Digital assets in a Florida estate plan are the electronic records, accounts, and property you control online, and they require specific legal authorization for your fiduciaries to access after death or incapacity. Florida governs this access through Chapter 740 of the Florida Statutes, the state’s version of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), which controls when a personal representative, trustee, or agent under a power of attorney can reach your accounts. Without the right language in your documents, even a well-drafted will may not give your loved ones legal access to your most valuable or sensitive online holdings.
I have sat across from too many families in Broward County who assumed that handing over a password was the same as handing over legal authority. It is not. A surviving spouse who logs into a decedent’s email with the right password may technically be violating federal privacy law and the service provider’s terms. For high-net-worth individuals in Fort Lauderdale, the stakes are higher still, because digital assets now routinely include real money, business interests, and irreplaceable records.
What Counts as a Digital Asset Under Florida Law
Section 740.002, Florida Statutes, defines a digital asset broadly as an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. That definition is wider than most people expect. It does not just mean cryptocurrency. It captures nearly everything you touch through a screen.
For planning purposes, I group a client’s digital estate into a few practical categories:
- Financial and monetary accounts. Cryptocurrency wallets and exchange accounts, brokerage and robo-advisor logins, PayPal and Venmo balances, online banking, and rewards or airline-mile programs that carry real cash value.
- Income-producing and business assets. E-commerce stores, monetized social channels, domain names, advertising accounts, app-store developer accounts, and cloud-hosted intellectual property.
- Records and documents. Email accounts, cloud storage, password managers, and online tax or accounting platforms. These are the keys that unlock everything else.
- Sentimental and personal content. Photo libraries, social media profiles, and personal blogs that may have no market value but enormous family value.
- Subscription and access accounts. Streaming services, memberships, and recurring billing that should be closed promptly to stop charges.
One distinction matters constantly. The law separates the asset from the account that holds it. The bitcoin is yours; the exchange account is a contractual relationship governed by terms of service. The photographs are yours; the cloud platform is a custodian. Good planning addresses both the property and the access.
Chapter 740: How Florida Controls Fiduciary Access
Florida adopted the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act effective July 1, 2016. Codified at Chapter 740, it sets the rules for four types of fiduciaries: a personal representative of a deceased person’s estate, an agent acting under a durable power of attorney, a trustee of a trust, and a guardian of an incapacitated ward.
The heart of the statute is a three-tier hierarchy that decides who controls a digital account, and it surprises a lot of people. The order is strict.
- An online tool, if the provider offers one and you used it. When a platform gives users a built-in way to name someone to manage the account after death, your instruction there controls above everything else.
- Your estate planning documents. If you did not use an online tool, then directions in your will, trust, or power of attorney govern, provided they are drafted to grant digital-asset authority.
- The provider’s terms-of-service agreement. If you did neither, the click-through contract you agreed to years ago decides what happens.
That hierarchy carries a sharp consequence. An online tool overrides your will. If you set a Facebook Legacy Contact naming your brother, but your will leaves your digital assets to your spouse, the brother wins for that account. This is exactly why coordinated planning matters and why piecemeal, do-it-yourself settings can quietly defeat a carefully drafted plan.
Online Tools You May Already Be Able to Use
Several major providers offer the first-tier online tools the statute references. Google’s Inactive Account Manager lets you designate trusted contacts and decide what happens to your data after a period of inactivity. Facebook’s Legacy Contact lets you name someone to memorialize or manage your profile. Apple offers a Legacy Contact feature for Apple Account access. Using these tools is helpful, but it should be done deliberately and in concert with your attorney, not as a substitute for an estate plan, so that your choices are consistent rather than contradictory.
What the Statute Lets a Fiduciary Reach
Chapter 740 draws a meaningful line between the content of electronic communications, such as the body of your emails, and the catalogue, meaning the record that a message was sent or received and the basic account information. A fiduciary can generally obtain the catalogue and non-content records more readily. To obtain the actual content of communications, the law requires clear, affirmative consent, which is why the language in your documents is decisive. Section 740.04 addresses disclosure to a personal representative, and the provisions governing trustees and agents follow the same logic: authority must be expressly granted, not assumed.
The Risk When Digital Assets Are Ignored
Federal law sits in the background of all of this. The Stored Communications Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act restrict access to electronic communications and computer systems. Sharing a password does not give legal authority and can expose a well-meaning family member to liability. Providers cite these laws when they refuse access, and a Florida custodian that follows a valid request is granted immunity under the statute, which gives them every incentive to demand proper authorization before releasing anything.
The practical failures I see fall into a familiar pattern:
- Lost cryptocurrency. When the only person who knew the seed phrase dies, the value can be permanently unrecoverable. No court order can reconstruct a private key.
- Locked accounts and stalled probate. A personal representative cannot inventory or settle what no one can open, which delays Florida probate and frustrates beneficiaries.
