Digital assets in a Florida estate plan are the online accounts, files, and electronic property you own or control — from cryptocurrency wallets and brokerage logins to email, cloud storage, domain names, and social media — together with the legal authority you grant a fiduciary to access them after death or incapacity. Florida governs that access through the Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, codified at Chapter 740 of the Florida Statutes. Without explicit authorization in your will, trust, or power of attorney, your personal representative or agent can be locked out of accounts that may hold real value or irreplaceable records.
For high-net-worth families in Palm Beach, this is no longer a niche concern. A meaningful share of wealth now lives in places a paper deed never touches: a six-figure crypto position on a hardware wallet, a domain portfolio, a monetized YouTube channel, online brokerage accounts, and the email inbox that quietly holds the keys to everything else. I have watched estates stall for months because a family knew an account existed but could not legally — or technically — get into it. The fix is rarely complicated. It just has to be done while you are alive and competent.
What Counts as a Digital Asset Under Florida Law
Florida’s version of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) defines a “digital asset” broadly as an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. That definition deliberately sweeps in far more than money. It does not, by itself, include the underlying asset where the record is merely a means of access — but for planning purposes, you should think about everything in your digital life.
The categories I walk Palm Beach clients through usually break down like this:
- Financial digital assets — cryptocurrency, NFTs, online brokerage and bank logins, payment apps (PayPal, Venmo, Zelle), and balances in rewards or points programs that carry cash value.
- Income-producing digital property — domain names, websites, e-commerce stores, monetized social channels, app accounts, and intellectual property registered or stored online.
- Records and communications — email accounts (often the master key to password resets), cloud storage, document vaults, and tax or business records held in software like QuickBooks.
- Sentimental and reputational assets — photo libraries, social media profiles, and personal blogs that families want preserved, memorialized, or closed.
One distinction matters more than any other. The law separates the content of electronic communications (the body of your emails and messages) from a catalogue of communications (the metadata — who you corresponded with and when). Fiduciaries get easier access to the catalogue; access to actual content requires more specific consent. That single rule drives much of how a Florida plan should be drafted.
How the Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act Works
Chapter 740 establishes a tiered priority system that determines who controls your digital footprint and how. Understanding the order of priority is the whole game.
1. The Online Tool Comes First
Many platforms now offer an “online tool” — a setting that lets you name someone to manage or close your account. Google’s Inactive Account Manager and Apple’s Legacy Contact are the best-known examples. Under Florida law, a direction made through one of these tools overrides contrary instructions in your will or trust. If you tell Google one thing in 2026 and your will says another, the online tool wins. That makes these settings part of your estate plan, not an afterthought — and a reason to audit them periodically so they don’t quietly contradict the documents your attorney drafted.
2. Your Estate Planning Documents Come Second
If you have not used an online tool, the platform looks to your legal documents — your will, trust, or durable power of attorney — for authorization. This is where precise drafting earns its keep. A document that simply says “my personal representative may manage my property” is usually not enough to compel a provider to hand over the content of your communications. The statute contemplates language that expressly grants access to digital assets, and where appropriate, to the content of electronic communications.
3. The Terms of Service Come Last
If you have done nothing — no online tool, no authorizing language — the provider’s terms-of-service agreement controls. That almost always means restricted access, federal privacy law obstacles under the Stored Communications Act, and a fiduciary forced to negotiate with a customer-service queue. This is the default I work hard to keep clients out of.
Why a Will Alone Often Falls Short
Two practical problems surface when digital assets are left only to a will.
First, a will is a public document once it is filed for probate. When your will is admitted in the Palm Beach County probate court, it becomes part of the public record. You do not want account numbers, wallet identifiers, or anything resembling a credential anywhere near a filed document. The authorization belongs in the will or trust; the actual login details and seed phrases belong in a separate, secure, private inventory.
Second, a will does nothing during incapacity. If you suffer a stroke or are diagnosed with dementia, your will is inert — it only operates at death. Digital access during life flows from a durable power of attorney. For that reason, a complete Florida plan addresses digital authority in three instruments: the will, the revocable trust, and the power of attorney. For clients with significant or concentrated digital wealth, a revocable living trust is frequently the better home, because trust administration stays private and avoids the probate exposure described above. You can read more about how to keep sensitive holdings out of the public record.
Special Concerns for High-Net-Worth Palm Beach Families
Cryptocurrency and Self-Custody
Cryptocurrency is the asset that most often turns a routine estate into a crisis. If digital currency sits on a self-custodied hardware wallet, there is no help desk, no password-reset link, and no court order that can recover it. The private key or seed phrase is the asset. Lose it and the value is gone permanently — and it is not unusual for that value to run well into seven figures.
For these holdings, legal authorization is necessary but not sufficient. You also need a secure, practical mechanism so that the right person can locate and recover the keys without exposing them prematurely. Options range from a multi-signature arrangement and qualified custodians to a sealed instruction held by your attorney or a bank’s safe deposit box, with the existence (not the contents) referenced in your trust. The legal document grants the authority; the operational plan delivers the keys.
Business and Income-Producing Digital Assets
Many Palm Beach entrepreneurs hold real enterprise value in digital form — a brand’s domain and social presence, an e-commerce operation, licensing accounts. These should be inventoried, valued, and assigned to the right entity or trust so they pass cleanly and keep generating income during the transition rather than going dark the moment access lapses.
