Your Family Can't Just Log In
When someone dies, a bank will work with the estate executor. The title company will work with the trustee. The Utah Division of Motor Vehicles will retitle a vehicle through a small estate affidavit. These institutions have established processes for dealing with fiduciaries because they have dealt with them for decades.
Technology platforms are a different story. When your family tries to access your email, your cryptocurrency exchange, your cloud storage, or your social media accounts, they will run into Terms of Service agreements that prohibit account sharing, federal privacy laws that restrict disclosure of electronic communications, and customer service teams with no clear process for handling estate requests.
Without planning, digital assets often disappear — not because the law doesn't protect them, but because no one knew they existed, no one had the passwords, and no one had the legal authority to request access from the platform.
Utah has a law specifically designed to fix this. But the law only works if your estate plan activates it.
What Counts as a "Digital Asset" Under Utah Law?
Utah Code § 75A-6-102 defines a digital asset broadly as an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. In practice, this covers a wide range of accounts and holdings your family might need to access:
- Cryptocurrency and digital currency held on exchanges (Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini) or in self-custody wallets
- Email accounts (Gmail, Outlook, iCloud Mail) — including both the messages and the account itself
- Social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn)
- Cloud storage (Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive) containing photos, documents, and files
- Online financial accounts, PayPal balances, and payment platforms
- Domain names, websites, and online businesses
- Loyalty rewards accounts with transferable monetary value
- Digital photos, videos, and creative works stored online
The law also draws a specific distinction between digital assets generally and the content of electronic communications — the actual text of your emails and direct messages. This distinction matters significantly for what your fiduciary can access and how.
The Three-Tier Priority System
Utah Code § 75A-6-104 establishes a priority hierarchy that controls what your fiduciary can access. The tiers work in order — a higher tier always overrides a lower one.
Online Tool / Platform Legacy Setting (Highest Priority)
If a platform offers an online tool that lets you designate a recipient for your digital assets — Facebook's Legacy Contact, Google's Inactive Account Manager, Apple's Digital Legacy program — that designation controls. It overrides anything you write in a will, trust, or power of attorney. If you named someone in Google's tool but someone else in your will, Google follows the tool.
Will, Trust, Power of Attorney, or Other Legal Record
If a platform does not offer an online tool — or you haven't used it — your estate planning documents control. A will, revocable living trust, or durable power of attorney can expressly authorize your fiduciary to access and manage your digital assets. This is where most of the planning happens, because most platforms still lack robust legacy tools.
Terms of Service Agreement (Lowest Priority)
If you have done nothing — no legacy tool, no language in your estate plan — the platform's Terms of Service governs what happens. For most platforms, this means the account is inaccessible to your family. Under Utah Code § 75A-6-105, a Terms of Service provision that purports to override a user's express direction in a will or trust is unenforceable. But if there is no direction at all, the ToS fills the gap.
The takeaway: Check whether platforms you use offer a legacy or inactive account tool, and set it up. For everything else, make sure your will or trust expressly authorizes your fiduciary to access your digital assets. The law gives you the tools — but only if you use them.
Content vs. Catalog: A Critical Distinction
Utah law draws a sharp line between two categories of digital information, and your fiduciary's access rights differ depending on which category is involved.
A catalogue of electronic communications — the metadata: who you communicated with, when, and through what account — is generally accessible to a personal representative or trustee upon request, without explicit consent. This lets your executor or trustee identify accounts, track assets, and locate financial records.
The content of electronic communications — the actual text of your emails, direct messages, and other private communications — is treated with significantly more protection. Under § 75A-6-107, a custodian will only disclose the content of your messages to a personal representative if you gave explicit consent: either in your will or trust, through a court order, or through the platform's own legacy tool. Without that consent, your executor gets the account metadata but not the messages themselves.
This distinction reflects a deliberate policy choice: the law makes it easier to administer an estate than to expose a lifetime of private correspondence.
Four Types of Digital Assets — and What the Law Says
Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency held on a regulated exchange is a digital asset under the Act. Upon proper request, the exchange must disclose account holdings and facilitate transfer. The critical exception: self-custody wallets. If you hold crypto directly with only your private key or seed phrase, Utah law cannot compel access — the key is the asset. Without it, the cryptocurrency is permanently lost. Document your keys and store them securely where your executor can find them.
Social Media Accounts
Your executor can request a catalogue of your social media activity and account information. Whether they can read your direct messages depends on whether you gave explicit consent in your estate plan or through the platform's legacy tool. Note that most social media accounts are licensed to you personally — they are not transferable property in the traditional sense. Your executor can manage or memorialize the account; they generally cannot "inherit" it.
Cloud Storage
Files, photos, and documents stored in cloud services (iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox) are digital assets your executor or trustee can access. The account catalogue — what's in there — is accessible without specific consent. The content of any electronic communications stored there may require explicit authorization. For family photo archives and important documents, this is one of the more straightforward categories to address in an estate plan.
Email Accounts
Email is where the content/catalogue distinction matters most in practice. Your executor can learn that an email account exists and get basic account information. To actually read the emails — to search for financial records, creditor notices, or important correspondence — your executor needs explicit authorization in your estate plan. Include specific language granting your executor access to the content of your electronic communications.