- Ongoing charges and fraud exposure. Dormant accounts keep billing and become attractive targets for identity theft against the deceased.
- Disinheritance by terms of service. An account a client believed would pass to a child instead vanishes under a provider’s default policy.
Building Digital Assets Into Your Florida Estate Plan
For high-net-worth families focused on asset protection, the goal is to make digital property as orderly as the brokerage account and the homestead. A workable approach has a few moving parts that fit together.
1. Grant Explicit Authority in Every Document
Your will, your durable power of attorney, and your trust should each contain specific, Chapter 740-compliant language authorizing the fiduciary to access, manage, and where appropriate, dispose of digital assets, including the content of electronic communications. A power of attorney is especially important, because it operates during incapacity, which is often when digital access is needed most and when families are least prepared.
2. Use a Revocable Trust for Valuable Digital Property
Funding meaningful digital assets, such as a profitable online business or substantial crypto holdings, into a revocable living trust can keep them out of probate and give your trustee a smoother path to manage and transfer them. Trust-based planning also pairs well with broader asset-protection structures. Our team explains the mechanics of trust planning in depth, and for families with a beneficiary who has a disability, a properly drafted special needs trust can hold digital and traditional assets without jeopardizing means-tested benefits.
3. Maintain a Secure, Updated Digital Inventory
Keep a current list of accounts, devices, and where credentials are stored, separate from the documents themselves so passwords are never written into a public will. A reputable password manager with an emergency-access feature, combined with clear instructions for your fiduciary on how to reach it, is far safer than a spreadsheet in a desk drawer. Treat the inventory as a living document and revisit it whenever you open or close significant accounts.
4. Coordinate Online Tools With Your Documents
Because online tools sit at the top of the hierarchy, audit them. Make sure your Google, Apple, and Facebook designations name the people you actually intend and do not contradict your will or trust. This is the step clients most often skip, and it is the one most likely to override their formal plan.
5. Address Cryptocurrency Key Management Carefully
Crypto demands its own protocol because access equals ownership. Document where wallets and seed phrases are secured, whether that is a hardware wallet, a safe-deposit box, or a custodial exchange, and give your fiduciary a path to that information that does not expose it during your lifetime. Never store a seed phrase in a document that will become a public probate filing.
A Note for Fort Lauderdale High-Net-Worth Families
Florida’s lack of a state income tax draws wealth, and with it comes complex, multi-state and sometimes international digital holdings. If you maintain accounts or property in other states, the interplay of each state’s RUFADAA-based statute matters, and our affiliated New York office can coordinate where your footprint reaches the Northeast. Locally, we integrate digital assets into the same plan that handles your homestead, business succession, and creditor protection. You can learn more about our approach to estate planning in Florida, and when an estate must be administered, our guidance on Florida probate walks families through what comes next.
The technology will keep changing. The planning principle will not: authority must be granted clearly, in the right document, in the right order, before it is needed. If your current plan was signed before 2016, or if it has never mentioned a single online account, it is time for a review. Contact our Fort Lauderdale estate planning attorneys to make sure your digital life is as well protected as the rest of your estate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my Florida will automatically give my executor access to my online accounts?
Not necessarily. Under Chapter 740 of the Florida Statutes, your personal representative needs explicit authority to access digital assets, including the content of electronic communications. A general will that does not mention digital assets may be insufficient, and if you set up a provider’s online tool, that designation can override your will for that account.
What is an online tool and why does it matter more than my estate plan?
An online tool is a feature a provider offers letting you name someone to manage your account after death, such as Google’s Inactive Account Manager or Facebook’s Legacy Contact. Under Florida’s three-tier hierarchy, a valid online-tool designation takes priority over your will, trust, or power of attorney, so it must be coordinated with your documents.
How should cryptocurrency be handled in a Florida estate plan?
Cryptocurrency requires special care because whoever controls the private key or seed phrase controls the asset, and lost keys are usually unrecoverable. Document where wallets and keys are stored, grant your fiduciary clear authority, and never place a seed phrase in a will that will become a public probate record. A revocable trust is often a good vehicle for substantial holdings.
Can I just give my spouse my passwords instead of doing formal planning?
Sharing passwords is risky and not a legal substitute for authority. Federal laws like the Stored Communications Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act can make unauthorized access a violation, even for a spouse. Proper authorization in your estate planning documents protects your fiduciary and ensures providers will cooperate.
Should I update my estate plan if it was created before 2016?
Yes. Florida’s Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act took effect July 1, 2016, and plans drafted before that date typically lack the language needed to grant digital-asset authority. A review ensures your will, power of attorney, and trust include compliant provisions and that your online-tool settings align with your overall plan.
For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of estate planning in Palm Beach. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles Article 81 guardianship in New York.