The Vera Legacy Standards (VLS) are practitioner-authored documents that define best practices for digital estate administration. Freely available for use by families, estate attorneys, financial advisors, and digital estate practitioners.
Established professions rely on shared terminology, documented procedures, and recognized benchmarks. Attorneys reference bar guidelines. Accountants follow GAAP. Financial advisors work within CFP standards. Digital estate administration — a practice growing rapidly in importance — does not yet have a broadly adopted practical framework. The VLS series is Vera Legacy's contribution toward that gap.
The Vera Legacy Standards (VLS) are numbered documents — VLS-001, VLS-002, and so on — each addressing a specific aspect of digital estate administration. Each standard defines terminology, specifies minimum adequate practice, and provides practical implementation guidance.
Standards are distinct from guides and checklists. A guide tells you how to do something. A checklist helps you remember the steps. A standard defines what "done correctly" means — the benchmark against which any specific approach can be measured.
Defines the minimum requirements for a complete digital estate inventory — what account categories must be documented, what information is required for each, and what constitutes an adequate inventory for estate administration purposes.
Read Standard →Defines the role, responsibilities, and minimum competency requirements for a digital executor — the person designated to administer a deceased person's digital estate.
Read Standard →Defines the components of a complete digital family folder — the pre-death document package that enables efficient estate administration by surviving family members.
Read Standard →Defines a standardized taxonomy for classifying digital assets — distinguishing financial assets, sentimental assets, intellectual property, and business assets for estate administration purposes.
Read Standard →What the standard covers, what it does not cover, and who it is intended for.
Precise definitions of all terms used in the standard to ensure consistent interpretation.
The minimum requirements that must be met for practice to be considered adequate under the standard.
Practical guidance on how to meet the requirements — specific enough to be actionable.
Vera Legacy Standards are free to cite in professional documents, client materials, and publications. Suggested citation format: