Digital Assets and Your Estate Plan

Digital assets are now part of almost every estate. They may include email, cloud storage, social-media profiles, digital photos, online businesses, domain names, rewards accounts, cryptocurrency, and information stored on phones or computers. ACCESS IS NOT AUTOMATIC. Knowing a password does not necessarily give a fiduciary legal authority to use an account. Service agreements, privacy law, and fiduciary-access statutes can limit what a provider may disclose. Estate-planning documents should include appropriate authority for digital assets and electronic communications. USE ONLINE LEGACY TOOLS. Some providers allow users to name a legacy contact, inactive-account manager, or other designated recipient. Those choices may control access to the account and should be coordinated with the will, trust, and powers of attorney. CREATE AN INVENTORY—WITHOUT EXPOSING SECRETS. Keep an updated list of important accounts, devices, domain names, subscriptions, and digital property. Store passwords and recovery codes in a secure password manager or other protected system, not in a will that may become public. Explain how the fiduciary can locate the secure system. CRYPTOCURRENCY REQUIRES SPECIAL CARE. A trustee or executor may be unable to recover cryptocurrency without private keys or seed phrases. Conversely, insecure storage can invite theft. The plan should address both legal ownership and secure transfer procedures, often with technical assistance. STATE LAW. Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have enacted versions of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. These laws generally recognize certain fiduciary access rights while respecting user directions and provider terms. The details and document language still matter. DECIDE WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN. Some accounts should be preserved, transferred, memorialized, or deleted. Sentimental photos may matter more to a family than assets with obvious monetary value. THE BOTTOM LINE. A digital-assets plan combines legal authority, provider tools, secure credentials, and practical instructions. This article provides general educational information and is not legal advice. Consult a qualified attorney about your specific circumstances.