• March 28, 2024
 Relatives using ‘still-warm’ bodies of deceased to access devices

Relatives using ‘still-warm’ bodies of deceased to access devices

Much has been written in the press – most notably in The Times and The Sun in March of this year – about how bereaved families are asking undertakers to use the corpse’s fingers to activate identity sensors. 

Delegates at the Solicitors for the Elderly national conference last week confirmed that these instances certainly did arise in practice; driven largely by the difficulties of accessing a deceased’s persons digital devices and accounts after their death without the appropriate permissions and passwords being left behind with proper instructions in the will. 

Complexities of the terms and conditions of service providers which prohibit a user from sharing passwords with anyone else and the ramifications of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 have led to a lack of clarity in this area. What if, for example, a testatrix leaves sealed envelopes containing details of accounts and passwords only to be opened in the event of their death? With no tried cases to refer to, to date it’s a grey area that can lead to difficulties for practitioners and to distress and confusion for bereaved families looking to retrieve information held online – whether for financial or sentimental reasons. 

Apple, for example, ever alert to new issues arising around its products, has adapted the sensors used for fingerprint recognition to only work when an electrical charge running under the skin is detected. Apple’s new face ID on the iPhone X is designed to work using natural eye movement, so a mobile phone cannot be unlocked by moving it over a deceased relative’s face. 

Ian Bond, chairman of the Law Society wills and equity committee, was quoted in The Times as saying that he had also heard of family members placing devices under the thumbs of relatives who die in hospices while they are still “slightly warm” in order to post obituaries or final messages on Facebook. “Although this sounds a bit sinister it is done with the best of intentions,” he said. 

Apple’s privacy terms are such that unless a third party knows the user’s passcode, they cannot access any data stored on the device.

In that article Ian Bond cautioned that not enough people were planning ahead in an era when sentimental items such record collections, photo albums and handwritten letters have been replaced by Spotify accounts, Instagram feeds and Whatsapp messages.

“We are all very used to dealing with dividing up physical things, but most people’s lives are now made up of digital, not just physical, assets,” he added.

Solicitors are increasingly drawing up “digital wills”, including a side letter recording passwords and passcodes to devices such as iPads. They also urge clients to back up precious data on cloud storage that can be accessed by family members after their death. 

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