Have you thought about that question? When a client comes to see me as there estate planning attorney about preparing an estate plan including a living trust, a will, a power of attorney, advance health care directive, etc., it is something that I have started to ask about.

Honestly, I have not done anything myself yet. As many of us do, I have emails sent to me at four sites; I have financial records sent to me from a variety of sources – and they all require a password. I have business records and personal records all over the place. What about the fun things? Facebook? Linked In? or whatever follows?

What is my successor trustee and/or executor to do upon my death? Moreover, are there things on my computer that I really do not want anyone to see? Will someone see those things? These are some of the questions that you need to think about and answer.

There are more than a couple of tools available on the internet and websites to assist you in implementing your desires. I suggest that you take a look. You may want to consider putting virtual asset information on a flash drive and storing it in a very secure place.

Most importantly, whatever you decide to do, you must, one way or another, inform your successor trustee and/or executor. This can be done, the old-fashioned way, on paper.

George Steinbrenner was at least the third billionaire to have died in 2010. He was the most famous due to his ownership of the New York Yankees baseball team. As virtually everyone knows by now, there is not any estate tax for those dying in 2010, or so we think.

Some senators actually are proposing that there be a retroactive estate tax. However, right now everything is up in the air. As the way things stand, the Steinbrenner family is the beneficiary.

However, if the family decides at some point to sell the Yankees, there will be a hefty capital gains tax to pay. Mr. Steinbrenner’s basis in the Yankees parent company is approximately $10 million dollars and his ownership share is 55% of approximately $1.6 billion dollars. On the other hand, some would argue that from a purely mathematical point of view, now would be a great time for the family to sell the Yankees because the capital gains tax rate is as low as it is ever going to be!

Most people think that the Steinbrenners will continue to own the Yankees and put off dealing with estate taxes and capital gains taxes for a number of years.

While the vast majority of people do not have these issues to contend with, it does make sense to understand the tax implications of your estate. Consulting an estate planning attorney is usually a very good thing. Estate planning lawyers deal with these issues daily.