Most estate plans account for the house, the retirement accounts, and the family heirlooms; far fewer account for the 120-plus passwords, spanning email, financial portals, cloud storage, subscriptions, travel programs, and more the average person manages.
A 2026 report from Trust & Will found that 48% of Americans have no instructions in place for what should happen to their digital accounts and files when they die, including email archives, financial credentials, photo libraries, and social media presence. Without appropriate planning, family members may face challenges accessing a loved one’s digital accounts and files after death.
A digital executor can help reduce the likelihood of those challenges. Below, we explore what the role covers, why it is so necessary, and how to set one up properly.
What Does a Digital Executor Do?
A digital executor is a person you can specifically designate to manage your online accounts and digital assets after your death, typically under authority granted in your estate planning documents. Your digital executor can be the same individual serving as your general executor, but it can be helpful to select someone who is comfortable with technology, familiar with your account structure, and prepared to work through platform-specific procedures that vary from Google to Facebook to your bank.
The digital executor’s job can include locating and accessing your accounts, closing or memorializing social media profiles, retrieving files and photos stored in the cloud, canceling subscriptions before they generate more charges, and working with financial institutions to settle or transfer eligible accounts. Without someone assigned to the task, accounts may remain active, potentially resulting in continued charges or security concerns long after a person has died.
Do I Need a Digital Executor if I Have a Will?
Many people assume a will covers everything, including digital property. It may not resolve platform based access issues..
Estate planning documents transfer ownership of physical and financial assets, but most online accounts are not owned outright. Access to many online accounts is governed by the provider’s terms of service, which may impose restrictions on account access or transfer following the account holder’s death. Your relationship with Gmail, Apple, or Netflix runs through a terms of service agreement, and the license typically ends at death regardless of what your will says.
This is where the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, or RUFADAA, comes in. Many states have adopted some version of this law, which governs who can legally access digital accounts after someone dies. RUFADAA gives priority to instructions made directly through a platform’s own tools, such as Google’s Inactive Account Manager or Facebook’s legacy contact feature. In many states, the instructions you set directly through an online platform can take priority. If you have not made those selections, your will, trust, power of attorney, or other written directions may guide access, subject to state law and each provider’s policies. In practice, a will alone often is not enough to grant your executor legal access to your accounts, even when your intent is clear.
In a qualitative A Carnegie Mellon University CyLab study on older adults over age 60, participants found that participants tend to navigate postmortem account access informally, often relying on casual arrangements rather than legal or platform-based tools, which creates real risk. Passwords written on paper get lost. Informal arrangements may not provide the authority or documentation a provider requires. Family members without documented authorization may face delays or additional steps when seeking access that could potentially have been addressed through advance planning.
What Are the Risks of Not Naming a Digital Executor?
Digital assets can carry both financial and sentimental value. Online banking, brokerage accounts, and cryptocurrency holdings all live behind login credentials. Cryptocurrency can carry a high risk of permanent loss. For certain self-custodied cryptocurrency wallets, loss of the necessary private keys or recovery information can result in permanent loss of access to the assets. There is no customer service line and no account recovery process for a lost crypto key.
Loyalty programs may carry real value too. Airline miles and hotel points, and other programs allow transfer to a surviving spouse or estate, but only if the claim is made promptly and the executor knows the accounts exist in the first place.
How Do I Set Up a Digital Executor?
Start by naming the person. Choose someone tech-savvy and trustworthy, and work with your legal counsel to name them explicitly in your estate documents rather than assuming your general executor will handle digital assets by default.
Next, build an inventory. List your primary and secondary email accounts, financial and cryptocurrency accounts, cloud storage, streaming subscriptions, business accounts, and rewards programs. For each one, record where access information is stored. Never write passwords directly into an estate document that others might see or that could become part of the public record. A password manager with an appropriate recovery process may be one option to consider for securely maintaining access information.
Use the legacy tools each platform already offers. Google’s Inactive Account Manager and Apple’s Digital Legacy program provide tools for establishing certain account-access instructions in advance, and both take just a few minutes to set up. Facebook offers a legacy contact option as well. For material accounts, review the platform’s legacy or inactive-account tools. These designations may be important but note the access may be limited by each platform’s policies.”
Finally, consider working with your estate planning attorney to determine whether a digital asset provision in your will or trust, or a separate written directive, is appropriate for your circumstances. Store a completed copy of your full digital asset inventory in a fireproof safe or with your estate attorney. Share it with your attorney directly rather than keeping it only on your own computer, where it could be lost along with everything else.
Managing Your Digital Estate Plan
Creating a digital estate plan is not a one-time task; digital assets are particularly dynamic, as accounts frequently get opened and closed and passwords change. Review your plan annually or after any major life event, including marriage, divorce, retirement, or the opening of new financial accounts.
Planning for the management of your digital assets now may help reduce potential administrative challenges for your family later. Our Digital Asset Checklist is designed to help you organize your accounts, document where access information is stored, and give your executor a clear starting point.
Download the checklist here: Apollon Digital Asset Checklist
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