New York recently passed a law that allows executors, attorneys-in-fact, and other fiduciaries access to a person’s digital assets. In today’s world, people are increasingly transitioning many daily activities to online—paying bills, email, digital accounts, etc. The law defines digital assets and asserts that the term does not include the underlying asset or liability. It also distinguishes between an electronic catalogue and electronic content—a catalogue identifies the communicating people versus the content or actual substance of the communication. Most of the time, a catalogue will be enough to allow a fiduciary to determine the user’s assets and liabilities. To date, twenty states have similar digital asset legislation.
See Michael Kavoukjian et al., States Pass “Digital Assets” Legislation, White & Case, November 14, 2016.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
