Digital assets do not simply disappear when you die. Email accounts, cloud files, social media profiles, cryptocurrency, websites, domain names, digital photographs, and online business records may need to be located, preserved, transferred, or closed during estate administration.
New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law Article 13-A provides rules governing fiduciary access to many digital assets. An executor does not automatically receive unrestricted access to every account or private message. Access can depend on the type of information involved, directions you left through an online account tool, the service provider's procedures, your estate planning documents, and the documents presented by the fiduciary.
Mahserjian & Mahserjian-Ortiz, PLLC helps individuals and families in Saratoga, New York, address digital property as part of a broader estate plan.
A digital estate plan should tell your fiduciary what exists, where instructions are stored, and what authority may be needed.
What Is a Digital Asset in New York?
New York law defines a digital asset as an electronic record in which a person has a right or interest. The definition is broad, but it does not automatically include every underlying asset or liability that may be accessed through an electronic record unless that asset or liability is itself an electronic record.
Examples of digital assets may include:
- Email accounts and stored messages
- Cloud storage accounts containing photographs, videos, or documents
- Social media profiles
- Cryptocurrency exchange accounts
- Cryptocurrency held in self-custody wallets
- Websites and domain names
- Online payment accounts
- Digital business records
- Monetized online content
- Files stored on computers, tablets, and smartphones
- Certain forms of digital intellectual property
Some digital assets have clear financial value. Others may matter because they contain family photographs, business information, correspondence, tax records, intellectual property, or information an executor needs to administer an estate.
Article 13-A also contains limits. For example, its definition of a digital asset does not include an employer's digital asset used by an employee in the ordinary course of the employer's business.
If you are reviewing your online property as part of a larger estate plan, you can learn more about working with a Saratoga estate planning lawyer here:
https://www.jeanmahserjian.com/estate-planning-lawyers/
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How New York Law Addresses Digital Assets After Death
Article 13-A of New York's Estates, Powers and Trusts Law creates a framework for disclosure of digital assets to fiduciaries. Depending on the circumstances, a fiduciary may include an executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, or agent acting under a power of attorney.
One of the key distinctions involves the content of electronic communications.
An executor may be able to obtain certain digital assets and a catalogue of electronic communications after providing the information required by law. A catalogue can identify people with whom the deceased communicated and may include dates, times, and electronic addresses associated with those communications.
Access to the actual content of private electronic communications can require more. New York law permits disclosure in circumstances that include consent from the deceased user or a court order when the statutory requirements are satisfied.
This distinction is why naming an executor in a will may not resolve every issue involving email, messages, or other private electronic communications.
Online Legacy Tools Can Control Conflicting Instructions
Many technology companies provide an online tool that lets you designate someone to receive information or manage an account after your death.
New York law gives qualifying online tools substantial effect. If an online tool allows you to modify or delete a direction at any time, your direction through that tool can override a conflicting direction in a will, trust, power of attorney, or other record.
For example, you might name one person through an account's legacy feature and later name someone else in your estate planning documents without changing the online designation. Depending on the facts and the type of account, the account-level direction may control disclosure.
Your estate planning review should account for both your legal documents and your account-level settings.
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Does a Will Control Your Digital Assets?
A will can play a major role in digital estate planning, but it does not control every digital account in the same way.
A properly drafted will may give your executor authority to administer estate property and may include consent concerning access to digital assets or electronic communications. Account-specific directions, service-provider rules, and other laws can still affect what a provider may disclose.
If you are creating or updating a will, you can review the broader New York process here:
https://www.jeanmahserjian.com/how-to-create-a-will-in-new-york-a-step-by-step-guide/
Passwords should generally not be written directly into a will. A will that is admitted to probate can become part of the court record. Passwords, recovery codes, cryptocurrency seed phrases, and private keys should be stored through a secure method that allows the intended fiduciary to locate appropriate instructions when necessary.
What Happens to Cryptocurrency When You Die?
Cryptocurrency can present legal and practical issues that differ from traditional estate assets.
If you hold cryptocurrency through an exchange, your executor may need to follow the exchange's deceased-account procedures and provide documents establishing your death and the executor's authority.
Self-custody creates a different problem.
If you hold cryptocurrency in a private wallet, practical access may depend on a private key, seed phrase, hardware device, or another recovery method. A beneficiary may have the legal right to inherit the asset without having the technical information needed to access it.
A digital estate plan for cryptocurrency may identify:
- What type of cryptocurrency you own
- Whether each holding is kept through an exchange or a self-custody wallet
- Where secure access instructions are stored
- Who should receive the cryptocurrency
- Who will have authority to administer the asset
- Whether any hardware wallet or recovery device must be located
Sensitive credentials should remain protected. The goal is not to distribute private keys widely. The goal is to make certain that an authorized person can locate the instructions needed to deal with the asset after your death.
