Digital Assets and Your New York City Estate Plan

Planning for digital assets in a New York City estate plan is no longer optional, and the most surprising fact for most clients is this: in New York, the terms of service you clicked “agree” to on a website can legally override the instructions in your will, leaving your executor locked out of your accounts even when your wishes are crystal clear. New York adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) as Article 13-A of the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL), and it created a strict pecking order that determines who controls your photos, email, cryptocurrency, and online businesses after you die or become incapacitated. If you live in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, or Staten Island, understanding that order is the difference between a smooth administration in your local Surrogate’s Court and a frustrating, expensive dead end.

What “Digital Assets” Actually Means in New York

A digital asset is any electronic record in which you have a right or interest. New York’s EPTL Article 13-A defines the category broadly, and it sweeps in far more than people expect. It is not only money you can see in a banking app; it is the entire universe of your online life.

Two Different Things: The Asset and the Catalogue

New York law draws a critical distinction that controls how much access your fiduciary gets. The content of an electronic communication (the actual body of your emails and private messages) receives the strongest privacy protection and requires explicit consent before a fiduciary can read it. By contrast, a catalogue of electronic communications (the record of who you emailed and when, without the message text) is treated more like ordinary metadata and is easier for a fiduciary to obtain. Knowing which one your executor actually needs shapes how your documents should be drafted.

The New York RUFADAA Framework: A Three-Tier Hierarchy

EPTL Article 13-A establishes a clear order of authority. When a dispute arises in a New York City Surrogate’s Court, the judge applies these tiers in sequence to decide who controls a digital asset.

1. The online tool. If the provider offers an “online tool” that lets you name someone to manage or access your account at death, and you use it, that designation controls above everything else. Google’s Inactive Account Manager and Facebook’s Legacy Contact are the classic examples. This beats your will.
2. Your estate-planning documents. If you did not use an online tool (or the provider offers none), your will, trust, or power of attorney governs, provided those documents grant or restrict access to digital assets in writing.
3. The terms-of-service agreement. If you addressed the asset in neither an online tool nor your documents, the provider’s terms-of-service agreement controls by default, and many of those agreements deny fiduciary access entirely.

The practical lesson is direct: silence is dangerous. A New Yorker who never used an online tool and never mentioned digital assets in a will has effectively let a tech company’s boilerplate decide the outcome.

Granting Fiduciary Access the Right Way

To put your fiduciary in control, your documents must do more than name an executor. Best practice in 2026 includes:

• Express language in your will authorizing your executor to access, manage, and dispose of digital assets, including the content of electronic communications.
• Parallel digital-asset authority in your revocable living trust for any accounts you transfer into it.
• A statutory power of attorney that addresses digital assets, so an agent can act while you are alive but incapacitated, a scenario the will never covers.
• Digital-asset access powers in your health care proxy planning where messaging or medical-portal access matters.

Concrete New York City Scenarios

The Brooklyn Crypto Holder

A Park Slope resident holds Ethereum in a self-custody wallet secured by a 24-word seed phrase. He names his sister as executor in a will that grants digital-asset authority. That authority is legally meaningful, but it is useless without the seed phrase itself. Unlike a bank account, there is no institution to subpoena and no “forgot password” button. If the phrase dies with him, the crypto is gone forever. His plan needs both the legal authority and a secure mechanism for the fiduciary to locate the credentials, often a sealed letter of instruction or a reputable password manager with emergency access, never the seed phrase pasted into the will itself (which becomes a public record once filed in Surrogate’s Court).

The Queens Family Business Online

An Astoria entrepreneur runs a six-figure Shopify store and a monetized Instagram account. When she dies, her executor must keep the store fulfilling orders, manage customer service, and preserve ad accounts, all of which require login access within days, not the months a contested administration can take. Without clear digital-asset authority and a credentials roadmap, the business value can evaporate before the Queens County Surrogate’s Court even issues letters testamentary.

The Manhattan Photo Legacy

An Upper West Side parent has decades of family photographs in iCloud and Google Photos. Apple’s and Google’s online tools (Legacy Contact and Inactive Account Manager) let her designate exactly who receives that data. Because the online tool sits at the top of the RUFADAA hierarchy, completing it is often faster and more reliable than relying on the will alone for sentimental media.

Rule of thumb for New Yorkers: use every online tool a provider offers, then back it up with express digital-asset language in your will, trust, and power of attorney. The two layers reinforce each other.

