Estate Planning · Digital Assets
Digital Assets and Estate Planning in Pennsylvania
When someone dies in Pennsylvania without addressing digital assets, those accounts do not wait for probate to clear. Digital assets fail in three distinct ways: platforms delete accounts after prolonged inactivity, cryptocurrency becomes permanently inaccessible when private keys go undocumented, and financial accounts lock behind terms of service that prohibit executor access entirely. These are not delays. They are total, irreversible losses. Pennsylvania law provides a framework to prevent them. That framework only works if your estate planning documents activate it.
The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), codified at 20 Pa. C.S. § 3901 et seq., gives executors, trustees, and agents under a power of attorney a statutory path to access digital accounts. A will that says nothing about digital assets leaves your executor without that authority, regardless of how clearly everything else is expressed. For the full scope of executor obligations, see our page on executor duties under Pennsylvania law. For the documents that grant that authority, see our overview of wills and trusts in Pennsylvania.
Lebovitz & Lebovitz, P.A. · Serving Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania since 1933. Based in Swissvale near the Parkway East (Swissvale–Edgewood exit).
How Pennsylvania’s RUFADAA Works
Before RUFADAA, Pennsylvania law provided no guidance for fiduciaries trying to access a decedent’s online accounts. Each platform operated under its own terms of service, leaving executors to navigate inconsistent and often hostile procedures with no statutory backing. RUFADAA creates a three-tier hierarchy that governs fiduciary access:
- Tier 1, platform tools: If you used a platform’s own legacy or memorialization tool such as Google’s Inactive Account Manager or Facebook’s Legacy Contact, that designation controls, even over a later will or trust. These tools function like beneficiary designations for digital accounts. If you configured a platform legacy tool years ago and forgot, that designation controls today, even if your current estate plan contradicts it.
- Tier 2, estate planning documents: If no platform tool exists, the terms of your will, trust, or power of attorney govern access, but only if those documents explicitly grant digital asset authority. Generic language granting broad administrative powers is often not sufficient.
- Tier 3, terms of service: If you did nothing, the platform’s own terms of service control. For most platforms, this means no access, or access only after a burdensome process that can take months and may ultimately fail.
A well-drafted will covering every traditional asset can still leave your executor legally blocked from accounts with significant financial or sentimental value. The authority must be stated, not assumed from general executor powers.
What Counts as a Digital Asset in Pennsylvania
RUFADAA defines a digital asset as any electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. This is broader than most people assume. Common categories include:
- Financial accounts: Online banking, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, investment platforms, and payment processors
- Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other blockchain-based holdings, including exchange accounts and self-custody wallets
- Email and electronic communications: Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, including the content of messages, not just account existence
- Social media profiles: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and any platform with stored content or monetization
- Cloud storage: iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, digital photo libraries, and backup services
- Subscription and business accounts: Domain registrations, website hosting, advertising platforms, client portals, and software licenses
- Loyalty programs: Airline miles, hotel points, and reward balances with transferable or monetary value
For business owners, digital accounts can be the business itself. If no one can access website hosting, domain registrations, or client communication tools after your death, the business can stall immediately, affecting income for your family and the people who depend on the enterprise. Business succession planning that ignores digital assets is incomplete.
Cryptocurrency Requires Planning Beyond RUFADAA
Cryptocurrency presents a challenge that goes beyond the access framework RUFADAA provides. Unlike a bank account, cryptocurrency is held on a blockchain and controlled by a private key, a long string of characters that functions as the wallet password. If that private key is lost, the cryptocurrency is permanently inaccessible. There is no customer service number, no account recovery process, and no legal mechanism to retrieve it.
RUFADAA grants fiduciaries access to accounts. It does not recover lost private keys. Even a will that specifically authorizes digital asset access cannot restore cryptocurrency if the private key was never documented. Billions of dollars in Bitcoin remains permanently inaccessible because owners died without leaving access information. Lebovitz and Lebovitz helps cryptocurrency holders document access and structure estate plans that prevent this outcome.
Practical steps for cryptocurrency holders in Pennsylvania include documenting the exchange or wallet where holdings are stored, recording private keys and seed phrases in a secure physical location accessible only to your executor, and explicitly granting digital asset authority in your will and power of attorney. Pennsylvania inheritance tax applies to cryptocurrency at fair market value on the date of death. For the full inheritance tax framework, see our page on Pennsylvania inheritance tax.
What Your Will, Trust, and Power of Attorney Must Say
Your Pennsylvania will should explicitly grant your executor authority to access, manage, transfer, and terminate digital accounts. It should reference RUFADAA by name, include a broad definition of digital assets, and specify whether you want accounts memorialized, deleted, or transferred. Platforms are not required to accept general grants of executor authority as satisfying RUFADAA’s requirements. Without that language, your executor may find platforms refuse access entirely, even with letters testamentary in hand.
