite owner death begs the question: Who will get your website if you died tomorrow? If you do not have a will, you will be in teste. This means that the state will write a will for you. They decide who gets what and how much. If the website owner death happens and there is a will, it will have to be probated. If your spouse is co-named as owner, depending on the state, it may not be as much of a problem but it will still be a problem. The time frame to settle this in the courts could be months. It is also a very public process. Since it involves the courts, lawyers and accounts are also involved. And don't forget the tax man. In all, it is a complicate process. What if there was a simpler way? Website Owner Death: What is the Website Value? Before answering the question on there being a simpler way, there is one more thing to think about. The simpler way is key to maintaining the value of the website. If you own a website and you have a list of customers, then customer list could exponentially increase the value of your site. Lets say your site is worth several thousands of dollars according to one of the web site brokers. Who will be the next owner? What if you have a list of loyal visitors, many of whom are customers. Say you have a few thousand, several or even 10,000 in your list. Your website value just jumped. It could be as little as double and as much as several times the value of the site alone. You may have heard the saying...the money is in the list. That list is the customer list or opt in list of people that you promote your products and offers to. If there is money in that list in terms of profits related to your future sales, then some day, if the need should ever arise, they may play a big part in the value of your website. The most important aspect of the transfer of ownership here is that a list unmanaged soon becomes not a list at all. If it is as little as three months by some standards between your maintaining a relationship with the customers, you could be considered spamming. Or, if they lose interest in you, they could move on to other lists. The way to protect the value of the site is to use a simpler, easier, less expensive way to transfer the ownership of the site if you should die. The simpler way is a ... Revocable Living Trusts The first thing you should consider for protecting your assets like your website and the list that goes with it is a revocable living trust (RLT). With the exception of probate attorneys or ones who make money probating wills, numerous experts recommend that no estate in excess of 70K should be outside of a trust. These experts include the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the former State Attorney of Hawaii and others. The Curios Caveat Why would attorneys and accountants who stand to make a considerable amount of money from probate want to advise you to get a trust? Ask any lawyer what he thinks about a trust and he will most likely steer you away from one. They are not deceiving you to recommend a will over a trust because of a legal premise called caveat emtpor. What is caveat emptor and how does it relate to website owner death? Revocable Living Trust Advantages A RLT will make it possible for family to keep the business running as usual if website owner death should happen to you and there should be a question of ownership. Even more importantly, if the family chooses to sell the business, it will not be tied up in probate. Probate: How Long Can It Take Literature suggests that it can take between 12-18 months to probate a will. The literature being spoken of here is by the lawyers who write on the topic that say it takes this long. That means there could be a period of time that nothing could be done with the website until the ownership is determined. In my experience, although it usually takes about that long, I have personally seen it take several years. In the case of the famous like Howard Hughes, it can take decades. In the case of Michael Jackson, nobody knows. Actually, he is an exception. Most likely it only took a few months. This is because his estate did not go through probate. He had a trust set up. But it Belonged to My Spouse As a hospice nurse, I have seen first hand that death can bring out the best and worst in people. The more money involved, the more it brings out. With website owner death, it is no different. In the case of a married survivor, the court has no way of knowing if you were married for 29 blissful years or one blissful year and the other 28 the you were trying to put each other away. This is what the probate process determines. Chances are you may be able to keep the website running and nobody will be the wiser. However if you want to sell it and the name of the ownership is your husband, then it may have to be probated. Unlike a house where tenants in common rules apply in most states, a lack of name could spell a lack of ownership. Ownership may have to be determined. So why wait till you die to get your affairs in order. Do it now. A simple action can protect you from the expense and losses related to website owner death. The ownership is only one of the many website legalities that needs to addressed. There are more. Please check back as this section continues to grow. About the Author Jonathan Steele lectures on estate planning and end of life decisions that we all will face. With experience as a legal nurse consultant and in the financial planning field, he has seen first hand the benefits and risks related to the end of life planning people do while they are alive and well. If you are interested in a Revocable Living Trust, although we do not recommend any lawyers, we would be happy to tell you the names of ones we have dealt with in the state of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York who are experts in creating Revocable Living Trusts. Jonathan Steele is not a lawyer. None of the content here or on his other sites are to be construed as legal or medical advice. If your in need of such advice, you should seek a professional who is an expert in the particular specialty you need.
To top of Website Owner Death: The Legalities |