Digital assets are the online accounts, files, and electronic records you own or control, from email and cloud photo libraries to brokerage logins, cryptocurrency, domain names, and loyalty points. In a Florida estate plan, you address them by granting your fiduciaries lawful access through your will, trust, or durable power of attorney and by using each provider’s online tools, so the people you trust can find, manage, and distribute these assets when you cannot. Florida’s framework for that access is the Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, found in Chapter 740 of the Florida Statutes.
I have sat across the table from too many Miami families who handled the house, the bank accounts, and the boat beautifully, then spent six frustrating months locked out of a parent’s email because no one could prove they had the right to see it. For retirees and seasonal residents who run more of life online every year, this is no longer a footnote. It belongs in the plan.
What Counts as a Digital Asset in Florida
People hear “digital assets” and think only of Bitcoin. The category is much wider, and most of it has nothing to do with crypto. Under Chapter 740, a digital asset is essentially an electronic record in which you have a right or interest. That sweeps in a lot.
- Communications: email accounts, text and chat histories, and social media profiles.
- Financial logins: online banking, brokerage and retirement portals, PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle.
- Cryptocurrency and tokens: coins held on exchanges or in self-custody wallets, plus the seed phrases that control them.
- Stored media and documents: iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, and the irreplaceable family photos sitting inside them.
- Revenue and rewards: airline miles, hotel points, a monetized YouTube channel, an Etsy shop, or domain names.
- Subscriptions and bills: automatic payments that keep draining an estate long after death if no one shuts them off.
It helps to separate two things the law treats differently. There is the asset itself, meaning the money, the photos, the coins, and there is the account or the right to access it. Sometimes you own the asset but only license the account. Your iTunes movies are a classic example. You did not buy them outright; you bought a personal license, which is why “leaving your music library to the kids” is rarely as simple as it sounds.
Why Online Accounts Are Different From a Bank Account Down the Street
A traditional Florida bank account has a paper trail, a branch, and a human you can serve with letters of administration. A digital account has a Terms of Service agreement, a custodian’s privacy policy, and federal privacy laws layered on top, including the Stored Communications Act, which can make it a federal offense for a provider to disclose the contents of your communications to the wrong person. That is the wall families hit. The provider is not being difficult; it is afraid of liability. Chapter 740 exists to give that provider a lawful, comfortable path to say yes.
How Florida Law Handles Fiduciary Access
The Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act took effect in 2016 and is Florida’s version of the uniform act that most states adopted. Its core idea is a clear order of priority that tells a custodian whose instructions win.
- An online tool comes first. If the provider offers a built-in feature to name who gets access, that choice overrides everything else, including your will. Apple’s Legacy Contact, Google’s Inactive Account Manager, and Facebook’s legacy contact are the everyday examples.
- Your estate planning documents come second. If you have not used an online tool, the directions in your will, trust, or power of attorney control, as long as they actually authorize access to digital assets.
- The Terms of Service comes last. Only if you have done neither of the above does the provider’s own contract decide what happens, and that contract rarely favors your family.
The practical lesson is blunt. Naming a Legacy Contact in your iPhone in five minutes can be more powerful than a beautifully drafted will, because the online tool sits at the top of the hierarchy. The two should agree. When the online tool and the will contradict each other, the tool wins, and the heirs lose time fighting about it.
The Content-Versus-Catalog Distinction
Chapter 740 draws a line that surprises many clients. Custodians distinguish between the content of electronic communications, meaning the actual words inside your emails and messages, and the catalog, meaning the record of who you communicated with and when. Fiduciaries get easier access to the catalog. Getting access to the content itself generally requires that you specifically consented, through an online tool or in your documents, to disclosing the substance of your communications. If your estate plan is silent on content, your personal representative may be able to learn that you emailed your accountant but not read what you wrote. For a retiree whose financial life lives in an inbox, that gap can stall an entire administration.
The Snowbird and Seasonal Resident Problem
South Florida is full of people who split the year between Miami and somewhere up north, and that lifestyle creates digital-estate wrinkles I see constantly.
First is the question of which state’s law applies. If you intend Florida to be your home, your domicile should be Florida, and your estate plan should be built under Florida law and Chapter 740. Snowbirds who keep a New York or New Jersey driver’s license, vote up north, and file taxes there may find their estate administered under another state’s rules, sometimes with a second, expensive ancillary proceeding. Digital assets do not have a physical “location,” but the law governing your fiduciaries does, so nailing down domicile matters more than people assume.
Second is the access-when-you-travel issue. A durable power of attorney that grants digital-asset authority lets a trusted agent pay an online bill or freeze a compromised account while you are eight states away or in a hospital. Without it, a well-meaning spouse or child may be locked out at the exact moment speed matters.
Third, snowbirds tend to have more scattered accounts than the average client, not fewer, because they manage two households, two sets of utilities, and a calendar of flights and rewards programs. The more dispersed your digital life, the more a written inventory earns its keep.
