While the legal environment regarding the transfer and management of a decedent’s digital assets is in flux, there are a few important factors and resources to consider. Digital assets include a person’s email accounts, social media accounts and profiles, digital photographs, intellectual property, and other online information and data. 

Many jurisdictions look at digital assets as property, but there are not yet legal frameworks to satisfy that characterization consistency and time will allow for clarity. Some companies have created tools to help manage digital assets upon a person’s death. For example, Google’s “Inactive Account Manager” allows users to set up and designate trusted friends or family to access their accounts or to delete their online information and data at the time of death. Facebook has a “Legacy Contact” feature for a person to manage a deceased account holder’s account. Apple, Microsoft, and others have similar features available, including Apple’s Digital Legacy and Microsoft’s Next of Kin processes to access digital content at the time of death.

From a legal perspective, either transferring or managing any digital asset typically requires specific permission found in estate planning documents, such as a Power of Attorney form and/or a Last Will & Testament that grants agents/executors permission to manage or transfer digital assets. Some states have enacted legislation to guide the transfer of digital assets for estates, but federal and state law is still catching up with the fast-changing world of technology. Therefore, it is extremely important for people to include specific provisions in their estate planning for digital assets to ensure their preferences are met, as states vary in laws, and many platform providers are still developing policies related to access after death.