Think about how much of your life lives online. Your bank statements arrive by email. Your family photos sit in the cloud. You might even own cryptocurrency or run a small business through a website. Yet many families never think about digital property in your estate plan until it’s too late. When someone passes away without a plan for their online life, loved ones can spend months locked out of accounts, and treasured memories can be lost for good. The good news? A little planning now can save your family a great deal of stress later.
What Is Digital Property in Your Estate Plan?
A digital asset is anything you own or control that exists in electronic form. When you include digital assets in your estate plan, you’re deciding who can access them, who should inherit them, and what should happen to them after you’re gone.
Digital assets cover more ground than most people realize. Common examples include:
- Email accounts and social media profiles
- Photo and video libraries stored in the cloud
- Online banking, investment, and payment accounts
- Cryptocurrency and NFTs
- Loyalty points, airline miles, and subscription services
- Domain names, websites, and online businesses
- Digital music, movie, and book collections
Some of these have real financial value. Others carry deep sentimental value. Both deserve a place in your plan.
Why Digital Assets Are So Easy to Overlook
Traditional estate planning focuses on things you can touch, like your home, your land, and your bank accounts. Digital property is different. There’s no deed sitting in a drawer and no statement arriving in the mailbox.
That invisibility creates real problems. If your family doesn’t know an account exists, they can’t claim it. Even when they do know, they may not be able to get in. Passwords, two-factor authentication, and strict company policies can stop even the most determined loved one.
There’s a legal wrinkle, too. Most online accounts are governed by terms of service agreements. Many of those agreements say the account belongs to you alone and cannot be transferred. Without the right language in your estate plan, your executor may have no legal authority to access your accounts at all.
What Missouri Law Says About Digital Assets
Missouri has adopted a version of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, often called RUFADAA. This law gives your executor, trustee, or agent under a power of attorney the ability to manage your digital assets, but only if your estate planning documents grant that authority.
In plain terms, the law respects your wishes when you put them in writing. If your will, trust, or power of attorney includes clear digital asset provisions, your chosen person can step in and act. If those provisions are missing, tech companies may deny access, and your family could face a long legal battle just to close an account or recover photos.
This is one more reason why a fill-in-the-blank form from the internet often falls short. An experienced estate planning attorney can make sure your documents include the language Missouri law requires.
How to Include Digital Assets in Your Estate Plan
Getting your digital life in order doesn’t have to be complicated. A few practical steps can make all the difference for the people you love.
Start with an inventory. Make a list of your accounts, devices, and digital property. Include where each asset lives and roughly what it’s worth, financially or sentimentally. Keep this list somewhere safe and let a trusted person know it exists.
Decide what should happen to each asset. Maybe you want your photos shared with your children, your social media accounts memorialized or deleted, and your online business passed to a family member. Spelling out your wishes removes the guesswork.
Name someone to handle your digital property. This can be your executor or trustee, or you can name a separate person with more technical know-how. The key is making sure your documents give them clear legal authority.
Plan for access, not just permission. Legal authority means little if no one can get past the login screen. A password manager with an emergency access feature is one secure option. Never list passwords directly in your will, because a will becomes a public record when it goes through probate.
Finally, use the tools the platforms provide. Some services let you name a legacy contact or an inactive account manager. These settings work alongside your estate plan, not in place of it.
A Special Word About Cryptocurrency
Crypto deserves extra care. Unlike a bank account, there is no customer service line to call and no way to reset a lost key. If your private keys or seed phrase die with you, your cryptocurrency is gone forever. Billions of dollars in digital currency have already been lost this way.
If you own crypto, your estate plan should address how your keys are stored, who can access them, and how your holdings should be distributed. Because the rules and technology change quickly, this is an area where professional guidance really pays off.
Don’t Forget the Photos
Not every digital asset has a price tag. For many Ozarks families, the most precious digital property is the photo library, decades of birthdays, holidays, hunting trips, and everyday moments stored on a phone or in the cloud.
Losing access to those memories can hurt more than losing money. Make sure your plan covers where your photos are stored and who should receive them. Backing them up in more than one place is a smart move, too.
Protect Your Digital Legacy with Ozarks Legacy Law
Your online life is part of your legacy. At Ozarks Legacy Law, we help families throughout Southwest Missouri build complete estate plans that cover everything you own, from the family farm to the family photo library. Our attorneys bring more than 50 years of combined experience, and our efficient two-meeting process means most plans are finished in just 7-10 days. We can meet in person at our Nixa or Aurora offices, or by video from the comfort of your home.
Ready to make sure your digital assets are protected? Schedule your complimentary estate planning call today at ozarkslegacylaw.com/book-a-call. It all starts with a conversation, and we’d love to have it with you.