Digital assets and property

Separate account access from ownership

In Minnesota, for example, digital asset access authority gives a fiduciary or designated recipient no new or expanded rights beyond those held by the user. Other states differ.

Under that Minnesota rule, existing contractual access and use rights remain intact. Access can be modified or eliminated by user direction, federal law, or terms of service when the user has given no statutory disclosure direction.

For your planning discussion, list ownership or license status separately from the person you want to administer each account. Include business records, online accounts, and cryptocurrency holdings in that review.

Check online directions alongside estate documents

In Minnesota, for example, an online disclosure or nondisclosure direction overrides a contrary will, trust, power of attorney, or other record only if the tool permits modification or deletion at all times. Other states differ.

If no qualifying online direction was given, or the provider offers no tool, Minnesota permits those documents to allow or prohibit disclosure to a fiduciary, including communication contents.

Such a direction overrides contrary terms of service only where the conflicting provision does not require affirmative, distinct assent separate from assent to the terms of service.

For your review, record the provider, the online direction, and the location of relevant authority documents together. This makes conflicting instructions easier to identify.

Record cryptocurrency custody and recovery arrangements

SEC staff educational guidance distinguishes self custody, where the holder manages private keys, from third party custody, where a custodian controls access to those keys. This guidance has no legal force.

The guidance describes a private key as a passcode authorizing cryptocurrency transactions. A seed phrase can restore a wallet after loss or damage, and losing or exposing these secrets may prevent access.

For planning, identify the custody arrangement and available recovery methods. Keep transaction authorizing secrets separate from inventory copies accessible to others, consistent with the staff guidance against sharing private keys or seed phrases.

Build a practical digital estate inventory

Use an organizational checklist with these fields, rather than treating it as a universally required statutory form:

• Asset or account identity and provider or wallet location
• Ownership or license status
• Custody and recovery arrangements
• Online disclosure directions and authority document locations
• Relevant business, valuation, and tax records

Record questions you cannot yet answer. An unclear account title, an unidentified wallet, or a missing recovery arrangement gives your next planning conversation a concrete starting point.

Two related terms

EstatePlanner.com resources for your next step

• What a digital estate inventory includes

  Start here if your account information is scattered across devices and files. Use the inventory discussion to organize the missing information identified in this guide.

• How digital asset access instructions work

  Open this next when online settings and estate documents point in different directions. It focuses your review on disclosure instructions and the limits surrounding access.

• How ownership and inheritance work for digital property

  Use this guide when your list mixes account access, licensed material, and property ownership. Bring those distinctions into the conversation about who should receive or administer each item.

• How cryptocurrency custody affects estate succession

  Choose this guide if you hold cryptocurrency through wallets or custodians. It helps you focus the next discussion on custody and recovery arrangements.

An Investor Advantage perspective on changing systems

In a discussion touching on estate planning and cryptocurrency, a participant described the practical work of helping clients move between different systems.

"So whether it's the English common law system in the Spanish civil law system, whether it's the dollar versus the Swiss franc, whether it's gold, and more recent years, whether it's something like cryptocurrencies, we've always been at the forefront of developing strategies, structures, procedures to make things move smoothly for our clients, which is really what they want."

Frequently asked questions

• Can an executor obtain email contents without the owner's consent?

  In Minnesota, for example, court direction is a statutory route, but it does not excuse the required consent record unless the user provided an online tool direction. Other states differ.

  The personal representative must give the provider a written request, in physical or electronic form, and a certified death certificate. The representative must also provide a certified appointment letter, court order, or statutory Affidavit of Collection of Personal Property.

  Unless the user provided an online tool direction, the representative must also provide the user's will, trust, power of attorney, or other record evidencing consent to disclosure of communication contents.

  If requested, the provider may require an account identifier, evidence linking the account to the user, or a court finding under the statutory alternatives. Those finding alternatives address:

  • The user's specific account, identifiable through the specified account information
  • Disclosure complying with federal electronic communication privacy law, federal telecommunications law, and other applicable law
  • The user's consent, unless an online tool direction was provided
  • Disclosure being reasonably necessary for estate administration

  These requested findings are additional documentation, not substitutes for the required consent record. A state appointment or court order alone does not establish that a federal disclosure exception is satisfied.

• Does inheriting a computer also transfer copyright in its stored works?

  No. Under federal copyright law, transferring a physical object does not itself convey rights in the copyrighted works embodied in it.

  Conversely, transferring copyright does not convey ownership of the physical object without an agreement. Keep the device and copyright questions separate when discussing stored photographs, writing, or other works.

• Does Minnesota's digital access law cover an employer's assets used by an employee?

  No. In Minnesota, for example, the law excludes an employer's digital asset used by an employee in the ordinary course of the employer's business. Other states differ.

  The Minnesota enactment covers fiduciaries acting under wills or powers of attorney, personal representatives, conservatorship proceedings, and trustees acting under trusts. A custodian is covered if the user resides in Minnesota or resided there at death.