Practical Steps to Bring Digital Assets Into Your Plan
You do not need to be technical to do this well. You need to be organized and you need documents that say the right words.
- Build a digital inventory. List your important accounts, what each one holds, and how to find them. Note crypto wallets and where the recovery phrase is stored, but never write actual passwords or seed phrases inside your will, which becomes a public court record during probate.
- Use the online tools today. Set Apple’s Legacy Contact, Google’s Inactive Account Manager, and a Facebook legacy contact. These take minutes and sit at the top of Florida’s priority ladder.
- Update your core documents. Your will, your revocable trust, and your durable power of attorney should each expressly grant digital-asset authority and consent to disclosure of communication content, tracking the language Chapter 740 expects.
- Store credentials securely and separately. A reputable password manager with an emergency-access feature, or a sealed document held by your attorney, keeps the keys out of the public record while still reachable by the right person.
- Plan for the assets that pass outside probate. Some digital value, like crypto held jointly or a business interest, may move through a trust or by title rather than your will. Coordinate the whole picture so nothing falls through a crack.
- Revisit it. You will open new accounts, close old ones, and change phones. A digital inventory reviewed once a year stays useful; one written in 2019 is a museum piece.
Where Trusts Fit In
For clients with cryptocurrency, an online business, or meaningful digital property, a revocable living trust often gives smoother control than a will alone, because a successor trustee can step in without waiting on the probate court. If you want to understand how this vehicle works in practice, our team’s overview of is a useful starting point, and the same principles carry over to Florida administration. Families who also need to provide for a loved one with a disability should look closely at planning tools like a , which can hold and manage assets, including digital ones, without disrupting government benefits. For Florida residents who prefer to coordinate everything locally, our can build a plan grounded in Chapter 740 from the start.
Common Mistakes That Lock Families Out
The failures I see are almost never about exotic technology. They are about ordinary oversights.
The most frequent one is assuming a will covers everything. A will that says “I leave all my property to my spouse” does not, on its own, authorize a custodian to hand over the contents of your Gmail, because federal privacy law demands specific consent. The second is putting passwords directly in a will, which exposes them and may technically authorize someone to violate a Terms of Service. The third is naming a Legacy Contact that contradicts the will, so the documents fight each other. And the fourth, the quiet one, is simply never telling anyone the accounts exist, so a paid-off coin wallet or a profitable domain evaporates because no heir ever knew to look.
None of these are hard to fix. They just have to be addressed on purpose, before they become someone else’s emergency. If you are starting from scratch, our pages on Florida wills and what to expect from Florida probate explain how these pieces connect, and you can always reach our Miami office to put a plan in place.
The Bottom Line
Your digital life is part of your estate whether you plan for it or not. Florida gives you a clear, workable path through Chapter 740, but the law only helps if your documents use it and your online tools line up with your intentions. For Miami retirees and snowbirds whose accounts, photos, and money increasingly live behind a login, a few hours of organizing now spares your family months of frustration later. Treat your passwords like you treat your front-door keys: decide who gets a copy, and make sure they can actually get in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my Florida will give my executor access to my email and online accounts?
Not automatically. Federal privacy law and most providers’ Terms of Service require specific consent to disclose the contents of your communications. Under Florida’s Chapter 740, your will, trust, or power of attorney should expressly grant digital-asset authority and consent to disclosure of communication content. Even better, use the provider’s online tool, such as Apple’s Legacy Contact or Google’s Inactive Account Manager, because that choice overrides your will.
What is the Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act?
It is Florida’s law governing how executors, trustees, and agents under a power of attorney can access a person’s digital assets. Found in Chapter 740 of the Florida Statutes and effective since 2016, it sets a priority order: an online tool comes first, your estate planning documents come second, and the provider’s Terms of Service comes last.
Should I put my passwords in my will?
No. A will becomes a public record during probate, so listing passwords or cryptocurrency seed phrases there exposes them and can even authorize conduct that violates a service agreement. Instead, keep an inventory of accounts in your plan and store the actual credentials in a secure password manager with emergency access or a sealed document held by your attorney.
I am a snowbird who splits time between Miami and up north. Whose law controls my digital assets?
Generally the law of the state where you are domiciled, meaning your true permanent home. If you intend Florida to be home, align your driver’s license, voter registration, and tax filings with Florida and build your plan under Chapter 740. Otherwise your estate could be administered under another state’s rules, sometimes requiring a separate ancillary proceeding.
How does cryptocurrency fit into a Florida estate plan?
Cryptocurrency is a digital asset, but it is only recoverable if your fiduciary can locate the wallet and access the recovery phrase. Note where the wallet and seed phrase are stored, without writing the phrase into your will, and consider holding significant crypto through a revocable trust so a successor trustee can manage it without waiting on probate.
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