#rufadaa

In HereToday’s Digital Afterlife blog we explored the ramifications of your passing and the impact on an executor’s ability to access online accounts. When you pass away could an executor access your digital assets? Perhaps you don’t want these people accessing your accounts and password protected devices.

The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) attempts to provide privacy protections for the ‘owners’ of digital assets, as well as provide protections to the ‘custodians,’ such as corporations who make, store, or provide digital assets. At the same time RUFADAA grants fiduciaries certain powers to manage digital assets. The Uniform Law Commission (ULC) summarized RUFADAA by stating, “this act extends the traditional power of a fiduciary to manage tangible property to include management of a person’s digital assets. The act allows fiduciaries to manage digital property like computer files, web domains, and virtual currency, but restricts a fiduciary’s access to electronic communications such as email, text messages, and social media accounts unless the original user consented in a will, trust, power of attorney or other record.”