Digital Assets In A Georgia Estate Plan And Why They Get Overlooked

On Behalf of Georgia Wills, Trusts, and Probate Firm

Quick Summary

Georgia estate plans regularly overlook one category of property that has grown substantially in value for many people: digital assets. Cryptocurrency, online accounts, digital files with financial value, and business accounts that exist only in the cloud do not pass the same way physical property does. Without specific planning, these assets can be lost or frozen entirely when the owner dies.

What Counts As A Digital Asset

Digital assets include cryptocurrency holdings such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, accounts on trading platforms, digital business tools with subscription or license value, and online accounts with stored financial instruments. For some people, the combined value of these holdings exceeds their physical property. The category also includes accounts with primarily sentimental value: email accounts, cloud photo storage, and social media accounts that families may want to memorialize or close after death.

The Access Problem

Most online accounts are protected by passwords, two-factor authentication, and terms of service that restrict access to the named user. When a person dies, even a named executor or trustee may not be able to log into an account without the credentials. Attempting to access the account without proper authority may violate federal computer access laws even when the intent is legitimate estate administration.

Planning in advance means documenting what you have and how to reach it through a secure method that your representative can access after death. The access problem is particularly acute with cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency held in a private wallet is controlled by a private key. If the private key is lost or unknown to the estate, the cryptocurrency may be permanently inaccessible regardless of its value.

How Georgia Law Addresses Digital Assets

Georgia has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. This law gives executors and trustees legal authority to access digital assets, but it also recognizes that online platforms can set their own rules through their terms of service. A platform’s terms of service may allow the user to designate a legacy contact or set instructions for account access after death, and those platform-level designations take priority over the fiduciary’s legal authority under state law.

The practical implication is that the estate plan needs to name the fiduciary with explicit digital asset authority, and the account holder needs to review each platform’s legacy or deceased user policies to determine what additional steps are required during life to ensure access after death.

What To Include In Your Plan

A complete plan for digital assets includes four elements. First, an inventory of significant accounts and how to access them. Second, a secure location for that information that the representative can reach after death. Third, explicit authority in the will or trust for the representative to manage digital assets. Fourth, platform-specific instructions for accounts where the platform’s own legacy process is relevant.

The inventory and the legal authority work together. The legal authority without the access information leaves the representative with the right to act but no ability to act. The access information without the legal authority leaves the representative with the ability to act but potential liability for acting without proper authorization.

Cryptocurrency Requires Extra Planning

Cryptocurrency deserves special attention because the planning requirements are more demanding than for other digital assets. A standard bank account can be accessed by an executor through normal estate administration processes even without the account holder’s password, because the bank has procedures for dealing with estates. Cryptocurrency in a private wallet has no equivalent fallback. If the private key is gone, the asset is gone.

For estate planning purposes, cryptocurrency should be treated like a physical asset whose location and combination are known only to the owner. The estate plan should include a secure, accessible record of how to reach the holdings, whether that means a hardware wallet location, a seed phrase stored in a secure manner, or access through a custodial exchange account that can be transferred through standard estate processes.

The Role Of The Fiduciary In Digital Asset Administration

The executor or trustee who is responsible for administering a Georgia estate has legal authority to manage digital assets under the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. But that legal authority has practical limits that the estate plan should address.

A fiduciary who does not know what digital assets exist cannot manage them. The inventory is the foundation. Without it, the fiduciary may never discover a cryptocurrency holding, a domain name with commercial value, a cloud-based business tool with a transferable license, or an online store with outstanding orders and customer obligations.

A fiduciary who has legal authority but no access credentials cannot take action on assets that require immediate attention. An e-commerce business that continues to receive orders after the owner’s death needs someone with administrative access to manage or close it. A cryptocurrency position that needs to be liquidated to pay estate expenses requires access to the wallet or the custodial platform. Platform-specific processes for transferring or terminating accounts take time to complete, and some platforms have strict procedural requirements that must be satisfied before they will recognize a fiduciary’s authority.

The best approach is to address digital assets during life with the same specificity as physical assets. Name the fiduciary with explicit authority over digital assets in the estate plan documents. Maintain a secure inventory of accounts and access information. Review the inventory periodically as accounts are created, changed, or closed. Give the fiduciary enough information and authority to act quickly when the time comes.

The timeline for addressing digital assets after death is also shorter than many families expect. Social media platforms have procedures for memorializing or removing accounts, but those procedures have deadlines. Some platforms will deactivate an account automatically after a period of inactivity, which can result in data loss before the estate is administered. An e-commerce business needs to be wound down or transferred before customer obligations pile up. A cryptocurrency position in a volatile market may need to be liquidated within a specific window to avoid loss. Planning that was done before death makes it possible to act within those timelines. Planning that was not done leaves the fiduciary improvising under time pressure.

Integrating Digital Assets Into The Broader Estate Plan

Digital assets should be integrated into the broader estate plan, not treated as a separate matter. The same estate plan review that updates beneficiary designations and reviews fiduciary appointments should include a review of the digital asset inventory and instructions.

Most estate plans written before 2015 do not address digital assets at all, and many plans written since then address them only in general terms. A plan that was carefully drafted for physical and financial assets may have significant gaps when it comes to the digital layer of the estate. Those gaps are worth closing while the account holder is alive, not after death when the options are limited.

Digital assets are no longer a niche category. For many Georgia residents, they are a significant part of the estate. Treating them with the same planning discipline applied to real property, financial accounts, and business interests is the standard that estate plans should meet. An inventory, a mechanism for access, and explicit authority in the estate documents are the three components. Each can be addressed in a single planning conversation and documented alongside the rest of the estate plan.

Does Your Estate Plan Address What Happens to Your Digital Assets?

If your current estate plan does not address digital assets, that part of your estate may be inaccessible or lost entirely. Georgia Wills, Trusts and Probate helps clients in Smyrna, Marietta, and throughout Georgia update their plans to include digital asset instructions. Contact our office to schedule a consultation.