Many people believe their heirs will inherit their digital photos, business documents, social media accounts, websites, texts, or other digital property through their Will or by law. No.
Prior to the governor signing the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (FADAA) in May, companies that store those assets such as Facebook, Google or Yahoo, determined who could receive the items if a person became deceased or incapacitated. The website’s terms-of-service agreements superseded Wills and trusts preventing heirs from gaining access to the digital property. Under the new law, a fiduciary or other person with legal authority to manage another person’s property will have the ability to access and distribute the deceased or incapacitated person’s digital assets. It appears the legislation is effective August 6, 2016.
FADAA provides a three-tiered system for distributing digital assets. First, if the company holding the digital assets, like Facebook, provides an online tool that allows the user to name another person to have access to the user’s digital assets, FADAA makes the user’s online instructions legally enforceable.
Second, if the company does not provide an online planning tool, or if the user does not use it, the user may give legally enforceable directions for the disposition of digital assets in a Will, trust, power of attorney or other written record.
Third, if the user has not provided any direction, either online or in an estate plan, the terms-of-service for the user’s account will determine whether a fiduciary may access the user’s digital assets.
If the terms-of-service do not address fiduciary access, the default rule will be to require that the company holding the digital assets to provide a catalogue of the communications showing the addresses of the sender and recipient, and the date and time the message was sent. However, if the decedent has an estate plan, power of attorney or notarized written statement, they can direct the company to give the fiduciary full access to the content to distribute to named heirs.
To obtain the digital assets, the fiduciary must send a request to the company with a certified copy of the document granting the fiduciary authority, such as a letter of appointment, court order, or certification of trust. Thus, individuals should make a provision in their Will, trust, power of attorney or other written document to distribute digital assets. They should also be aware that any directions made through an on-line tool will supersede their trust or Will.