Most people have more digital assets than they realize — and almost no plan for what happens to them. Your family may need access to accounts to manage the estate, cancel subscriptions, recover memories, or claim real money. Locked accounts complicate all of it.

What counts as a digital asset

  • Email accounts (primary and secondary)
  • Social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn)
  • Cloud storage (Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox)
  • Online financial accounts (banks, PayPal, Venmo, investment apps)
  • Cryptocurrency wallets and exchange accounts
  • Subscription services (streaming, software, memberships)
  • Domain names and websites
  • Online stores or businesses
  • Rewards points and airline miles
  • Digital media libraries (purchased movies, books, music)
  • Password managers

Most platforms' terms of service prohibit sharing login credentials — and technically prohibit anyone else from accessing your account, even after death. The law hasn't fully caught up.

Most states have adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), which gives executors legal authority to access certain digital assets. But it requires proper legal authorization — usually letters testamentary from a court — and platforms often still resist or move slowly.

The practical reality: documentation and advance planning matter more than the legal framework, because getting court authorization for every account is slow and expensive.

Email accounts

Email is often the master key to everything else — password resets, financial statements, insurance policies, and correspondence all flow through it. Your executor may need access to manage the estate effectively.

Document your primary and secondary email addresses and, ideally, where the login information is stored. If you use Gmail, Google's Inactive Account Manager lets you designate someone to access or download your account data after a period of inactivity — without requiring your password.

Social media

Each major platform handles death differently:

Facebook / Instagram (Meta)

Accounts can be memorialized (kept as a tribute page) or removed. You can designate a legacy contact in your Facebook settings — someone who can manage your memorialized profile. Without a legacy contact, only immediate family can request memorialization or removal.

Google (YouTube, Gmail)

Use Inactive Account Manager to designate trusted contacts and specify what happens to your data after a set period of inactivity. This is the most thorough pre-planning tool available from any platform.

Apple

Apple's Digital Legacy feature lets you designate legacy contacts who can request access to your Apple ID data after your death. They'll need the access key you generate when you set it up.

X (Twitter) / LinkedIn

Neither offers legacy planning tools. Family members can request account removal with a death certificate, but content access is generally not granted.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is the highest-stakes digital asset because it's irreversibly inaccessible without the right credentials. There is no customer support to call. There is no password reset. If the private key or seed phrase is lost, the funds are gone permanently.

Document your crypto holdings carefully

  • Record which exchanges or wallets hold your crypto
  • Store your seed phrase (12 or 24 words) in a secure physical location — not digitally
  • Tell your executor or a trusted person that it exists and where to find the instructions
  • Do not put the seed phrase in your will — wills become public record in probate

Subscriptions

The average person has more active subscriptions than they realize — streaming services, software, news, gym memberships, and more. These continue charging until cancelled.

Your executor will need a list of active subscriptions to cancel them after your death. Most can be cancelled with proof of death and the account credentials. Document what you have and where the billing information is stored.

The password problem

Don't put passwords in your will. Wills become public record when they go through probate. Don't put them in a document stored in the cloud without proper security.

The best approach:

  • Use a reputable password manager (1Password, Bitwarden, or similar)
  • Document where the password manager is and how to access it — the master password or emergency kit
  • Store that information physically, somewhere your executor knows to look

A single master password to a password manager is far more manageable than a list of 80 individual logins — and far more secure than writing them all down.

What to document now

Your digital estate checklist

  • Primary and secondary email addresses
  • Password manager name and how to access it
  • Social media accounts and legacy contact designations
  • Cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets, and seed phrase location
  • Online financial accounts not managed through your bank
  • Active subscriptions and where they're billed
  • Domain names and hosting accounts
  • Cloud storage accounts with important files

Closing Notes has a dedicated section for digital accounts — including a prompt for your password manager and instructions on where each piece of information is stored.