Most people have accumulated far more digital property than they realize. Cryptocurrency wallets, social media profiles, email accounts, cloud storage, online banking portals, digital photo libraries, streaming subscriptions, domain names, e-commerce storefronts — the list grows every year. Yet the vast majority of estate plans treat these assets as an afterthought, if they address them at all.

The problem is straightforward: a traditional will or trust was designed to transfer physical property and financial accounts. It was not designed to deal with encrypted private keys, platform-specific terms of service, or the privacy laws that prevent anyone — even a grieving spouse — from accessing a deceased person’s online accounts.

At The Bains Law Offices, we help clients in Fresno and throughout California build estate plans that account for the digital world. Below, we break down the law that governs digital asset access in California, explain why your current estate plan may leave your family locked out, and outline what you can do about it.

What Counts as a Digital Asset

Before getting into the legal framework, it helps to define what we mean by digital assets. Under the law, a digital asset is any electronic record in which a person has a right or interest. That definition is intentionally broad. It covers cryptocurrency and digital tokens held in wallets or on exchanges, social media accounts on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, and LinkedIn, email accounts including Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and others, cloud storage such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and iCloud, digital photographs, videos, and music libraries, online business accounts including e-commerce platforms and advertising accounts, loyalty program points and rewards, domain names and websites, online gaming accounts with in-game assets, and digital subscriptions and memberships.

Some of these assets have clear financial value. A Bitcoin wallet could hold tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. An e-commerce business run entirely online may be a family’s primary income source. But even accounts without direct monetary value — like a deceased parent’s photo library or a social media account full of memories — can be deeply important to surviving family members.

Why a Standard Will Falls Short

A traditional will allows you to name beneficiaries for your property and designate a personal representative (executor) to carry out your wishes. But wills were written for a world of deeds, titles, and bank statements — not passwords, private keys, and two-factor authentication.

Here is where things break down. Most wills do not specifically mention digital assets at all. Even if a will says “I leave all my personal property to my spouse,” that language may not be enough to compel a technology company to hand over access to an account. Platforms like Google, Apple, Meta, and cryptocurrency exchanges have their own terms of service that dictate what happens to an account when the holder dies. Those terms of service often conflict with what a family expects.

Without proper legal authorization, a platform may refuse to grant access, permanently delete the account, or lock it in a memorialized state that no one can control. For cryptocurrency, the situation is even more dire. If no one knows the private key or seed phrase, the funds may be permanently inaccessible — regardless of what any legal document says.

A will also only takes effect after death and after it has been admitted to probate. It does nothing to help if the account holder becomes incapacitated and someone needs to manage their digital affairs while they are still alive.

RUFADAA: The Law That Addresses the Gap

California adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, known as RUFADAA, in 2016. The law is codified in California Probate Code Sections 870 through 884. RUFADAA creates a legal framework that governs how fiduciaries — executors, trustees, agents under a power of attorney, and conservators — can access a deceased or incapacitated person’s digital assets.

RUFADAA was designed to balance two competing interests: the need for fiduciaries to access digital assets to carry out their duties, and the privacy rights of the account holder. The law achieves this balance through a three-tiered priority system that determines who gets access and under what conditions.

The Three-Tiered Priority System

RUFADAA establishes a clear hierarchy for determining how digital asset access is handled.

The first tier is the user’s online tool direction. Many platforms now allow users to set preferences for what happens to their account after death. Google has its Inactive Account Manager. Apple has a Legacy Contact feature. Meta allows users to designate a legacy contact or request that their account be deleted. If the account holder used one of these tools, that direction takes priority over everything else — including what the will or trust says.

The second tier is the user’s direction in an estate planning document. If the account holder did not use an online tool, the next priority goes to instructions contained in a will, trust, or power of attorney. This is where proper estate planning becomes critical. A well-drafted document can authorize a fiduciary to access, manage, copy, or delete digital assets. Without this language, the fiduciary’s authority may be limited.

The third tier is the platform’s terms of service. If the user left no direction — either online or in estate planning documents — the platform’s own terms of service control. This is the default position, and it is rarely favorable to the family. Most terms of service give the platform broad discretion to deny access, delete content, or refuse to cooperate with fiduciaries.

The takeaway is clear: if you want your family to have access to your digital assets, you need to take affirmative steps. Relying on the default — the platform’s terms of service — is the worst possible outcome for your loved ones.

