Digital asset estate planning

Your online estate plan should cover more than your bank accounts, investments, and physical property. It should also explain what happens to your digital assets, who is allowed to access them, and what you want done with your online presence if you become incapacitated or die.

In the U.S., a key concept to understand is the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA). It provides a legal framework for fiduciaries—such as executors, trustees, and agents under a power of attorney—to manage certain digital assets, but access to private electronic communications can require specific consent. State law matters.www.uniformlaws.org+2

Here is a practical approach to incorporating digital asset management into your estate plan.

1. Create a comprehensive digital asset inventory

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Financial assets

Bank and brokerage accounts, cryptocurrency, digital wallets, payment apps, online business revenue, domain names, and digital royalties.

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Online accounts and subscriptions

Email, cloud storage, social media, photo libraries, password managers, websites, domain registrations, and recurring subscriptions.

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Personal and creative property

Family photos, videos, manuscripts, music, intellectual property, digital collectibles, and files you want preserved for loved ones.

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Business and professional presence

Online storefronts, advertising accounts, business social profiles, client records, and websites that may need to be transferred, maintained, or closed.

For each important asset, record where it is held, its purpose, whether it has financial or sentimental value, and the action you want taken. The inventory can be a separate, securely maintained document referenced by your estate plan.

2. Put the right provisions in the right legal documents

Don't rely on a general sentence saying your executor can manage your property. Ask an estate-planning attorney to address digital assets explicitly in the relevant documents.

The documents must work together. For example, your power of attorney may address incapacity, while your will addresses administration after death. Your attorney should ensure the language meets applicable state law and the service providers' requirements.www.americanbar.org+1

3. Specify what your representative may—and may not—do

Your instructions should distinguish between financial control, access to information, and management of your personal online presence.

Financial assets

Authorize appropriate representatives to locate, preserve, manage, transfer, or liquidate digital property as permitted by law and the governing documents.

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Email, messages, and private files

Decide whether your representative may access the content of communications, merely obtain account records, or should be prohibited from accessing certain material. Express consent may be important.

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Social media and personal memories

State whether accounts should be memorialized, downloaded, transferred where permitted, or deleted. Identify any accounts you want preserved for family.

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Privacy and security

Define limits on access, protect confidential information belonging to other people, and instruct your representative not to impersonate you or exceed their legal authority.

A crucial detail: an executor's legal appointment does not automatically guarantee unrestricted access to every account. Under RUFADAA, provider-specific tools for designating a legacy contact or authorizing disclosure may take precedence over conflicting estate-document instructions in some circumstances.www.uniformlaws.org+2

4. Make access possible without compromising security

A well-written estate plan can still fail in practice if nobody can locate your assets or satisfy a provider's access requirements.

• Use a reputable password manager. Set up its emergency-access or legacy feature, if available.
• Store recovery information securely. Document where your password manager's recovery methods, multifactor authentication options, and backup codes can be found.
• Never put passwords or private keys in a public-facing will. Wills may become accessible during probate. Keep sensitive credentials in a secure, separately controlled location.
• Plan for cryptocurrency separately. Document wallet locations, the existence of hardware wallets, and secure recovery procedures. A seed phrase or private key can give whoever holds it control of the funds.
• Configure account-specific legacy settings. Review the available options for major email, cloud, and social media services, and ensure your choices agree with your estate plan.

Keep an offline backup of essential instructions and tell your chosen representative how to locate them. Do not send passwords, seed phrases, or recovery codes in this conversation.

5. If you're in Arizona, check these specific rules

Arizona has enacted RUFADAA in Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 14, Chapter 13. Two provisions are particularly relevant:

• A.R.S. § 14-13104 — User direction for disclosure: lets you authorize or prohibit disclosure through a qualifying online tool or, where applicable, your will, trust, power of attorney, or another record. A qualifying online-tool direction can override conflicting document language.www.azleg.gov+1
• A.R.S. § 14-13115 — Fiduciary duty and authority: addresses a fiduciary's responsibilities and authority over digital assets, including confidentiality and limits on impersonating the account owner.www.americanbar.org+1

If you use an online estate-planning service, verify that its documents expressly address digital assets and are appropriate for Arizona law, rather than assuming a standard will template covers every issue.

6. Your digital estate planning checklist

Use this checklist to identify gaps before you finalize your documents.

Digital estate readiness

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Before signing your online estate plan, have an estate-planning attorney review the digital-asset provisions alongside your account-specific legacy settings. This is especially important if you have cryptocurrency, a digital business, significant intellectual property, or private communications you want handled differently from your financial assets.