Digital Assets May Become Part of Probate Administration
Your executor may need to manage digital property alongside bank accounts, real estate, investments, debts, taxes, and personal possessions.
Depending on your estate, an executor may need to:
- Identify online accounts
- Preserve photographs and documents
- Obtain business records
- Secure websites or domain names
- Cancel recurring subscriptions
- Close unused accounts
- Transfer property with financial value
- Request information from account custodians
- Preserve records needed for tax or estate administration
New York law allows a custodian responding to a valid request to provide full access, partial access, or copies of qualifying digital assets, depending on the circumstances. A custodian generally must comply with a proper statutory request within 60 days after receiving the information required by the applicable provision.
For more information about probate and estate administration in Saratoga, New York, visit:
https://www.jeanmahserjian.com/saratoga-probate-lawyers/
Not Every Digital Purchase Can Be Transferred
A digital purchase is not always the same as traditional personal property.
Some online transactions give you ownership of an asset. Others give you only a license to access content or use a service. This distinction can affect music libraries, software, digital media subscriptions, online memberships, and similar accounts.
A domain name, monetized website, cryptocurrency holding, or original digital work may carry transferable financial value. A personal subscription account may have little or no transferable value.
Your estate plan should identify not only which accounts exist, but also what legal or financial rights are connected with those accounts.
Five Steps for Creating a Digital Estate Plan
Digital estate planning does not require placing every password into a legal document. It requires a reliable system that tells the proper person what exists and how necessary information can be found.
1. Create a Digital Asset Inventory
List significant accounts, devices, online property, websites, cryptocurrency holdings, cloud storage services, and other electronic assets.
Your inventory can identify the account or asset without containing the password, seed phrase, or private key itself.
2. Review Legacy and Beneficiary Tools
Check whether major online accounts provide a legacy contact, designated recipient, beneficiary option, or inactive-account feature.
Review those choices periodically so they remain consistent with the rest of your estate plan.
3. Coordinate Your Estate Planning Documents
Your will, trust, beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, and other planning documents should work together rather than create conflicting directions.
A helpful starting point is:
https://www.jeanmahserjian.com/understanding-the-basics-of-estate-planning-in-new-york/
4. Plan for Incapacity as Well as Death
Digital property may need attention while you are still living.
New York law includes rules governing digital-asset access by an agent acting under a power of attorney. Access to the content of electronic communications requires particular attention because the power of attorney must expressly grant authority for that type of disclosure.
You can learn more about powers of attorney in estate planning here:
https://www.jeanmahserjian.com/understanding-the-role-of-power-of-attorney-in-estate-planning/
5. Tell the Right Person Where Instructions Are Located
An executor cannot manage an account that nobody knows exists.
Your chosen fiduciary should know where your digital asset inventory and secure access instructions can be found. You do not need to hand over every password during your lifetime. You do need a reliable method for making the necessary information available to the authorized person when the time comes.
A Digital Estate Planning Example
Consider a Saratoga resident who operates a small consulting business.
The person owns a business domain name, receives client records through email, stores family photographs in a cloud account, holds cryptocurrency in a private wallet, and pays recurring expenses through online services.
A traditional estate plan that addresses only a home, bank accounts, and investments may leave practical questions unanswered.
The executor might know that cryptocurrency exists without knowing how to locate the wallet. Family members might know that photographs are stored online but lack authority to retrieve them. A valuable business domain could expire because nobody knows that renewal is required.
A stronger digital estate plan identifies significant digital property, addresses fiduciary authority when appropriate, coordinates account-level directions, and provides a secure method for locating access instructions.
That preparation can give your executor a clearer path for identifying and managing digital property.
Digital Estate Planning Should Be Reviewed Over Time
Digital property can change quickly.
You may open new accounts, replace devices, change cryptocurrency storage methods, purchase domain names, close businesses, or move documents into different cloud services. An inventory prepared several years ago may no longer reflect what you own or use.
Review your digital assets when you update your will, trust, power of attorney, beneficiary designations, or broader estate plan. You should also review major account-level legacy settings when your family circumstances or estate planning choices change.
Speak With a Saratoga Estate Planning Attorney About Digital Assets
Online property is now part of everyday financial and family life. Your estate plan can address who should manage significant digital assets, what authority may be needed, and where essential information can be located.
Mahserjian & Mahserjian-Ortiz, PLLC assists individuals and families in Saratoga, New York, and nearby areas with estate planning matters involving wills, trusts, powers of attorney, probate planning, and related property concerns.
To discuss how digital assets may fit into your estate plan, call (518) 313-3564 or request an appointment here:
https://www.jeanmahserjian.com/contact-us/
This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Consult an attorney about your specific situation.