Digital assets belong in trusts. When you think of estate planning, physical assets like homes or bank accounts might come to mind first. However, digital assets—everything from social media accounts to cryptocurrency wallets—are becoming increasingly important to include in trusts.
Not including digital assets in trusts can lead to challenges for loved ones, ranging from financial losses to lost sentimental value. (When we say to include in a trust, we mean fund a trust.)
Why Include Digital Assets in Trusts?
1. To Ensure Accessibility
Digital assets often require passwords, two-factor authentication, or encryption for access. When you include digital assets in trusts, you enable the trustee to access and manage them according to your wishes. Without proper documentation, family members may face legal and technical roadblocks.
2. To Preserve Sentimental Value
Family photos, email accounts, or personal blogs hold emotional significance. Including them in your estate plan ensures they remain accessible to loved ones.
3. To Avoid Financial Loss
Cryptocurrency, online businesses, and other financial digital assets can be valuable. Including them in a trust prevents these assets from being overlooked or lost.
4. To Maintain Privacy
Without a clear plan, some digital assets may default to public or uncontrolled access. A trust keeps your digital footprint private, even after you're gone.
How to Include Digital Assets in Trusts
1. Inventory Your Digital Assets
Start by listing all your digital assets. Digital assets are defined as electronic records in which an individual has a right or interest. This can include:
- Social media accounts (e.g., Facebook, Instagram)
- Email accounts
- Cryptocurrency and online wallets
- Cloud storage (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox)
- Domain names and websites
- Online subscription accounts
2. Document Access Information
For each asset, record the necessary login credentials, backup codes, or encryption keys. Because passwords for trustees matter significantly. Use a secure method, such as a password manager, to share this information with your trustee.
3. Outline Your Wishes
Specify how you want to manage or distribute each asset. For example:
- Social media accounts: The trustee can delete, memorialize, or transfer them
- Cryptocurrency: The trustee can liquidate or transfer it to beneficiaries
4. Name a Trustee with Digital Expertise
Managing digital assets in trusts requires a level of tech-savviness. Choose a trustee who understands these complexities or is willing to learn how to properly include digital assets in trusts. Estate planners are increasingly assigning management of digital assets to a 'digital executor' or fiduciary specifically tasked with handling digital assets.
5. Update Legal Documents
Work with estate planning documents to include digital assets. The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) has been adopted by most U.S. states and governs fiduciary access to digital assets including those held in trusts. Under RUFADAA, fiduciaries including trustees may access digital assets including cryptocurrency holdings if they are expressly authorized in estate planning documents.
6. Stay Updated
Technology evolves quickly. Periodically review your digital inventory and update login credentials, especially for newly created accounts. Access to digital assets is typically governed by terms-of-service agreements between users and digital asset custodians.
What Does a Digital Trustee Do?
Digital trustees fully manage your non-financial digital life—emails, photos, social media accounts, cloud storage. They handle access, closure, or memorialization of these accounts. For digital assets that have financial value (like domain names or reward points), the digital trustee helps gather them, but the trustee handles distribution based on their value and your wishes.
What Counts as a Digital Asset with Financial Value?
Digital assets with financial value include domain names, cryptocurrency, airline miles, hotel points, digital storefronts, or any online account that holds monetary value. The digital trustee helps locate and access these, but the trustee distributes them according to your trust.
What Counts as a Non-Financial Digital Asset?
Non-financial digital assets include email accounts, photos, videos, social media profiles, cloud storage, messaging apps. The digital trustee has full authority to manage, close, or memorialize these.
Can I Include Instructions About My Digital Accounts?
Yes—the Digital Assets & Accounts category lets you document guidance for social media, cloud storage, email, and other online accounts. For account access details, work with your digital trustee.
Creating a Comprehensive Digital Estate Plan
Incorporating digital assets and other non-financial assets in trusts helps ensure that the trustee handles them according to your wishes. A proactive approach prevents stress for loved ones and maintains the legacy you've built in the digital world.
By treating digital assets with the same care as physical ones, you create a comprehensive and modern estate plan that reflects today's realities. (By the way, here's an exhaustive list of what goes in trusts.)
Avoiding common mistakes like neglecting digital assets helps protect your family's financial and emotional well-being. Learn more about other common estate planning mistakes to avoid in your planning process.
Sources
- Uniform Law Commission – Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act Summary. Accessed January 2026.
- American Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section – Digital Assets in Estate Planning. Accessed January 2026.
- American Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section – Digital Executor Managing Online Assets. Accessed January 2026.