Your durable power of attorney should grant your agent authority over digital assets during your lifetime in the event of incapacity, not just at death. Without this language, your agent may be unable to access online accounts to pay bills or manage finances while you are alive but incapacitated. The POA should specifically authorize access to the content of electronic communications, not just account existence or financial balances. Without it, your agent has legal authority over your finances but no legal path into the accounts where those finances live.
If you have a revocable trust in Pennsylvania, the trustee should be granted parallel digital asset authority. Assets held in trust avoid probate, and digital accounts administered through a trust can pass to beneficiaries without the delay and public record of probate proceedings. The combination of digital asset authority and trust administration offers both access and privacy for accounts with significant value. A trustee whose document is silent on digital assets has no statutory authority to act under RUFADAA.
How Digital Assets Interact With Probate
Most digital assets pass through the estate administration process in Pennsylvania as part of the residuary estate, unless a platform’s own beneficiary designation or legacy tool controls the account. This means access may be delayed during probate administration, which routinely takes six months to over a year in Allegheny County, while accounts remain vulnerable to unauthorized access.
Some digital assets can avoid probate entirely. Accounts with payable-on-death designations or platform-level beneficiary tools pass outside the estate. Transfer-on-death registrations for brokerage accounts bypass probate. A properly structured digital estate plan minimizes the accounts that flow through the probate process while ensuring every account has a clear succession path.
Without planning, digital assets can be lost in three distinct ways: accounts deleted by platforms after prolonged inactivity, cryptocurrency made permanently inaccessible by lost private keys, or accounts locked under terms of service that prohibit fiduciary access. None of these outcomes require negligence. They require only the absence of a plan.
Building a Digital Asset Inventory
Legal authority and practical access are separate problems. Your will can grant your executor every power RUFADAA allows and still leave them unable to locate accounts or retrieve credentials without a documented inventory. Legal documents tell your executor what they are authorized to do. An inventory tells them where to go and how to get in.
A complete digital asset inventory should include account names and URLs, usernames and login credentials, two-factor authentication methods and recovery codes, the approximate value or purpose of each account, and instructions for what should happen to each, whether preservation, deletion, or transfer to a beneficiary.
This inventory should not be placed in your will, which becomes a public document when admitted to probate in Allegheny County. Store it separately in a fireproof safe, with your estate planning attorney, or through a reputable digital estate planning service, and update it whenever accounts change. An outdated inventory leaves your executor searching for accounts that no longer exist while active accounts remain undiscovered.
Pennsylvania’s digital asset laws give executors a framework to act. Your estate plan is what activates it.
Without specific authority in your will, trust, and power of attorney, your executor may face legal barriers at every platform. Call 412-351-4422 or schedule a consultation to update your estate plan.
Pennsylvania estate planning documents must satisfy the execution requirements of the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code, found in Pennsylvania statutes. Estate and inheritance tax obligations are administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue.
Frequently Asked Questions About Digital Assets and Estate Planning in Pennsylvania
Can my executor access my email and online accounts after I die in Pennsylvania?
Yes, but only with proper authorization. Under RUFADAA, your executor can access the content of your electronic communications and online accounts if your will explicitly grants that authority. Without that language, the platform’s terms of service control, and most prohibit third-party access even for a legally appointed executor.
Does my power of attorney cover my online accounts?
Only if it specifically says so. A standard Pennsylvania durable power of attorney may not grant your agent authority over digital assets unless the document references digital accounts and electronic communications. Review your existing POA with an attorney to confirm it includes sufficient digital asset language.
What happens to my cryptocurrency if I die without a plan?
If your private keys and exchange account credentials are not documented and accessible to your executor, your cryptocurrency may be permanently inaccessible. RUFADAA provides a legal framework for accessing exchange accounts, but it cannot recover a private key that was never recorded. The cryptocurrency is gone.
Are digital assets subject to Pennsylvania inheritance tax?
Yes. Cryptocurrency, online financial accounts, and other digital assets with monetary value are subject to Pennsylvania inheritance tax at fair market value on the date of death, at the same rates that apply to other personal property.
Can I leave social media accounts to a beneficiary in my will?
Most platforms prohibit the transfer of accounts under their terms of service. Your will can direct your executor to memorialize, preserve, or delete accounts and can grant authority to retrieve stored content such as photos and messages. The account itself typically cannot be transferred as property to a beneficiary.
Where should I store my digital asset inventory?
Not in your will, which becomes a public document when probated. Store your inventory separately in a fireproof safe, with your estate planning attorney, or through a secure digital estate service. Make sure your executor knows where it is and can access it without your assistance.
For the documents that authorize digital asset access, see our pages on power of attorney in Pennsylvania and wills in Pennsylvania; for how digital assets flow through estate administration, see our page on estate administration and probate; for all estate planning topics, see our wills, estates, trusts, and probate practice area.