Who Can Access Your Digital Assets — and Under What Authority
Different fiduciaries access digital assets under different sections of the Act. The authority depends on the fiduciary's role:
- Personal representative (executor) — Under §§ 75A-6-107 and 75A-6-108, an executor can request a catalogue of your digital assets and, with your consent, the content of your electronic communications. This is the primary pathway after death for people with a will or for intestate estates.
- Trustee — Under §§ 75A-6-111 through 75A-6-113, a trustee who is the original account holder has full access. A successor trustee who is not the original user can access the catalogue and, with your consent or a court order, the content of communications. This is why a revocable living trust that addresses digital assets can give a successor trustee more direct access than a will-based estate might.
- Agent under power of attorney — Under §§ 75A-6-109 and 75A-6-110, an agent can access a catalogue of electronic communications if they have general authority to act on your behalf. To access the content of electronic communications, the power of attorney must expressly grant that authority. Older powers of attorney that predate the Act may not include this language.
- Conservator or guardian — Under § 75A-6-114, a court-appointed conservator or guardian can access the catalogue of a protected person's electronic communications. The court may also grant access to communication content when necessary for the person's care or financial management.
What Digital Assets Are Not Truly Yours to Pass On
An important limit of the Digital Assets Act: it can give your fiduciary access to accounts, but it cannot make non-transferable assets transferable.
Most digital content you "purchase" is actually a license — a personal right to use the content that terminates at death. This includes most ebooks (Amazon Kindle), digital movie purchases (iTunes, Vudu), digital music purchases, and most video game accounts and in-game purchases. Under the platforms' Terms of Service, these licenses are non-transferable. The Utah Act can give your executor access to the account, but it cannot override the contractual terms that make the content itself non-inheritable.
Similarly, most airline miles and hotel reward points are governed by program rules that extinguish points at death or limit transfer. Some programs have estate claim processes; others do not. This is an area where checking program terms before death — and in some cases, using points before incapacity — is better planning than relying on the law.
What to Do Now: A Practical Checklist
- Take inventory. List every significant digital account you have — financial, social, cloud storage, email, and any accounts with monetary value. Include usernames and the platform's URL. Store this inventory somewhere your executor can find it — but not the passwords themselves in a document that anyone could access.
- Use platform legacy tools. Check whether Facebook, Google, Apple, and any major platforms you use offer a legacy contact, digital heir, or inactive account manager. Set these up. They are tier-one priority under Utah law.
- Update your estate planning documents. Your will, revocable living trust, and durable power of attorney should each expressly authorize your fiduciary to access and manage your digital assets — including the content of electronic communications. A generic reference to "all property" is not sufficient under § 75A-6-109.
- Address cryptocurrency specifically. If you hold cryptocurrency, document your private keys or seed phrases in a secure location — a fireproof safe, a safety deposit box, or through a service designed for this purpose. Consider also whether your cryptocurrency holdings should be transferred to an exchange account rather than a self-custody wallet, to make estate administration more straightforward.
- Password management. Do not leave passwords in your will (which becomes a public record at probate). Instead, use a password manager and give your executor instructions for accessing the manager itself — either through a master password stored securely, or through the password manager's own emergency access feature.
Frequently Asked Questions
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No. Utah law can require a custodian — an exchange like Coinbase — to disclose your account and transfer cryptocurrency held there. But if you hold cryptocurrency in a self-custody wallet (a hardware wallet or software wallet where only you hold the private key), the law cannot compel access. The private key is the asset. Without it, the cryptocurrency is permanently inaccessible, regardless of what your will says. This is why storing your private key or seed phrase in a secure, documented location your executor can find is critical.
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Under Utah Code § 75A-6-108, a custodian must disclose a catalogue of digital assets to a personal representative upon proper request. Whether they must disclose the actual content of your communications depends on whether you gave explicit consent — in your estate plan, in a will, trust, or power of attorney, or through the platform's own legacy tool. Facebook's Memorialization and Legacy Contact settings, Google's Inactive Account Manager, and Apple's Digital Legacy program are the platform-specific tools that override everything else under Utah law.
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You can authorize your executor to manage or close your social media accounts in your will (Utah Code § 75A-6-104). However, most social media accounts are licensed to you personally — they are not property you own and transfer at death in the traditional sense. Your will can give your executor the legal authority to act on your behalf with the platform, but whether the platform will allow the account to continue operating under your executor's control depends on that platform's own terms of service.
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Most loyalty rewards programs — airline miles, hotel points, credit card rewards — are not transferable at death under the program's own terms of service. Some programs allow estate claims; others extinguish the points upon the account holder's death. The same is true for streaming subscriptions, ebook libraries, and digital music purchases: these are usually licenses, not property, and do not pass to heirs. The Utah Digital Assets Act gives your fiduciary the right to access the account and get information about it, but it cannot override a platform's contractual terms regarding transferability.
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It can — but only if it explicitly addresses digital assets. Under Utah Code § 75A-6-110, a custodian must disclose a catalogue of digital assets to an agent with either specific authority over digital assets or general authority to act on behalf of the principal. For access to the actual content of electronic communications, the power of attorney must expressly grant that authority (§ 75A-6-109). A standard, older power of attorney that predates the Digital Assets Act may not be sufficient. If your power of attorney was drafted before September 2024, it is worth reviewing.