One question that would help me tailor this advice: Are you preparing your estate plan under Arizona law, or another state's law? I can then point you to the relevant legal requirements and help you identify what to look for in your online estate-planning service.

This is general legal information, not individualized legal advice.

Yes. The key is to treat your digital estate as a separate estate-planning category, not simply as a list of passwords.

For a U.S.-based estate plan, I’d structure it this way:

1. Create a digital-asset inventory

Make a private inventory covering:

• Financial: bank/brokerage accounts, PayPal, crypto exchanges, retirement accounts
• Crypto/self-custody: wallets, hardware wallets, seed phrases, private keys
• Cloud storage: Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive, Dropbox
• Communication: email, messaging, social-media accounts
• Digital property: websites, domains, online businesses, monetized content
• Media: photographs, videos, music, ebooks and other purchased/created files
• Subscriptions: streaming, software, memberships and recurring services
• Loyalty/value accounts: airline miles, hotel points, gaming accounts, etc.

For cryptocurrency especially, keep enough information for your executor to locate and understand the asset without putting the private key or seed phrase in the will itself. The IRS treats digital assets as property for federal tax purposes and requires adequate records of acquisitions, dispositions and basis.www.irs.gov

2. Put authority in your estate documents

Ask an estate-planning attorney to address digital assets explicitly in your will, revocable trust and/or power of attorney, as appropriate.

The documents should identify the person who is authorized to deal with your digital assets and give that person appropriate powers to:

• access and manage accounts
• download or preserve files
• communicate with providers
• transfer or sell assets
• close accounts
• preserve business websites and domains
• handle cryptocurrency
• deal with tax records

This matters because simply knowing someone's password doesn't necessarily give another person legal authority to access an account. Provider policies can also restrict access. For example, Microsoft says it generally cannot provide deceased users' account information to non-account holders without appropriate legal process if its digital-legacy mechanism wasn't established.support.microsoft.com+1

3. Use provider-specific legacy tools

Don't rely entirely on your will. Set up the mechanisms offered by the companies themselves.

Google: Its Inactive Account Manager lets you designate up to 10 people who can receive selected account data after a period of inactivity.support.google.com

Apple: Apple has Legacy Contact, which can provide a designated person access to specified Apple-account data after your death. The person needs the access key and generally your death certificate. Importantly, Apple's Legacy Contact does not provide access to passwords, passkeys or data stored in iCloud Keychain.support.apple.com

Microsoft/OneDrive: OneDrive's Digital Legacy feature can give a trusted contact read-only access to designated files after the required process. Microsoft also warns that, without appropriate arrangements, access to a deceased person's account may require legal process.support.microsoft.com+1

So your estate plan should contain both legal authorization and provider-specific instructions.

4. Keep the secrets separate from the estate documents

This is particularly important for passwords and crypto.

I would not put a master password, crypto seed phrase or private key directly into an ordinary will, because wills can become part of the public probate record.

Instead, consider:

Estate documents: Who is authorized to act and what they should do.
Secure digital vault: Where the credentials/instructions are stored.
Access mechanism: How the executor obtains the vault credentials after death or incapacity.

A password manager, encrypted document/vault, or other appropriately secured system can be used for this purpose. Your attorney can help coordinate the access mechanism with the legal documents.

For crypto, consider documenting:

• asset and approximate quantity
• wallet/exchange location
• hardware-wallet location
• how the executor identifies the correct wallet
• where the recovery information is stored
• tax records and transaction history
• instructions for accessing or transferring it

Do not send me your seed phrase, private keys, passwords or recovery codes.

5. Separate "inherit" from "delete"

Your instructions should tell your representative what you actually want done.

For example:

This prevents an executor from having to guess what you wanted.

6. Protect the digital estate while you're alive

Estate planning and cybersecurity overlap.

Use:

• unique passwords
• a reputable password manager
• multifactor authentication
• recovery methods that your successor can ultimately access through a controlled process
• encrypted backups
• offline backups of particularly important documents
• separate storage for highly sensitive recovery information

The FTC recommends protecting sensitive personal information and using strong passwords as part of identity-theft prevention.consumer.ftc.gov

7. Keep tax records with the inventory

This is easy to overlook with digital assets.

For cryptocurrency and other taxable digital assets, maintain acquisition dates, quantities, cost/basis information, transaction records and relevant tax documents. The IRS specifically says taxpayers need records sufficient to establish their tax positions, and inherited property can involve separate basis considerations.www.irs.gov

A practical "digital estate packet"

I'd ultimately have these five pieces:

1. Digital asset inventory — what exists and where.
2. Legal authorization — will/trust/POA provisions addressing digital assets.
3. Secure credential vault — passwords, recovery information and crypto-access information.
4. Provider legacy settings — Google, Apple, Microsoft and other important providers.
5. Disposition instructions — who gets what, what gets preserved, and what gets deleted.

