What Happens to Your Data After You're Dead?

I have touched on this subject before ("Where There's a Will" 15 Jan 2015) and you may remember that the bottom line was that there just wasn't a lot of information out there about how all that on-line research you have done is dealt with in the event of your death.

There was a recent post on the Geneanet blog which addresses this issue as it relates to folks using Geneanet for their research.  I find it very interesting that they offer an opportunity in their "Personal Options" section to establish what happens to your account after you die.

I went to my Ancestry.com account and found no such option under personal settings.  Ditto for FamilySearch.org.  In addition, I searched their "help" forums for "what happens to my account/data after I die" and found nothing.

If you get a chance, read the Geneanet post http://www.geneanet.org/genealogyblog/index.php/post/2015/01/What-Happens-To-Your-Data-After-You-re-Dead.html.  It might be time to start thinking about this question and prodding our online research sites to address this issue.  In the absence of options from sites such as Ancestry, Family Search, MyHeritage, etc., you can always talk to your Trusts and Estates legal adviser and make your own arrangements.  My attorney uses a very catchy phrase when talking about estate planning.  She says, "It addresses two of the most important things in our lives: Everyone we love and everything we have."  I think our family history research can be included as well.


-- submitted by Denise Doyon