With the rise of social media influencers like the Kardashian sisters and popular YouTubers, some pre-teens and teenagers are acquiring fame — and money — at an early age. Take it from 8-year-old Ryan Kaji, who earned $22 million in revenue in 2018 from his YouTube toy reviews.

If your child has begun accumulating their own wealth before age 18, you might want to consider creating an estate plan together. While no one wants to consider the possibility of death, especially so young, there are many important conversations to have regarding their assets.

Here are some tips for how to approach estate planning for your teenage social media influencer.

Estate planning for influencers: What to consider

Create a list of your child’s digital assets and their approximate value.

Influencers become successful through social platforms, such as YouTube or Instagram. It’s important to determine what might happen to these accounts, as well as the content that lives on them, if the influencer is no longer around to manage them.

Additionally, you’ll want to understand how much your teen is worth in relation to industry standards. First, make a list of all their digital assets. This includes all of their social accounts, images and videos, textual content and other intellectual property.

From there, you can calculate their value by considering their follower count, engagement rates, demographics and more. Then, speak with your teen about who they want to handle their digital assets if they were to pass away.

Consider a will and medical directives in case of incapacity

In 2017, Alec Sutton, an 18-year-old who suffered a head trauma in a car accident, was taken off life support in a local hospital, despite his loved ones’ pleading for more time and second opinions. While this was a tragic incident to say the least, the hospital’s decision was entirely legal. Because Sutton, a legal adult, lacked a medical power of attorney and a living will, his parents and relatives did not possess an absolute right to make decisions regarding life support.

When your child turns 18, you’ll want to prepare the right documents for such a situation, as failing to do so can be detrimental. One crucial form is a Durable Medical Power of Attorney. This includes HIPAA release form, which enables an adult child’s healthcare providers to disclose medical records with selected individuals (including parents), as well as living will provisions.

Without a Durable Medical Power of Attorney, parents of an adult child who becomes incapacitated might not be able to obtain a copy of their child’s medical record to get a second opinion or make other important decisions based on having that information.

Some decisions involved in these advance directives include emergency treatments, such as:

• CPR
• Ventilator use
• Artificial nutrition (tube feeding)
• Artificial hydration (IV, or intravenous, fluids)
• Other life-prolonging treatments
• Comfort care

Take time to discuss these decisions with your teen, as physical or mental incapacity can happen to anyone at any time. When your teen decides to appoint a proxy to make these medical decisions for them, ensure they sit down with that individual and has an open conversation about their preferences.

Decide who is responsible for financial assets if your child is under 18

Another consideration is your teen’s financial assets. The top-earning influencers often bring in thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars per post, which adds up to a lot over the course of a year. Even if your teen hasn’t reached this level of income, it’s important that they dictate what will happen to their earnings in the case of incapacity or death.

Similar to choosing a medical proxy, your child should designate someone to assume responsibility of any financial decisions via a financial power of attorney. Make sure you sit down with your child and discuss this arrangement in great detail. You’ll want to respect their wishes while offering your support and insight from a parental standpoint.

Depending on your child’s earnings and income streams, you may also need to consult with a business planning attorney to set up a corporate entity can hold their assets until they turn 18 and can actively participate as a CEO or CFO.

Since many influencers are still young and financially inexperienced, they might not understand or even want to consider the implications of estate planning. Remind your child that you aren’t trying to control their lives, but that this simply a part of growing up and transitioning into adulthood.

Contact an experienced estate planning attorney for help

Whether it’s for yourself or your child, estate planning is not something you want to do alone. That’s why we recommend working with an experienced estate planning attorney.

If you’re looking for professional guidance with your Virginia estate planning needs, contact the Law Office of Patricia E. Tichenor.