Digital Assets and Online Accounts in Your New York Estate Plan

Digital assets in a New York estate plan are the online accounts, files, and electronic property you leave behind—email, photos, cloud storage, cryptocurrency, social media, domain names, and even loyalty points. New York governs who may access them after death or incapacity through the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, codified at EPTL Article 13-A. To make sure your executor, trustee, or agent can actually reach these accounts, you need to grant that authority expressly in your will, trust, or power of attorney—and ideally use each provider’s own online tool.

If you are a first-time planner or raising a young family in Manhattan, this is the part of estate planning that gets skipped most often and matters more every year. A decade ago, your “estate” was a co-op, a bank account, and a box of papers. Today it also lives in your phone. Below is how a New York estate attorney thinks about it.

What counts as a digital asset in New York

New York law takes a broad view. Under EPTL Article 13-A, a “digital asset” is essentially an electronic record in which you have a right or interest. That covers a surprising amount of your life.

• Communications: email accounts (Gmail, Outlook), text and chat histories, and the contents stored inside them.
• Financial and crypto: online banking and brokerage logins, PayPal and Venmo balances, and cryptocurrency or NFTs held in exchanges or self-custody wallets.
• Media and memories: iCloud and Google Photos libraries, the family videos on your phone, music and ebook libraries.
• Identity and presence: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and other social profiles you may want memorialized or closed.
• Income and business: domain names, websites, blogs, YouTube channels, Etsy or Amazon seller accounts, and any online business that generates revenue.
• Stored value: airline miles, credit-card points, and gaming or marketplace balances.

One important distinction the statute draws: it governs the asset, not necessarily the underlying contract. A song you licensed through a streaming service usually dies with you because you never owned it. But the photographs you took, the cryptocurrency you bought, and the small business you run online are real property that should pass through your plan.

Why New York makes this harder than it should be

Here is the trap people fall into. You assume that because your spouse knows your phone passcode, they can sort everything out later. In practice, two separate sets of rules stand in the way: federal privacy law and the provider’s terms of service.

Under the federal Stored Communications Act, companies like Google and Apple are generally prohibited from disclosing the contents of your private communications without lawful consent. Sharing your password is not the same thing as legal authorization, and most terms of service technically forbid it. EPTL Article 13-A exists precisely to give your fiduciary the lawful consent that federal law requires.

The statute creates a clear order of priority for who controls access. Understanding this hierarchy is the whole game:

1. The provider’s online tool wins first. If a service offers a dedicated setting—Google’s Inactive Account Manager, Apple’s Legacy Contact, Facebook’s Legacy Contact—your choice there overrides everything else, including your will.
2. Your estate planning documents come second. If you did not use the online tool, the directions in your will, trust, or power of attorney control.
3. The terms of service come last. Only if you addressed the asset nowhere else does the click-through agreement govern by default—and those defaults are rarely what a family wants.

The lesson for Manhattan families is straightforward: do both. Set the provider tools and put authorizing language in your documents. They reinforce each other.

Granting digital authority in your New York documents

Generic, decades-old estate planning forms do not mention digital assets, and that silence can leave your family locked out. New York fiduciaries draw their power to act from the documents you sign, so each one needs to speak to electronic property directly.

Your will and your executor

When your will is admitted to probate in Surrogate’s Court, the court issues Letters Testamentary that empower your executor to collect and distribute assets. Your will should expressly authorize that executor to access, manage, and dispose of your digital assets—and, critically, to access the content of your electronic communications, because EPTL Article 13-A treats content as a separate, higher level of consent. If you want your executor to read your email rather than just see a list of senders, the will must say so. Learn more about the probate process on our New York probate page, and review how a properly drafted will ties everything together.

Your power of attorney for incapacity

Death is only half the problem. If you are hospitalized or lose capacity, someone needs to keep the lights on—pay the online mortgage, manage auto-pay, keep a business running. New York’s statutory durable power of attorney, governed by General Obligations Law § 5-1501, was modernized in 2021 and is the right instrument for this. Your agent’s authority over digital assets should be spelled out so banks and platforms honor it. A general POA that ignores digital access often stalls exactly when your family needs speed.

Health care proxy

A New York health care proxy names someone to make medical decisions if you cannot. It does not, on its own, grant access to your accounts—but it belongs in the same conversation, because the moment of incapacity is when both your financial agent and your health care agent step in together.

Revocable living trusts

A revocable living trust is one of the cleanest vehicles for digital assets, especially for income-producing ones like an online business, a monetized channel, or a crypto portfolio. Assets you formally transfer into the trust avoid probate and pass under terms you set privately, and your successor trustee can manage them without a court appointment—valuable when access can’t wait for Surrogate’s Court. The trust instrument should include the same Article 13-A authorizing language. For families weighing the trade-offs, our affiliated attorneys explain the structure in depth on the Morgan Legal trusts overview.

Special considerations for young families

If you have minor children, two digital issues deserve extra attention.

First, guardianship and access work together. The guardian you nominate for your children may also need to manage the kids’ own emerging digital footprint—custodial investment apps, 529 portals, even their school accounts. Coordinating who controls money and who controls access prevents friction at the worst possible time.

Second, plan for a child with disabilities carefully. If you leave digital assets or the income they produce to a child who relies on means-tested government benefits, an outright gift can disqualify them. A properly drafted special needs trust holds those assets for the child’s benefit without counting against eligibility. This is not a do-it-yourself area; see how it is structured in New York on the Morgan Legal special needs trust page before you act.

