Canadians Data on US Servers
More than ever, people are storing their important personal information and other digital property online within the servers of large American companies such as Google, Facebook, and Apple. These “digital assets” can be anything from precious family photos and records to sensitive financial and legal information.

Uncertainty Around Access to Data
What Canadians don’t realize is that outdated laws govern who can access those assets after the owner dies or loses capacity. Even with all the necessary documents proving a person’s legal right to another’s digital assets, accessing the information can still require a long and expensive court process.

For more information about our law reform project on this issue, see ALRI counsel Stella Varvis’s article, “Access to Digital Assets by Fiduciaries” on ABLawg.