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In one of the Nordic countries, there’s something called death cleaning, a tidying up and cleaning out of one’s belongs before death. We’ve been getting started (we’re both in good health right now) on that and we’re actually starting to see some differences, mainly in our closets and the garage but even in some rooms in the house.
One thing I’ve been wondering about is all of the music, videos, photographs, and assorted other stuff that is digital. I have no children, my brother and sister are getting close to my age. I also have no real friends (my choice, just the way I am) other than my wife. I am tempted to just erase everything. Another possibility, if it soon becomes available, is to just copy all of it onto the new 5D glass discs for any nieces or nephews that might be interested.
What you are doing is a very good idea. I would also make funeral arrangements.
A number of states are passing laws on access to digital records for the deceased. You might want to look these up for your state.
But to answer your question directly I would do nothing if you are using free cloud resources. No reason to delete as long as you do not care who may see these.
If you want someone to be able to access these files after your death, including your spouse, you should mention this in your will. Some sites also let you add a trusted person for access now and after your death.
If you do any financial activity on line you will want to make sure these accounts can be accessed after your death. In general it is not legal for someone to use our user name and password to access the accounts.
I think the vast majority is going to be thrown out.
It is unlikely your kids and grandkids and other relatives will want your stuff especially digital files. I have terabytes worth of photographs. They will be gone. What might be kept are some of the blurb photobooks I made. Even now they are of way more interest to me than to any of the kids or other relatives.
I never thought about what would happen to my digital music, but since taste in music is very personal, I doubt anyone else would care for my digital music. Everyone has their own anyway. My husband knows how to play my music on amazon if he wants to hear it.
As for photographs, I have all my family photos on Facebook, and all my family knows there are family history photo albums along with genealogy information in those albums. It will still be accessible to them when I'm gone.
I've already given important family videos to the young people in the family, and I've seen them share them with their cousins, so I know it's out there for them.
One of our nephews is going to keep us comfortable when the time comes so it will all be his responsibility. We have a high-end long term care policy for the medical, etc so that won't fall on him. It will probably be a ton of work going through all our stuff, but considering the financial gain for him I doubt he will mind too much. A lot of it will go away before we get to that point in life.
I was wondering about all the digital music I’ve purchased over the years, from iTunes, copied from CDs I bought, etc.. I would assume that since I bought and paid for it, I can pass them along to someone but I guess the question is whether they would be able to play them even if I did, given all the anti-theft security around these things.
I don’t have Facebook or any of these other “cloud” services so my digital stuff is only what resides on my personal hard disks.
"What have others here decided to do with those digital memories?"
nothing.
we decided several years ago, that if we were interested enough to make hard copies,
(tax returns, pictures, wills, insurance policies, etc.) those would be all that are left
for easy access and the digital is orphaned.
"What have others here decided to do with those digital memories?"
nothing.
we decided several years ago, that if we were interested enough to make hard copies,
(tax returns, pictures, wills, insurance policies, etc.) those would be all that are left
for easy access and the digital is orphaned.
Yes, still very much a possibility. It used to be that I thought about what kind of mark I would be leaving on the world. As I’ve gotten older though, the thought of disappearing altogether has been becoming increasingly attractive. I’m not sure why other than that’s what most living things do, live their lives and then leave a clean slate for the next generation. My wife and I have discussed not even having any markers, just cremated and done.
I scanned many boxes of slides onto DVDs and made copies for our kids and grandkids. They were pleased to receive them. Kids enjoy seeing pictures of their parents as they were growing up.
Well I am 86 and most of what is around me are older,there has been many,many deaths since we made the horrible decision to move back to the miserable,regressive state of CT from FL,2015, where we were comfortable after over 25 years because of health to be near daughter who will our shepard and executor.No Choice.
We have all legal papers taken care of,there will be no probate filed or needed by law.We have our funerals prepaid,cremation and burial in veteran's cemetery,minimal cost.
I also said to wife of 65 years you could throw my ashes to the four winds but we will be buried in same grave.
My wifes sister,91 just passed after falling and breaking hip which they had not planned on and had caused some hardship.
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