Estate Planning for Digital Assets in Pennsylvania

A Bingaman Hess guide for Reading and Berks County families on protecting online accounts, cryptocurrency, and digital property.

Estate planning for digital assets means giving your executor or agent the explicit legal authority to reach your online accounts, cryptocurrency, and files after death or incapacity. In Pennsylvania, a will, trust, or power of attorney must specifically grant that authority under the state's digital-asset law, or your family may be locked out of those accounts permanently.

Digital Assets in Your Estate Plan

A digital asset is any electronic record you own or control. That includes online bank and brokerage accounts, cryptocurrency and exchange wallets, email, cloud-stored photos and documents, social media profiles, loyalty and rewards points, domain names, subscriptions, and any business accounts you operate online.

Some of these assets carry real financial value, and some carry sentimental value that cannot be replaced. A Reading family may not think of a decade of family photos in a cloud account as "property," yet losing access to it can be one of the most painful gaps in an otherwise careful plan. Treating digital property as a distinct category is now a standard part of a modern estate plan.

Can my executor legally access my online accounts in Pennsylvania?

Only if your documents grant that authority. Pennsylvania has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), codified at 20 Pa.C.S. Ch. 39, which controls whether an executor, trustee, or agent under a power of attorney may lawfully access your accounts.

Under RUFADAA, the provider's own online tool controls first; your will, trust, or power of attorney controls next; and the provider's terms-of-service agreement controls last. If none of your documents say anything about digital access, the default terms of service usually win — and most of those agreements do not let anyone but the original account holder log in. Broad language authorizing your fiduciary to access "the content of electronic communications" is often required, because federal privacy law otherwise treats email and message content as off-limits.

How Digital Property Gets Lost Forever

Without credentials or legal authority, digital property can simply disappear. Cryptocurrency is the clearest example: if no one has the private keys or recovery phrase, the coins are unrecoverable, and no court order can restore them.

Cryptocurrency ownership is no longer a fringe issue. The Federal Reserve reported that 7 percent of U.S. adults held or used cryptocurrency in 2023. Beyond crypto, online-only bank statements, a business's payment processor, or a domain name that hosts a company website can all stall an estate if the executor cannot get in. Because these problems mirror the access issues that arise during a lifetime, they connect closely to planning for incapacity, where the same documents govern who can act when you cannot.

How do I build a digital estate plan?

A practical digital estate plan has three parts: an inventory, the platform tools, and the legal language. Together they tell your fiduciary what exists, where to look, and that they are allowed to act.

First, build a secure inventory of accounts — not passwords written into your will, which becomes a public record, but a list stored in a password manager or a sealed document your executor can locate. Second, use each platform's built-in legacy tools, such as Google's Inactive Account Manager, Apple's Legacy Contact, and Facebook's legacy contact, which under RUFADAA generally override conflicting will provisions. Third, ask your attorney to include specific fiduciary-access language in your will, trust, and durable power of attorney. Where digital assets are held in a trust, the trustee's authority to manage them should be spelled out; our overview of a trustee's duties and responsibilities explains how that role works in practice. For coordinated documents, the estate planning attorneys at Bingaman Hess in Reading and Berks County can align each instrument so your fiduciary has clear authority.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a power of attorney let my agent manage my digital accounts in Pennsylvania?

Not automatically. Under Pennsylvania's RUFADAA (20 Pa.C.S. Ch. 39), a general power of attorney does not grant digital access unless it specifically authorizes your agent to manage digital assets and, separately, to access the content of electronic communications. A power of attorney drafted before these rules were common may need to be updated to include that express authority.

What happens to my cryptocurrency if I die without leaving access?

It is likely lost. Cryptocurrency is controlled by private keys or a recovery phrase, and no exchange, court, or attorney can recover coins held in a self-custody wallet without them. If you own digital currency, storing the recovery information securely and telling your fiduciary how to find it is as essential as naming the asset in your estate plan.

Should I write my passwords directly in my will?

No. A will typically becomes a public record once it is filed for probate in Pennsylvania, so any passwords inside it are exposed. Instead, keep credentials in a password manager or a separate sealed document, and use your will only to grant the legal authority your fiduciary needs to access the accounts.

Can my family access my email and photos after I pass away?

Only with the right authority. Federal privacy law treats the content of email and messages as protected, so a fiduciary generally needs either a platform legacy tool or explicit consent in your estate documents to view them. Setting a legacy contact now and adding fiduciary-access language to your will is the reliable way to preserve access to correspondence and photos.

Protect Your Digital Legacy

Your online life is part of your estate, and Pennsylvania law decides who can reach it based on what your documents say today. If your will, trust, or power of attorney has not been reviewed for digital assets, now is the time. Contact Bingaman Hess in Reading to build a plan that keeps your accounts, cryptocurrency, and memories in the right hands.

Melissa A. Krishock, Bingaman Hess

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No one may rely on this information without consulting an attorney. Anyone who attempts to use this information without attorney consultation does so at their own risk. Bingaman Hess is not and shall never be responsible for anyone who uses this information. It is not legal advice.