Have you ever thought about what happens if you do all your banking online and get your bank statements through email? What happens if no one knows where you bank or what your email passwords are? Well, it makes administering your estate much more difficult, which is why, several years ago, the Florida legislature put into law in 2016 the Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. This act allows the power of attorney, personal representative, or trustee (or other appointed person)
access to digital assets.
What is a digital asset?
So what is a digital asset? A digital asset may include, among other things, access to your email, to your
online bank account, Paypal, Facebook, Twitter, or other social media, and access to cryptocurrency you
may own. If you want your Trustee or Personal Representative to be able to liquidate any of these
assets or have any control on them at all, you must expressly give this in your will or trust. If this
language is not in your will or trust, your personal representative or trustee can liquidate or have any
access at all to these assets. Especially in the case of cryptocurrency, the asset may die with you.
Digital assets are here to stay
Digital assets are here to stay – it’s important we make it as easy as possible for our loved ones to
understand these assets and where to find them. Making sure the Digital Asset language is in your Will
or Trust is an easy way to make the job as simple as possible. Some clients also keep a book or log of
their account information and digital passwords to make life easy on the trustee or personal
representative. I have some books I can recommend to use if you are interested in this. You just want
to make sure to keep the book in a secure location.
Please contact us to discuss your digital assets.