Including Digital Assets in Your New York Estate Plan

Your life lives online now. The photos of your grandchildren, the email that holds your bills, the loyalty points, the cryptocurrency, the social media that tells your story, all of it continues after you are gone. For New York families, digital assets are often the part of the estate that is most personal and, too often, the part no one can reach. A little planning keeps your loved ones from being locked out at the worst possible time.

What Counts as a Digital Asset

Digital assets include far more than money. Think of email and cloud storage, photo and video libraries, social media profiles, online banking and investment logins, cryptocurrency and digital wallets, domain names, loyalty and rewards programs, and even subscriptions that quietly keep charging. Some hold real financial value; others hold irreplaceable memories. Both deserve a place in your plan.

New York’s Digital Asset Law

New York adopted a version of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which gives your fiduciaries, such as your executor or agent, a legal pathway to manage your digital accounts when you have authorized it. The law generally respects the choices you make through an online tool a provider offers, or through your estate documents. The key word is authorize: without clear permission, privacy laws and terms of service can leave even a devoted executor unable to act.

Why You Can’t Just Share Passwords

Handing a spouse your passwords feels easy, but it is not a real plan. Passwords change, two-factor codes get in the way, and logging in as you can violate a provider’s terms or even privacy law. Worse, a shared password list left lying around is a security risk while you are still living. The goal is lawful, authorized access, not a sticky note in a drawer.

Building Digital Access Into Your Documents

Your will, your trust, and especially your power of attorney can include language granting your fiduciaries authority over digital assets under New York’s law. A power of attorney under GOL 5-1513 can empower your agent to handle online accounts if you become incapacitated, not only after death. Naming this authority explicitly, rather than assuming it, is what turns good intentions into something your family can actually use.

Make a Secure Inventory

Create a running list of your important accounts and where to find them, and store it securely, for example in a reputable password manager or a sealed document kept with your estate papers. Do not put passwords directly in your will, which becomes a public record once filed in Surrogate’s Court. Note your wishes too: which photos to preserve, which social accounts to memorialize or close, which subscriptions to cancel. Your family should not have to guess.

Use the Tools Providers Offer

Many major platforms now let you name a legacy contact or set what happens to your account. These provider tools often take priority, so take a few minutes to set them and make sure they match your overall plan. From Manhattan to the Hudson Valley, these small settings can spare grieving families weeks of frustrating customer-service calls.

A Note on Working With a New York Attorney

Digital assets sit where technology, privacy law, and New York estate law meet. A New York estate planning attorney can add the right authorizing language to your will, trust, and power of attorney so your fiduciaries can act without running into legal walls. This is general information, not legal advice, so please consult a qualified New York attorney about your own digital legacy.