Review the packet at least annually and whenever you open/close a major account or change your estate documents.

Because digital-asset access is affected by state law, provider contracts and the particular asset involved, have an estate-planning attorney in your state review the legal provisions—especially if you have cryptocurrency, an online business, valuable intellectual property, or significant digital accounts.

IRS digital-assets guidance
Apple Legacy Contact guidance
Google Inactive Account Manager
Microsoft OneDrive Digital Legacy 

If you're planning a will, a Michigan estate-planning attorney can handle digital assets as part of the estate plan. This is generally better than using a separate “digital asset” service, because the attorney can coordinate your will, powers of attorney, trusts, and fiduciary authority.

The American Bar Association specifically recommends addressing online accounts, digital property, and electronic communications in the estate plan, including explicit authority for your representative to access them.American Bar Association+1

What to look for

When contacting an attorney, ask whether they handle:

• Digital accounts: email, cloud storage, social media, websites, domain names, online subscriptions.
• Financial digital assets: cryptocurrency, digital wallets, online investment accounts, royalties, and digital businesses.
• Passwords and encryption: creating a secure inventory without putting passwords directly into the will.
• Digital fiduciary authority: language authorizing your personal representative/trustee to access and manage digital assets.
• Legacy instructions: whether accounts should be transferred, deleted, memorialized, archived, or kept private.
• Disability planning: access to digital assets if you become incapacitated, not just after death.

Michigan has specific fiduciary-access rules for digital assets, so it's worth asking the lawyer specifically about Michigan's implementation of those rules.Michigan Bar+1

Finding an attorney in Michigan

The State Bar of Michigan's Lawyer Referral Service lets you search for attorneys by legal need and location.Legal Resource & Referral Center

lrs.michbar.org

You can search for “estate planning,” “wills and trusts,” or “probate and estate planning” and then ask prospective attorneys:

“Does your estate-planning practice specifically address digital assets, cryptocurrency, online accounts, and fiduciary access to digital communications?” If cost is a concern, Michigan also has a Modest Means Program covering probate and estate planning for qualifying applicants.Legal Resource & Referral Center

One important point: don't put your passwords, seed phrases, or private keys in the will itself. The ABA recommends maintaining a separate, secure inventory and making sure your estate-planning documents give the appropriate fiduciary authority.American Bar Association

If you tell me whether you're looking for a local Michigan attorney, an online service, or someone specifically experienced with cryptocurrency/digital assets, I can look up current options and compare what each offers.

When writing a will that covers digital assets—such as social media profiles, cloud storage, domain names, digital photos, or cryptocurrency —you have a few primary avenues depending on how specialized your digital estate is.hklaw.com+1

1. Specialized Digital Legacy Platforms

If your primary concern is managing, memorializing, or deleting online accounts, social media, and encrypted data, dedicated digital estate services are a great fit:

• GoodTrust : Specifically built as an all-in-one digital legacy and estate planning platform. It allows you to create legal wills, trusts, and directives specifically tailored to handle online accounts and digital assets, paired with a secure digital vault to pass access instructions to your designated digital executor.

2. Mainstream Online Estate Planning Services

Most major consumer online will-and-trust platforms now feature provisions or guidance for including digital property, online banking, and designated digital executors:

• Trust & Will : Known for a modern, user-friendly digital interface, their estate planning packages explicitly prompt you to account for property and digital assets, helping you structure how online accounts should be handled.estateplanningpeople.com+1
• LegalZoom : As a heavyweight in online legal services, they guide you through standard asset allocation, and you can add attorney consultation packages if your digital estate involves complex intellectual property or business assets.youtube.com+1
• Rocket Lawyer : Offers do-it-yourself legal document builders alongside options to consult with a network attorney who can help explicitly draft clauses for digital property or cryptocurrency keys.

3. Traditional Estate Planning Attorneys

If you have high-net-worth digital holdings, substantial cryptocurrency portfolios, monetized digital channels (like YouTube or massive blog networks), or complex privacy concerns, working with a specialized local attorney or a large firm with a dedicated Private Wealth Services Digital Assets Team (such as Holland & Knight ) is the safest route. They ensure your documents comply with the Revised Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) , which governs whether an executor legally has the right to log into your accounts.hklaw.com

To help narrow down the best option, tell me:

• Do you have cryptocurrency or digital wallets , or is it mostly social media/photos/cloud accounts?
• Are you looking for a completely DIY online tool or a local attorney?