Nepal, Nov. 13 -- Before Nepali nurse Mamta Kafle Bhatt disappeared in Virginia, she sent her brother a photograph and asked him to preserve it. He later testified that it appeared to show an injury to her face and that she planned to delete it from her phone. On November 10, a Virginia jury convicted her husband, Naresh Bhatt, of her murder. The case was not a digital-inheritance dispute, and there is no reported evidence that her family was denied account access. It nevertheless illustrates why a digital record can matter long after it is shared.

What happens to other digital records when a Nepali abroad disappears or dies? A message may be potential evidence, a payslip may establish unpaid wages, and a photograph may be a family's tre...