Founding Attorney
Your Instagram account will outlive you. So will your email, your Bitcoin wallet, and that embarrassing Spotify playlist from 2019. When you die, your family gets stuck figuring out what to do with your entire digital life–and trust me, they don’t want to guess your Netflix password.
A New York estate planning attorney can help you avoid this mess. We see families locked out of valuable accounts all the time. It’s frustrating. It’s expensive. It’s completely preventable.
What Counts as a Digital Asset?
Pretty much anything electronic that belongs to you qualifies. Your email accounts obviously count. Social media profiles do too. Online bank accounts, cloud storage, and cryptocurrency wallets are all digital assets.
But here’s what surprises people. Your business customer database is a digital asset. Domain names you own are digital assets. That novel you’ve been writing in Google Docs? Digital asset.
Some of this stuff has serious financial value. Others hold sentimental worth, like those family photos sitting in iCloud. The law doesn’t care about the dollar amount. Dead is dead, and someone needs legal authority to access these accounts.
Companies make this harder than it should be. Most terms of service basically say “when you die, we lock everything forever.” Helpful, right?
How New York’s Digital Asset Law Actually Works
New York passed Article 13-A of the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law back in 2016. This law follows an act called RUFADAA — the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. Lawyers love acronyms almost as much as we love billable hours.
The law creates a priority system. Think of it like a ladder that starts at the top:
First Priority: Company tools you set up yourself — Google calls theirs “Inactive Account Manager.” Facebook has “Legacy Contact.” You designate someone while you’re alive, and that person gets access when you’re not.
Second Priority: Instructions in your will or trust — Skip the company tools? Your estate planning documents can specify exactly what happens to each account.
Last Resort: Company policies rule — Don’t use company tools AND forget to address digital assets in your will? Congratulations, you’re stuck with whatever the company decides.
This priority system puts your wishes first. Before 2016, families got steamrolled by corporate policies. Now your instructions override their terms of service — assuming you actually make those instructions.
The Biggest Mistakes People Make
Most people assume their spouse can automatically access everything. Wrong. Companies don’t care if you’ve been married for 40 years. No legal authority means no access.
Others think they’re being helpful by sharing all their passwords with family members. This creates security risks while you’re alive and might violate terms of service. Plus, people change passwords. Your spouse memorizing your Gmail password from 2018 doesn’t help anyone.
Some folks write down passwords and stick them in a safe deposit box. Great idea, except safe deposit boxes get sealed when you die. Your executor can’t access the box without probate court approval, which takes months.
What You Actually Need to Do
Start with an inventory. List every single digital account you have. Email, social media, banking, shopping, subscriptions, business accounts. Don’t forget cryptocurrency wallets — lose access to those, and the money vanishes forever. Consider using a tool like LastPass or Aura to help you manage this.
Set up legacy contacts wherever possible. Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft all offer these features now. Takes five minutes and saves your family massive headaches later.
Include specific digital asset instructions in your will or trust. Be clear about what you want preserved, transferred, or deleted. Some people want their Facebook memorialized. Others want everything wiped out for privacy reasons. Your call, but make the call.
Store account information securely with your attorney or in a password manager your executor can access. We’re not talking about writing passwords on sticky notes here.
New York Gets Complicated
New York’s law lets your executor access digital assets for estate administration — even without specific planning. But accessing private communications like emails or messages requires explicit permission in your estate documents.
The state’s estate tax applies to valuable digital assets, too. Own significant cryptocurrency, valuable domain names, or digital business assets? They count toward New York’s $6.94 million estate tax exemption. Surprise!
Business owners face extra complexity. Your website, customer databases, social media accounts, and payment systems all need succession planning. Lose access to your Square account, and you can’t process payments. Lose your customer list and you’ve lost your business.
Why DIY Digital Planning Fails
Technology changes constantly. Laws change, too. What works today might not work in five years, and estate plans need to last decades.
We’ve seen people try to handle this themselves. They miss account types, forget about new technology, or write instructions that don’t actually work under New York law. Then their families spend months fighting with tech companies while valuable accounts get deleted.
Professional help costs less than the problems it prevents. We coordinate your digital asset plan with your overall estate plan so everything works together. No conflicts, no gaps, no family members cursing your name.
Ready to Take Control of Your Digital Assets?
Contact Merlino & Gonzalez today and schedule a consultation. We’ll create a comprehensive plan covering all your assets — digital and traditional. Your family will thank you for making their lives easier during an already difficult time. Contact us now to schedule a consultation with our New Brunswick and Staten Island estate planning attorneys.