While many of these assets usually hold only sentimental value – like social media profiles, email addresses, etc. – some can be extremely valuable. Now that so much of our financial life can be conducted online, via investment websites, wallets containing Bitcoin, Dogecoin and other digital currencies, or even online bank accounts, it has become important for states to make laws regarding how they should be passed down to heirs.
As of late last week, the Delaware House of Representatives passed House Bill 345, the “Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets and Digital Accounts Act,” which gives the authority to take control of digital accounts and devices to heirs and executers.
The law is based on the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which was created by the Uniform Law Commission, a non-profit organization, according to CoinDesk. So far, Delaware is the only state that has passed legislation based on the UFADAA.
Estate planning attorney Jim Lamm, one of the authors of the UFADAA, explained the need for access to digital information in the event of a persons death to Motherboard.
“In some cases, people have virtual real estate worth thousands or even millions of dollars,” Lamm told the news source. He added, “if I die, and my wife knows the password to my Facebook account and accesses it, that’s a federal crime.”
Lamm explained that already about 20 states are getting ready to introduce similar bills following Delaware’s decision, and that interest has been generated in countries abroad, as well.
In the digital age, as more people conduct business online, the importance for digital wills is likely to grow.
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