User-generated content defines the Internet today. No longer are websites repositories unilaterally providing static information. Instead, the Internet aggregates billions of dispersed users who participate in an ongoing, interactive, bilateral information exchange. This content — aggregated — creates a dynamic web replete with information used by individuals and desired by businesses interested in commercializing the social experience.
The value of these websites is composed of the bits of personal information each user provides. Value translates into assets, and assets are distributed and devised in an estate. Thus, a new question emerges: Who owns a decedent’s digital assets and online image? This question arises with regard to e-mail, online business and social networks. Estate planners and administrators can distribute these virtual assets by analogizing them to three traditional categories: letters and papers, traditional businesses and deceased celebrity names and images.
