Your Online Life Has Value — Here's How to Protect It After You're Gone

The Digital Estate Gap Most People Don't Know They Have

When most people think about estate planning, they envision real property, retirement accounts, and perhaps a collection of sentimental possessions. What they rarely consider is the sprawling digital landscape they leave behind — email inboxes containing years of correspondence, cryptocurrency holdings worth tens of thousands of dollars, monetized YouTube channels, and social media profiles that may carry both sentimental and commercial value.

According to research by the digital estate planning company Everplans, the average American now holds dozens of online accounts at the time of death. Yet the vast majority of estate plans make no mention of these assets whatsoever. That oversight can create serious legal and financial complications for surviving family members, and in some cases, result in assets being permanently inaccessible or lost.

At Dalal Al Zayed Law Firm, we work with clients to build estate plans that reflect the full scope of their lives — including the parts that exist entirely online.

Why Putting Passwords in Your Will Is a Security Risk

One of the most common pieces of informal advice circulating online is to include login credentials — usernames, passwords, and PINs — directly in a will. On the surface, this seems practical. In reality, it creates multiple layers of legal and security risk.

First, a will becomes a matter of public record once it enters probate. That means any passwords listed inside it are potentially accessible to anyone who requests a copy of the probate filing. Exposing credentials in this way invites identity theft and unauthorized access to financial accounts — precisely the opposite of what most people intend.

Second, passwords change. A document drafted two years before death may contain login information that is entirely outdated by the time a family member attempts to use it.

The appropriate tool for storing digital credentials is a digital asset memorandum — a separate, private document referenced in your will but not filed with the court. This document can be updated regularly without requiring a formal amendment to the will itself, and it can be stored securely with your estate planning attorney or in an encrypted password manager.

The Legal Framework: RUFADAA and State Law Variations

The legal authority governing digital assets at death is not uniform across the United States. Most states have adopted some version of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), a model law that attempts to balance the interests of estate administrators with the privacy policies of online platforms.

Under RUFADAA, a person can grant their executor or trustee explicit authority to access digital assets. However, the law also establishes a hierarchy of control: a platform's own terms of service and any legacy contact tools (such as Facebook's Legacy Contact feature or Google's Inactive Account Manager) take precedence over instructions left in a will.

This hierarchy has significant implications. If you have not designated a legacy contact on a given platform, and the platform's terms of service prohibit account transfer, your executor may have no legal right to access that account — even with a valid will in hand. State-level variations in RUFADAA adoption further complicate matters, making it essential to work with an attorney who understands the rules applicable in your jurisdiction.

Cryptocurrency, NFTs, and the Problem of the Lost Private Key

Digital financial assets present a distinct set of challenges. Unlike a bank account, cryptocurrency held in a self-custodied wallet — one controlled by a private key rather than a centralized exchange — cannot be recovered if the key is lost. There is no customer service department to call. There is no court order that can compel a blockchain to grant access.

For this reason, securely documenting private keys and wallet seed phrases is not merely advisable; for many people, it is financially critical. The same logic applies to NFTs and other blockchain-based assets, the value of which can be substantial.

However, the documentation must be handled with extreme care. A seed phrase written on a piece of paper and left in a desk drawer is both a security vulnerability and a probate risk. Best practices include storing this information in a fireproof safe, with a trusted third party such as an estate planning attorney, or through a legally structured digital vault service.

For cryptocurrency held on exchanges such as Coinbase or Kraken, the platform's own policies govern what happens upon account holder death. Many exchanges now have formal processes for transferring or liquidating holdings to a verified heir, but these processes require documentation and can take considerable time.

Social Media Accounts: Memorialization, Deletion, or Inheritance?

Major social media platforms have developed their own policies for handling accounts after a user's death, and those policies vary considerably.

• Facebook and Instagram allow accounts to be memorialized, giving a designated legacy contact limited management capabilities, or deleted upon request by a verified family member.
• Twitter/X does not offer memorialization but will work with verified immediate family members to deactivate an account.
• LinkedIn will remove a profile upon request with proof of death.
• TikTok and YouTube have their own account management policies, and monetized accounts may carry ongoing revenue streams that complicate matters further.

The key takeaway is that platform policies — not your will — dictate what happens to these accounts unless you take affirmative steps during your lifetime to designate successors or document your wishes within each platform's native tools.

Building a Comprehensive Digital Estate Plan

A sound digital estate plan involves several coordinated steps:

1. Inventory your digital assets. This includes financial accounts, social media profiles, subscription services, domain names, cloud storage, email accounts, and any intellectual property held online.

2. Assign value and priority. Not every digital account carries financial weight, but some — particularly monetized content, cryptocurrency holdings, and business-related accounts — require specific legal attention.

3. Update platform legacy settings. Where available, designate legacy contacts or account successors directly within each platform.

4. Draft a digital asset memorandum. Work with an attorney to create a secure, updatable document that catalogs credentials, account locations, and your wishes for each asset.

5. Grant explicit authority in your will or trust. Ensure your estate planning documents expressly authorize your executor or trustee to access, manage, and distribute digital assets in accordance with applicable law.

6. Review and update regularly. Digital estates change frequently. Annual reviews with your estate planning attorney help ensure your plan remains current.

The Cost of Inaction

The consequences of neglecting digital estate planning are not hypothetical. Families have lost access to irreplaceable photographs stored in the cloud. Cryptocurrency worth significant sums has been permanently inaccessible because no one knew the private key existed. Monetized online businesses have continued generating revenue — revenue that no one could legally claim — simply because no succession plan was in place.

At Dalal Al Zayed Law Firm, we believe that a complete estate plan must account for the full reality of modern life. That means ensuring that the assets you have built — whether they exist in a filing cabinet or on a blockchain — are protected, accessible, and transferred according to your wishes. If your current estate plan does not address your digital footprint, now is the time to address that gap.