Guide · Wills and Estates

Digital Assets in Estate Planning and Administration: A Comprehensive Guide to RUFADAA and Beyond

18 U.S.C. § 2701

Type
Guide
Jurisdiction
National
Date
2025-10-21
Topic
Wills and Estates

This guide is a complete working treatment of digital assets in estate planning and administration for individuals, fiduciaries, and counsel. Part I explains the federal privacy statute that causes platforms to refuse executors and the contractual layer that compounds it. Part II works the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act in detail: its definitions, the catalogue-versus-content distinction, the three-tier hierarchy in which an online tool outranks a will, the documentation custodians may require, and the court-order standard for content. Part III sorts digital assets into four categories that behave differently — licences, owned files, self-custodied value, and administrative records — and states the response to each. Part IV covers cryptocurrency, where the law is simple and the practice is unforgiving. Part V covers the operational obstacles of two-factor authentication, devices, and phone numbers. Part VI covers the criminal and contractual exposure created by the universal instinct to use the decedent's password. Parts VII through X cover incapacity, the drafting changes a standard estate plan needs, the platform request process, and a full inventory protocol, closing with a verification list and authorities table.

Digital Assets in Estate Planning and Administration: A Comprehensive Guide to RUFADAA and Beyond

Wills and Estates > Digital Assets | Published 21 October 2025 - Updated 10 August 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

In brief. A 1986 privacy statute, a contract of adhesion, and a uniform act that resolves them — in a hierarchy where a checkbox in a settings page outranks a professionally drafted will. Everything practical in this field follows from knowing that order.

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