Don’t Forget Your Digital Life: How to Handle Digital Assets in Your Estate Plan

When most people think about estate planning, they think about bank accounts, investment portfolios, real estate, and personal property. What often gets overlooked is the growing universe of digital assets—the accounts, files, subscriptions, and online presences that are woven into nearly every aspect of modern life. Without a plan for these assets, your surviving spouse, family members, executor, or trustee could face significant challenges—or even be locked out entirely.

What Are Digital Assets?

Digital assets encompass any online account, electronically stored data, or digital property that has value—whether financial, sentimental, or functional. The scope is broader than most people realize. Examples include email accounts (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo), social media profiles (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X), cloud storage and photo libraries (Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox), online banking and investment accounts accessed through web portals, cryptocurrency and digital wallets (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Coinbase, Ledger hardware wallets), digital media libraries (iTunes, Kindle, Audible), subscription services and streaming accounts (Netflix, Spotify, Amazon Prime), online businesses and revenue-generating platforms (Etsy shops, YouTube channels, websites, domain names), loyalty and rewards programs (airline miles, hotel points, credit card rewards), digital payment platforms (PayPal, Venmo, Zelle), and accounts with automatic bill pay or recurring charges set up through online portals.

Some of these assets have clear monetary value. Others carry deep sentimental significance—think of decades of family photos stored in the cloud or years of personal correspondence in an email account. And some are purely functional but critically important, like the online utility accounts and bill pay systems that keep a household running.

The Challenge: What Happens When No One Can Get In?

Imagine a surviving spouse trying to access the family’s finances after an unexpected death, only to discover that bank accounts, credit cards, and utility payments are all managed through online portals they’ve never logged into. Or picture an executor trying to settle an estate and realizing the deceased held a significant cryptocurrency position—but no one knows where the private keys are stored or even which exchange was used.

These scenarios are becoming increasingly common. The challenges are real and varied: passwords and two-factor authentication can create impenetrable barriers; family members may not even know which accounts exist; service providers have their own policies about granting access to a deceased person’s account, and those policies are often restrictive; and without proper legal authority, a fiduciary may have no standing to compel a company to hand over access. In some cases, providers will simply delete an account after a period of inactivity, permanently destroying its contents.

Three Paths to Accessing Digital Accounts After Death

Generally speaking, there are three avenues through which a surviving family member or fiduciary can attempt to gain access to a deceased person’s digital accounts.

• Legacy and Inactive Account Tools from Service Providers. Several major technology companies now offer tools that allow users to plan ahead for what happens to their accounts. Google’s Inactive Account Manager lets you designate trusted contacts who can access your data if your account goes dormant for a specified period. Apple’s Legacy Contact feature allows you to name individuals who can request access to your Apple ID data after your death. Facebook offers a Memorialization setting and the ability to designate a Legacy Contact who can manage your profile after you pass. These tools are free and relatively simple to set up, but they only work if you take action before you need them.
• Language in Estate Planning Documents. Your will, trust, and powers of attorney can—and should—include specific provisions that grant your executor, trustee, or agent the authority to access, manage, and distribute your digital assets. This legal authorization is important because many service providers will require documentation before they’ll cooperate with a third party. Without explicit language in your estate documents, your fiduciary may face an uphill battle.
• The Provider’s Terms of Service. If neither of the first two options is in place, the service provider’s Terms of Service become the default governing document. And here’s the critical point: the Terms of Service are almost always the least flexible and the hardest to navigate. Most providers drafted their policies primarily to protect user privacy and limit their own liability—not to make things easy for grieving families or busy fiduciaries. The process for requesting access under a Terms of Service agreement can involve lengthy wait times, extensive documentation requirements, and in some cases, a flat denial. Some providers will only offer a data download rather than full account access. Others may require a court order. If you rely on the Terms of Service as your default plan, you’re choosing the path of greatest resistance.

Navigating the Minefield: Six Steps to Protect Your Digital Estate

The good news is that with some proactive planning, you can dramatically simplify things for your loved ones. Here’s how to approach it.

