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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 25, 2013 04:00 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Tim Briggs |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Access to Decedents Social Media Accounts |
| ln the near future, I plan to re-introduce legislation (HB 2580 of 2012) that will amend Title 20 (Decedents, Estates and Fiduciaries) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes by providing personal representatives the authority to govern a decedent's social networking, microblogging, short message, or e-mail service website. The use of social media has become an increasingly common method of networking by all generations, and the number of diverse social media networking websites continues to surge. While the number of online social media accounts multiplies, there is also growth in the amount of inactive accounts, attributable to the death of account holders. ln Pennsylvania, we grant personal representatives the right to access and acquire personal and real property of a decedent; however, state law does not explicitly provide representatives the right to access online accounts to continue or deactivate profiles. We should modernize our law by ensuring that authorized personal representatives have the right to access and manage social media networking accounts, and to make a final determination regarding whether to limit content that is included in an existing online profile or to ultimately deactivate the account. The goal of my legislation is to provide a personal representative with the power to take control of, continue or terminate an account of a decedent that has a social networking, microblogging, short message; or e-mail service website. The legislation does restrict personal representatives from gaining such access if they have been limited by a will or court order. Previous co-sponsors of this bill include: BRADFORD, V. BROWN, CALTAGIRONE , DALEY , DeLUCA , DENLINGER , HORNAMAN , JAMES, KORTZ , McGEEHAN , MULLERY, WHITE , FABRIZIO and FLECK |