Cryptocurrency Presents Particular Challenges

Cryptocurrency occupies a difficult space in estate planning. Unlike a bank account or brokerage, cryptocurrency is not held by an institution that can simply transfer ownership when presented with a death certificate and court order. The assets are controlled by private keys — long strings of characters that function as the sole means of access.

If the private key is lost, the cryptocurrency is gone. There is no customer service number to call and no recovery process. Billions of dollars in Bitcoin alone are estimated to be permanently locked in wallets whose owners have died or lost their keys.

RUFADAA provides a legal framework for granting fiduciary access to digital assets, but it cannot override the technical reality of blockchain technology. If a fiduciary has legal authority to access a cryptocurrency wallet but does not have the private key, they cannot access the funds.

This means that estate planning for cryptocurrency must go beyond legal documents. It requires a secure system for storing and transmitting private keys, seed phrases, and wallet information to trusted individuals. Some approaches include hardware wallets stored in a safe deposit box with access instructions included in the estate plan, encrypted digital vaults with credentials shared through a secure method, and multi-signature wallets that require approval from multiple keyholders.

The critical point is that the legal authority granted by RUFADAA and the practical ability to access cryptocurrency are two separate things. Both must be addressed.

Social Media and Privacy Concerns

Social media accounts raise their own set of issues. Many families want access to a loved one’s social media after death — to preserve photos, download memories, or simply close the account. But social media platforms have their own policies, and RUFADAA’s privacy protections add another layer of complexity.

Under RUFADAA, there is an important distinction between the content of electronic communications and other digital assets. A fiduciary may be granted access to a catalogue of electronic communications — essentially metadata like sender names, dates, and subject lines — without a specific grant of authority. But to access the actual content of those communications — the messages themselves — the fiduciary needs explicit authorization from the account holder, either through an online tool or an estate planning document.

This distinction matters for social media accounts that include private messages. A family member serving as executor may be able to see that a deceased person sent messages on a certain date, but they may not be able to read those messages without proper legal authorization.

For families who want full access to a loved one’s social media accounts, the estate plan should include clear, specific language authorizing the fiduciary to access the content of electronic communications. Without that language, platforms may refuse to cooperate, and they would be within their rights under RUFADAA to do so.

What Your Estate Plan Should Include

To ensure your digital assets are properly addressed, your estate plan should include several key components.

First, include specific digital asset provisions in your will and trust. Generic language about “personal property” is not enough. Your documents should explicitly reference digital assets and grant your fiduciary the authority to access, manage, distribute, copy, and delete those assets as appropriate.

Second, authorize access to the content of electronic communications. As noted above, RUFADAA draws a distinction between metadata and content. If you want your fiduciary to have full access, your documents must say so explicitly.

Third, create a digital asset inventory. Maintain a list of your online accounts, including the platform name, your username, and how to access the account. This inventory should be stored securely and updated regularly. Do not include passwords directly in your will or trust, as those documents may become public record.

Fourth, address cryptocurrency separately. If you hold any cryptocurrency, include specific instructions for how your fiduciary can locate and access your wallets. Describe where private keys and seed phrases are stored and how to retrieve them.

Fifth, use platform-specific tools where available. Set up legacy contacts, inactive account managers, and other built-in tools offered by the platforms you use. Under RUFADAA, these directions take priority, so using them gives you the most control.

Sixth, name a fiduciary who is capable of handling digital assets. Managing cryptocurrency, online businesses, and complex digital accounts requires a certain level of technical competence. Choose someone who can handle the responsibility, or consider naming a professional fiduciary for this portion of your estate.

The Cost of Doing Nothing

Failing to plan for digital assets can have consequences that range from inconvenient to devastating. On the minor end, a family may lose access to irreplaceable photos and videos. On the severe end, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency could be permanently lost, an online business could collapse because no one can access the accounts, or a deceased person’s social media could be taken over by bad actors.

These are not hypothetical scenarios. They happen regularly, and they are almost always preventable with proper planning.

The Bains Law Offices Will Help You Protect What Matters Most

Digital assets are no longer a niche concern — they are a central part of modern life and modern wealth. If your estate plan does not address them, it has a gap that could cost your family dearly.

At The Bains Law Offices, we work with clients in Fresno and across California to build estate plans that reflect the full scope of their assets, including the digital ones. Whether you need to update an existing plan or start from scratch, we can help you put the right protections in place. Call our office at 559-282-8924 to get started.