Coordinating With Estate Tax and Asset Protection
Digital assets do not get a pass on estate tax. Cryptocurrency, NFTs, and online business interests are included in your gross taxable estate at fair market value on the date of death. For families near the federal exemption, those holdings need to be valued and folded into the same tax and asset-protection strategy as everything else. Florida’s absence of a state estate or inheritance tax helps, but federal exposure remains, and volatile assets like crypto raise hard valuation and liquidity questions that deserve advance planning. Our coordinates digital holdings with the broader tax and protection plan.
When a Beneficiary Has Special Needs
If part of your estate — digital or otherwise — is destined for a loved one with a disability, an outright transfer can disqualify them from means-tested government benefits. The proceeds from a liquidated crypto position or a monetized online business can be directed instead into a properly drafted so the value supports your beneficiary without jeopardizing eligibility. This is exactly the kind of detail that separates a thoughtful plan from a generic one.
Building Your Digital Asset Plan: A Practical Checklist
Here is the sequence I take clients through. Work it in order.
- Create a complete inventory. List every account, platform, domain, and wallet. Note the asset type and rough value, but keep passwords and seed phrases out of this document. The inventory tells your fiduciary what exists and where to look.
- Store credentials securely and separately. Use a reputable password manager or a sealed instruction held by your attorney. Reference its existence — never its contents — in your estate documents.
- Set every available online tool. Configure Google Inactive Account Manager, Apple Legacy Contact, and any platform legacy settings, and make sure they match your overall plan rather than fight it.
- Update your legal instruments. Have your will, revocable trust, and durable power of attorney revised to include express digital-asset authorization, with content-of-communications language where you want it.
- Choose a digitally literate fiduciary. Pick someone who can actually operate a hardware wallet or recovery process — or pair a trusted personal representative with a technical co-agent or professional.
- Review annually. Digital lives change fast. New accounts, closed accounts, and shifting platform policies make a once-and-done plan unreliable within a year or two.
If you are also revisiting the foundations, our overview of Florida wills and the mechanics of Florida probate explain how the pieces fit together. When you are ready to formalize a plan, you can reach our Palm Beach office to start the conversation.
The Bottom Line for Palm Beach Estate Plans
Florida law gives you real, enforceable tools to put your digital life under your fiduciary’s control — but only if you use them. The combination of an online-tool directive, express authorization in your trust and power of attorney, and a secure, separate inventory of credentials is what turns a vulnerable digital estate into a smoothly administered one. For families whose net worth increasingly lives on a screen, that planning is not optional. It is the difference between an heir who clicks “manage account” and one who watches a fortune disappear behind a password they were never given.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Florida power of attorney let my agent access my online accounts?
Only if it says so. A durable power of attorney must include express authorization for digital assets under Chapter 740 of the Florida Statutes. General property-management language is usually not enough to compel a provider to grant access, especially to the content of emails and messages.
What happens to my cryptocurrency if I die without naming anyone?
If your crypto sits on a self-custodied wallet and no one can locate the private key or seed phrase, the value is effectively lost forever — no court order or provider can recover it. Authorization in your estate documents plus a secure, separate key-recovery plan is essential.
Should digital assets go in my will or my trust?
A revocable trust is often better for valuable or sensitive digital holdings because trust administration stays private, while a will becomes public when filed for probate in Palm Beach County. Ideally your will, trust, and power of attorney all address digital access.
Do online tools like Apple Legacy Contact override my will?
Yes. Under Florida’s Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, a direction made through a platform’s online tool overrides conflicting instructions in your will or trust. Review these settings regularly so they align with your estate plan.
Are digital assets subject to estate tax in Florida?
Florida has no state estate tax, but digital assets such as cryptocurrency, NFTs, and online businesses are included in your federal gross estate at fair market value on the date of death. High-net-worth families should coordinate these holdings with their overall tax and asset-protection strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Florida power of attorney let my agent access my online accounts?
Only if it says so. A durable power of attorney must include express authorization for digital assets under Chapter 740 of the Florida Statutes. General property-management language is usually not enough to compel a provider to grant access, especially to the content of emails and messages.
What happens to my cryptocurrency if I die without naming anyone?
If your crypto sits on a self-custodied wallet and no one can locate the private key or seed phrase, the value is effectively lost forever — no court order or provider can recover it. Authorization in your estate documents plus a secure, separate key-recovery plan is essential.
Should digital assets go in my will or my trust?
A revocable trust is often better for valuable or sensitive digital holdings because trust administration stays private, while a will becomes public when filed for probate in Palm Beach County. Ideally your will, trust, and power of attorney all address digital access.
Do online tools like Apple Legacy Contact override my will?
Yes. Under Florida’s Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, a direction made through a platform’s online tool overrides conflicting instructions in your will or trust. Review these settings regularly so they align with your estate plan.
Are digital assets subject to estate tax in Florida?
Florida has no state estate tax, but digital assets such as cryptocurrency, NFTs, and online businesses are included in your federal gross estate at fair market value on the date of death. High-net-worth families should coordinate these holdings with their overall tax and asset-protection strategy.
Have a question about your estate?
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For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of Florida estate planning. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles .
