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.
The full text of this document is available to Executive subscribers and above. See plans.