What You Don’t Know About Digital Assets Could Hurt You and Your Heirs

Fewer than 15% of Americans have an estate plan that includes digital assets, according to a study reported in Forbes in the article “New Survey Shows Americans Don’t Know Which Digital Assets They Own.” Estate planning attorneys call this a “planning gap,” and this one is considerable.

Loved ones who can’t access digital assets may lose as much as if a healthy bank account can’t be located. Most people don’t know what they own or how to protect digital assets. This creates a real problem for planning for incapacity and death. We live more of our lives online, and our estate plans need to address our digital lives.

Digital assets are not just cryptocurrency. Digital assets encompass a wide range of items, including information and property, such as bank accounts, financial records and personal mementos like photos and videos.

For example, consider what happened to a family-owned business where everything was online: website, orders, invoicing and customer communications. The adult children didn’t have access to anything, including emails, bank accounts, or the order tracking system. The entire company stopped because no one else had access.

Without digital estate planning, heirs may find themselves completely locked out, even if they have passwords and usernames. The Terms of Service Agreements for most platforms—the little box we all click on to get all the legal “stuff” out of the way—state accounts are non-transferable and terminate on death. Those TOSAs are enforceable, as many people have discovered after attempting to access their accounts.

To protect your digital legacy, start with an inventory of all accounts online, starting with financial accounts, emails, cloud storage, loyalty points and social media. Then consider what you want to happen to these accounts upon your passing. Do you want them to be deleted to protect your privacy? Or do you want someone else to be able to access them?

Some, but not all, platforms allow you to name another person to have access to manage your accounts after you’ve died. You’ll need to go into each account to find out if they allow you to do this and provide the required information.

Next, update your legal documents. You need to grant access to accounts in your will, trust, or power of attorney under the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), which most states have adopted.

Your digital assets are part of your legacy and require the same care as traditional assets like real estate and bank accounts. Someday someone else will need to access what you’ve left behind. It’s best to have a plan and provide directions to protect yourself and your family.

Protecting your digital assets ensures your loved ones can access what matters most and preserves your legacy. At The Werner Law Firm, our estate planning attorneys can help you inventory, safeguard, and legally authorize access to your digital accounts so your heirs aren’t left locked out.

If you have any questions, schedule a free appointment with us through our online appointment page.

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Reference: Forbes (Sep. 7, 2025) “New Survey Shows Americans Don’t Know Which Digital Assets They Own”