Including Digital Assets in Your New York Estate Plan

To include digital assets in your New York estate plan, you must do three things in a coordinated, professional manner: take a complete inventory of every digital asset and account, grant your fiduciaries clear legal authority to access them, and integrate that authority into the four core instruments of a comprehensive New York plan — your will, your trust(s), your durable power of attorney, and your health care proxy. Digital assets are not an afterthought or a separate document; they are property that must be governed with the same fiduciary care as real estate, bank accounts, and securities. Done right, your executor and agent can lawfully access, manage, and distribute your online life. Done carelessly, your family may be locked out by federal privacy law and platform terms of service, with no court address or workaround that can quickly fix it.

What Counts as a Digital Asset

A “digital asset” is broader than most people assume. For estate-planning purposes, treat the following as property requiring disposition and a custodian for access:

• Financial and access accounts: online banking, brokerage logins, PayPal, Venmo, and cryptocurrency wallets and exchange accounts.
• Stored-value and rewards: airline miles, hotel points, gift-card balances, and credit-card rewards.
• Income-producing digital property: monetized YouTube channels, blogs, domain names, e-commerce storefronts, and stock-photo or licensing portfolios.
• Personal and sentimental data: email, photo libraries, cloud storage, and social-media accounts.
• Business and operational accounts: customer databases, software licenses, and registrar and hosting credentials.

The distinction the law draws is between the content of electronic communications (the actual text of emails and messages, which enjoys heightened protection) and the catalogue of communications and other account records. A professional plan addresses both categories explicitly so your fiduciary is not guessing about the scope of their authority.

The Fiduciary Problem: Why Authority Must Be Granted Expressly

Two obstacles routinely defeat well-meaning families. First, federal privacy and anti-hacking statutes can make unauthorized access to an account a crime — even when the person logging in is the grieving spouse who knows the password. Second, platform terms of service often prohibit transferring or sharing accounts. The solution is not to share passwords informally; it is to grant your fiduciaries express, written legal authority inside your governing documents so that access is lawful, not improvised.

This is where coordination matters. A New York estate plan is a system, not a stack of unrelated forms:

Instrument	Governs	Digital-Asset Role
Will (EPTL §3-2.1)	Distribution at death; names your executor	Authorize the executor to access, manage, and distribute digital assets
Revocable / Irrevocable Trust (EPTL Article 7)	Assets you transfer into the trust during life	Direct the trustee on digital property held in trust
Durable Power of Attorney (GOL §5-1513)	Your finances during incapacity while living	Empower your agent to manage accounts now, before death
Health Care Proxy (PHL Article 29-C)	Your medical decisions if you cannot speak	Supports the agent who may need account access during a health crisis

Notice the gap a do-it-yourself approach creates: a will speaks only at death, so without a durable power of attorney your loved ones have no authority to manage your digital life during a long incapacity. The durable power of attorney is durable by default under GOL §5-1513, and New York’s 2021 statutory short form is the proper vehicle to grant these powers. Your health care proxy under Public Health Law Article 29-C appoints an agent for medical decisions only — it is distinct from the financial power of attorney, and the two must work in tandem.

Building the Plan, Step by Step

1. Inventory privately, store securely. Create a comprehensive list of accounts, but never paste passwords into your will — a will becomes a public document when admitted to probate. Keep credentials in a reputable password manager or sealed letter referenced by, but separate from, your governing instruments.

2. Use the platforms’ own legacy tools. Major providers offer built-in designations — a legacy contact, an inactive-account manager, or a memorialization setting. Under New York law, these online tool elections can take precedence, so they must be set consistently with your written plan, not in conflict with it.

3. Authorize each fiduciary expressly. Your will should empower the executor, your power of attorney should empower your agent, and any trust should direct your trustee — each with language granting access to the content and catalogue of your digital assets as broadly as the law allows.

4. Decide what happens to each asset. Some assets should pass to a beneficiary (a domain portfolio, cryptocurrency), some should be archived for the family (photos, email), and some should be closed (social media). State your intent so your fiduciary is not forced to guess.

5. Coordinate with the broader plan and tax picture. Cryptocurrency, monetized channels, and domain portfolios have real value that counts toward your taxable estate. For 2026, New York’s basic exclusion is $7,350,000 for deaths on or after January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026. New York’s notorious “cliff” taxes an estate that exceeds 105% of the exclusion — $7,717,500 — on the entire estate from the first dollar, with no exemption at all; rates run progressively from 3% to 16%. New York imposes no gift tax, but gifts made within three years of death are added back to the taxable estate. A high-value crypto wallet can be precisely the asset that pushes an estate over the cliff, which is why digital-asset planning and tax planning cannot be siloed.

A Trust-Based Approach for Significant Digital Wealth

For substantial or income-producing digital property, a revocable living trust under EPTL Article 7 lets your successor trustee manage and transfer assets without probate (it does not save estate tax, but it speeds and privatizes administration). Where tax reduction, asset protection, or Medicaid planning is in view, an irrevocable trust — subject to the five-year look-back — may hold appreciating digital assets outside your taxable estate. A trust also gives a single, durable set of instructions that govern continuously through incapacity and death, closing the timing gaps a will alone leaves open.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my executor just use my passwords to log into my accounts?
Not safely. Using someone else’s credentials can violate federal law and platform terms even with good intentions. The correct path is express written authority in your will, power of attorney, and trust, supported by the platforms’ own legacy-contact tools.

Will a power of attorney let my agent handle my digital assets while I’m alive?
Yes, if the document grants those powers. A New York durable power of attorney under GOL §5-1513 remains effective during incapacity and is the instrument that authorizes your agent to manage online accounts before death — something a will cannot do.

Should I list my passwords in my will?
Never. A probated will is a public court record. Keep credentials in a secure password manager or sealed memorandum and reference your inventory in the plan, not the passwords themselves.

Do my cryptocurrency holdings affect New York estate tax?
Yes. Crypto and other valuable digital property count toward your taxable estate. Because of New York’s 105% cliff at $7,717,500, even a modest amount can tip an estate into full taxation, so coordinated tax planning is essential.

Speak With Morgan Legal Group

Digital assets demand the same fiduciary discipline as any other property in your estate — a complete inventory, express authority, and instruments that work together. Russel Morgan, Esq. and the team at Morgan Legal Group build coordinated New York estate plans that bring your wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and health care proxies into one durable system, with your digital life fully and lawfully covered.

Learn more about our estate planning overview, our approach to wills, and how we structure trusts for clients across New York. To get it right, schedule your 30-minute consultation with Russel Morgan, Esq. today.