1. Create a Comprehensive Inventory of Your Digital Accounts. Start by documenting every digital account you have—not just the obvious ones. Include email accounts, social media profiles, financial accounts with online access, cloud storage, subscription services, and any accounts tied to automatic bill pay or recurring charges. For each account, note the provider, your username, and how it’s accessed. Don’t forget about accounts you may have set up years ago and rarely use. A password manager can be a valuable tool here, both for organizing this information and for providing a single point of access for your fiduciary. Store this inventory securely, and make sure at least one trusted person knows where to find it.
2. Activate the Legacy Tools Offered by Your Service Providers. Take advantage of the legacy and inactive account features that major platforms offer. Set up Google’s Inactive Account Manager, Apple’s Legacy Contact, and Facebook’s Legacy Contact settings. These are some of the simplest and most direct ways to ensure your designated people can access your accounts without having to go through a lengthy legal process. Review these settings periodically to make sure your designated contacts are still the right people.
3. Review and Update Your Estate Planning Documents. Work with your estate planning attorney to ensure your will, trust, and powers of attorney specifically address digital assets. This is especially important in light of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), which has been adopted in some form by most states. RUFADAA provides a legal framework that governs how fiduciaries can access a deceased person’s digital accounts, establishing a clear hierarchy: the user’s own directions (through online tools or estate documents) take priority over the provider’s default Terms of Service. Having estate documents that are drafted in accordance with RUFADAA gives your fiduciary the strongest possible legal standing to request access from providers. If your estate plan was drafted before your state adopted RUFADAA, it’s worth revisiting those documents to make sure the language is current.
4. Have a Plan for Specific Assets and Accounts. Just as you would designate who inherits your investment accounts, real estate, and personal property, take the time to think through who should receive or manage each of your digital assets. Your email and photo accounts may go to your spouse. A revenue-generating website or YouTube channel may need to be transferred to a specific family member or business partner. Loyalty points and rewards may be transferable under certain program rules. Social media accounts may need to be memorialized or deleted. Having an intentional plan for each category of digital asset prevents confusion and ensures nothing valuable falls through the cracks.
5. For High-Value Digital Assets, Consider Trusts and LLCs. If you hold significant value in digital assets—particularly cryptocurrency, NFTs, or income-producing digital businesses—it may be worth considering more sophisticated ownership structures. Holding these assets in a revocable trust or a limited liability company (LLC) can facilitate a smoother transfer upon death, help avoid probate, and provide clearer governance for how the assets are managed during any transition period. For cryptocurrency specifically, a trust or LLC can address the unique challenge of private key management and establish protocols for how those keys are stored, accessed, and transferred. These structures also provide added liability protection and can be particularly useful when multiple beneficiaries are involved.
6. For Complex Situations, Consider a Digital Forensics Expert. In some estates, the digital picture is more complicated than a simple list of accounts. If a deceased person managed multiple cryptocurrency wallets, operated online businesses across several platforms, or left behind encrypted devices with no clear instructions, it may be necessary to hire a digital forensics expert. These professionals specialize in recovering data, locating digital assets, and navigating the technical challenges that can arise when accounts are locked, devices are encrypted, or records are incomplete. While this is an added expense, it can be well worth it when significant assets are at stake or when the estate simply cannot move forward without access to critical digital information.

The Bottom Line

Your digital life is a real and growing part of your overall estate. Ignoring it doesn’t make the problem go away—it simply shifts the burden to the people you care about most, at one of the most difficult times in their lives. The good news is that a little proactive planning goes a long way. By inventorying your accounts, activating legacy tools, updating your estate documents, and thinking intentionally about each digital asset, you can save your family significant time, stress, and expense.

If you’d like help thinking through how digital assets fit into your broader estate plan, we’re happy to have that conversation.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, tax, or investment advice. Digital asset laws and provider policies vary by state and platform. Please consult with your estate planning attorney and financial advisor for guidance specific to your situation.