Don’t forget your spouse’s rights

Digital assets are still assets, which means they count toward your spouse’s protections under New York law. Under the spousal right of election in EPTL 5-1.1-A, a surviving spouse is generally entitled to claim the greater of $50,000 or one-third of the net estate, even if your will or beneficiary designations say otherwise. A valuable crypto wallet or a thriving online business is part of that calculation. If your plan tries to route significant digital wealth around your spouse, expect the elective share to reach it.

What happens to digital assets without a plan

When someone dies in New York without addressing digital assets, the family is left negotiating with customer-support departments, often with nothing more than a death certificate and frustration. The practical fallout:

• Locked accounts. Without authorization, providers default to their terms of service—which frequently means denial or permanent deletion.
• Lost cryptocurrency. If no one knows the seed phrase or has lawful access to the wallet, the assets are gone forever. There is no help desk for self-custody crypto.
• Stalled estates. An executor who can’t reach online bank statements can’t even build the inventory the Surrogate’s Court expects.
• Vanished memories. Years of family photos can disappear when an account is closed for inactivity.

For very small estates, New York offers a streamlined path under SCPA Article 13 (voluntary, or “small estate,” administration) when personal property falls under the statutory threshold. It is a helpful tool—but it does nothing to unlock a digital account if you never authorized access in the first place. The cleanup still has to happen; it just happens faster.

A practical digital-asset checklist

You don’t need to overhaul your life. You need a system. Here is what I recommend to Manhattan clients:

1. Inventory. List your significant accounts by category—financial, crypto, media, business, social. You do not have to list passwords here.
2. Use a password manager. Consolidate credentials in one encrypted vault rather than scattering them. Many vaults have a built-in emergency-access feature.
3. Set the provider tools. Turn on Google Inactive Account Manager, Apple Legacy Contact, and Facebook Legacy Contact. These override your will, so use them deliberately.
4. Update your documents. Make sure your will, power of attorney, and any trust contain EPTL Article 13-A authorizing language, including consent to access communication content.
5. Secure crypto separately. Store seed phrases offline and leave clear, lawful instructions for your fiduciary—never in the body of a will that becomes a public court record.
6. Tell someone it exists. Your executor should know there is a plan and where the master instructions live.

When to call a New York estate attorney

If your estate plan is more than a few years old, predates your cryptocurrency, or was written from an online template, it almost certainly does not address digital assets correctly under New York law. A short review can close that gap. Our team also coordinates with affiliated offices for clients with ties to other states, including Florida estate planning. When you are ready to put a plan in place—or fix an old one—reach out to our Manhattan office to talk it through. You can also consult the official New York Surrogate’s Court resources for general procedural background.

Frequently asked questions

Can my executor in New York access my email after I die?

Only if you authorize it. Under EPTL Article 13-A, accessing the content of your private communications requires your express consent, given through a provider’s online tool or in your will. Without that language, your executor may be limited to a catalogue of who you communicated with—or denied access entirely.

Does my will control what happens to my Facebook or Google account?

Not if you used the provider’s own setting. New York law gives the online tool top priority, so a Facebook Legacy Contact or Google Inactive Account Manager choice overrides your will. If you set neither, your estate planning documents control. If you address it nowhere, the terms of service apply by default.

What happens to my cryptocurrency if I die without a plan?

For self-custody crypto, if no one can lawfully access the wallet and no one knows the seed phrase, the assets are typically unrecoverable—there is no provider to appeal to. Crypto held on an exchange may be accessible through your fiduciary, but only with proper authorization. Leave clear, secure instructions outside your public will.

Do digital assets count toward my spouse’s elective share in New York?

Yes. Digital assets with value are part of the net estate used to calculate the spousal right of election under EPTL 5-1.1-A, which entitles a surviving spouse to the greater of $50,000 or one-third. A valuable wallet or online business is included in that math.

I’m young with a small estate—do I really need this?

Yes, often more than older clients, because so much of your wealth and your family’s memories live online. Even if your estate qualifies for small-estate administration under SCPA Article 13, that fast-track process won’t unlock an account you never authorized access to. A short plan now spares your family a long, locked-out cleanup later.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my executor in New York access my email after I die?

Only if you authorize it. Under EPTL Article 13-A, accessing the content of your private communications requires your express consent, given through a provider’s online tool or in your will. Without that language, your executor may be limited to a catalogue of who you communicated with, or denied access entirely.

Does my will control what happens to my Facebook or Google account?

Not if you used the provider’s own setting. New York law gives the online tool top priority, so a Facebook Legacy Contact or Google Inactive Account Manager choice overrides your will. If you set neither, your estate planning documents control. If you address it nowhere, the terms of service apply by default.

What happens to my cryptocurrency if I die without a plan?

For self-custody crypto, if no one can lawfully access the wallet and no one knows the seed phrase, the assets are typically unrecoverable, because there is no provider to appeal to. Crypto held on an exchange may be accessible through your fiduciary, but only with proper authorization. Leave clear, secure instructions outside your public will.

Do digital assets count toward my spouse's elective share in New York?

Yes. Digital assets with value are part of the net estate used to calculate the spousal right of election under EPTL 5-1.1-A, which entitles a surviving spouse to the greater of $50,000 or one-third. A valuable wallet or online business is included in that math.

I'm young with a small estate, do I really need this?

Yes, often more than older clients, because so much of your wealth and your family’s memories live online. Even if your estate qualifies for small-estate administration under SCPA Article 13, that fast-track process won’t unlock an account you never authorized access to. A short plan now spares your family a long, locked-out cleanup later.