Serious Question: Does your family know where your domains are?

[izopod]

I've often thought about in the event of my untimely passing what my wife would do with my domains. Of course there are more important things for her to worry about if something did happen, but none the less some of my domains are an "asset" that she could sell.

To make sure she will have no problem "finding" my domains, I have them all in one location. So many of us have or have had domains all over the map. How would a loved one know where to look for domains you have? The other thing I've done is have written down my password/id so that she can get into the account. Lastly, I've always told her our domains are tied to our email address and she would either need to keep my account active or she would have to update the whois (update registrant/email address).

It's time we start treating our domains like assets rather than toys, is the point of this post.

Feel free to give other pointers, if you've instituted other "domain estate" planning processes in your household.

[FineE]

These are some of the issues I can see here.

1) Ensuring that the Registration fees are paid while the Will is in Probate. You have a will right.

2) Transfer of the domains to the beneficiaries of the Estate. This can be tricky if there are multiple jurisdictions invloved. Like this very valuable .cn. So the will has to be probated in China etc.

3) The tax consequences.

1) This can be addressed by making sure all the relvant information is in a safe place where the executor(ix) of the will can access it, before the will goes to probate. I mean passwords, email passwords, expiry date, as well as what domain names and who are they registerd with.

2) In many cases it may be possible for the executor(ix) to transfer the domains without any problem, however if the registrar considers the domain valuable it may be frozen untill they see the will and it may have to go through probate where the registrar or registry is located.

One way I can see to avoid 1) and 2) in many cases is to use a holding company to register the domains. One then only needs to transfer the company.

3) Now this can be a big problem. Many if not most jurisdictions tax an estate based on the fair market value at the moment of death. For example by an Estate Tax as in the US or by taxing the deceased as if s/he had sold the entire estate for "fair market value" at moment of death as in Canada. But what is "far market value" when it come" to domains, depending on who you talk to it can be worth $10, or $100,000.

So I can see this happenning I will use one of my names eEstateTax.com as an example.

The executor says: Its an "e" name and it is only worth the reg fee of $8.75. He could not sell it when he was alive.

The taxing authority says: No No. Its worth at least $100,000 and you owe us $35,000 in "death taxes" on that name alone. And we have not started yet he has over 200 more domains!

[Steen]

I am going to make a text document:

1. Paypal password
2. Email location and address and pass
3. Enom password (commissions are constantly adding up)
4. Domain locations, passwords and Usernames
5. What to do, instuctions.

[dotNetKing]

izopod - a very good point.

I've been thinking about this for a while.

This is my primary source of income now. My family don't know much about domain names. I have mentioned the issue to a trustworthy domain friend, with the idea that we might look after each other's domain property in case of an untimely death or accident, but we haven't got anywhere with this yet.

My wife doesn't understand English, so she won't be able to help much. I'll have to hope my toddlers grow up quick so I can train them in the business!

Having domain names consolidated definitely seems a good move, and I am doing this at renewal. But this means that at any one time there are a lot of domains spread around.
Drafting a basic "what to do list" with necessary passwords seems like a good move, and letting someone know where it is.

[Steen]

Originally posted by dotNetKing
and letting someone know where it is.

NOT ON YOUR COMPUTER.


I cannot stress enough to hide a hard copy.

[dotNetKing]

Another point. Like wills, this is something that is easier to talk about and think about rather than do anything about.

[URLtrader]

We could make a printout of domain names, its registrars , date of expiration , password for each registrar/paypal and update it once a month. Put it in a secure place or safe deposit to which someone you love and trust has access. I am doing it since more than a year.

[izoot]

This is an excellent thread and needs to be covered a bit more in depth. Maybe one of the lawyers here could add some of the fine points.

More than likely most of our loved ones would have no clue as to what to do.

I would also add a name or 2 of people in the biz that you trust that may be able to offer some help in the event of something unfortunate.

Glad someone brought this up ... I had meant too ... but it slipped my mind ... Again.

[Bob]

I have a little "black book" with all of my account login IDs and passwords. I always tell whoever is closet to me about the book. If anything happens to me, they know to look in there and find what they need.

-Bob

[dotcom]

To say that I actually thought about this yesterday would probably supprise you, but its true.

I've thought about holding a text file with all relevant info on a email account, printing it out as well as having a solicitor retaining a copy.


Just throwing a few ideas around here:

Maybe a protected repository site: paid for 10 years (hosting+domain name) by people willing to input: obviously with a reputable company that you would consider worthy of a long term account.

Updatable by members (user:password etc)

Then you would only have to leave the login details with your Solicitor/Wife.

This way, all updates to ownership are always onging and if the unfortunate thing happens, , everything would be there:

Database Details possibly

Regged With | Name | Hosted At | Appaised Value $xx by X Company | Expires | 3 Next Of Kins Details

You get the idea.


Just a thought.
Mike OZ

[.com.net.org]

you should keep offline copy and let your spouse / closest friend / brother / sister know about it.