Common Mistakes New Yorkers Make

• Treating a password list as an estate plan. Sharing logins is not legal authority and violates many terms of service. Authority must come through RUFADAA’s hierarchy.
• Pasting credentials into the will. A probated will is filed with the Surrogate’s Court and can become accessible; never put seed phrases, PINs, or passwords in it.
• Ignoring the incapacity gap. A will does nothing if you are alive but incapacitated. Without digital-asset powers in your power of attorney, no one can manage your accounts during that period.
• Forgetting the content-versus-catalogue distinction. Generic boilerplate may unlock only metadata. If your executor needs to read emails to settle the estate, the documents must expressly consent to disclosure of content.
• Letting documents go stale. Accounts, providers, and platform policies change constantly. A plan drafted years ago may not match the assets you hold in 2026.
• Assuming “joint” online accounts transfer automatically. Most do not; the survivor often has no legal right to the deceased’s portion under the provider’s terms.

When to Call a New York Estate Planning Attorney

Digital assets sit at the intersection of New York’s EPTL Article 13-A, SCPA administration rules, federal privacy statutes, and each provider’s contract, a combination that is easy to get wrong without guidance. You should speak with counsel if you hold cryptocurrency, run an online business, have significant sentimental media, or simply want certainty that your fiduciary will not be locked out. An attorney experienced in estate planning in New York City can draft will, trust, and power-of-attorney language that satisfies RUFADAA’s consent requirements and coordinate it with the online tools your providers offer.

Russel Morgan, Esq. and the team regularly help New York City families build digital-asset plans that hold up in the Surrogate’s Court for their county. You can review answers to frequent questions on our estate planning FAQ page, learn more about our practice on the about our firm page, or reach the office directly through our New York City contact page. For background on local procedure, the New York City Surrogate’s Courts publish guidance on estate administration.

A modern New York City estate plan must account for the keys, passwords, and platforms that hold your wealth and your memories. Building digital-asset authority into your documents now spares your loved ones a painful, sometimes impossible, recovery later.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does New York have a law governing access to digital assets after death?

Yes. New York adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act as Article 13-A of the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL). It sets a three-tier hierarchy: an online tool you designate controls first, then your will or trust, and finally the provider’s terms of service by default.

Can I just leave my passwords in my will for my executor in New York?

No, that is a serious mistake. A probated will is filed with the New York City Surrogate’s Court and can become accessible to others, so passwords, PINs, and crypto seed phrases should never go in it. Instead, your will should grant legal authority over digital assets, and the actual credentials should be stored separately in a secure mechanism like a sealed letter or a password manager with emergency access.

What happens to my cryptocurrency if I die without sharing the private keys?

In most cases it is lost permanently. Self-custody crypto has no bank or institution that can recover access, and no court order can reproduce a lost seed phrase. Even with full digital-asset authority in your will, your executor cannot reach the coins without the keys, so a secure plan for transmitting credentials is essential for New York City crypto holders.

Will my will give my executor access to my Gmail or iCloud emails in New York?

Only if it is drafted correctly. Under EPTL Article 13-A, the content of electronic communications is privacy-protected and requires your explicit written consent before a fiduciary can read it. Generic executor language may unlock only metadata, so the will must expressly consent to disclosure of email content if your executor needs to read messages to settle your estate.

What is an 'online tool' and why does it beat my will?

An online tool is a feature a provider offers to let you name who can access or manage your account at death, such as Google’s Inactive Account Manager or Facebook’s Legacy Contact. Under New York’s RUFADAA hierarchy, a designation made through an online tool ranks above your will, so it is wise to complete these tools and then reinforce your choices with matching language in your estate documents.

Does my power of attorney need to mention digital assets?

Yes. A will only takes effect at death and does nothing if you are alive but incapacitated. To let an agent manage your online accounts during incapacity, your New York statutory power of attorney must include express digital-asset authority. Omitting it leaves a dangerous gap that no will can fill.

Which New York City Surrogate's Court handles my digital assets?

The Surrogate’s Court for the county where you were domiciled at death administers your estate, including digital assets. That means New York (Manhattan), Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, Bronx, or Richmond (Staten Island) County, depending on where you lived. Clear digital-asset authority in your documents helps that court issue letters and avoid disputes.

Do airline miles, hotel points, and online business accounts pass to my heirs in New York?

It depends on each provider’s terms of service. Many loyalty programs forfeit miles and points at death unless they are expressly transferable, and online businesses on platforms like Shopify or Etsy may freeze without fiduciary access. Addressing these assets in your estate plan, rather than relying on default terms, gives your executor the best chance to preserve their value.