A generation ago, an estate was a house, a bank account, and a box of paper. Today a typical Manhattan professional also has a crypto wallet, a decade of photos in iCloud, a small Etsy or Substack income stream, password-protected financial dashboards, and a dozen subscriptions billing automatically. When these digital assets are ignored in an estate plan, families are left locked out — or quietly bleeding money.
Scenario: the Brooklyn freelancer’s locked phone
James, a Williamsburg designer, dies unexpectedly. His sister is named executor. She finds a phone she cannot unlock, a laptop with an unknown password, two-factor authentication tied to that phone, and a crypto wallet whose seed phrase no one has ever seen. The crypto — potentially the most valuable thing he owned — may be gone forever. His client invoices keep arriving in an inbox she cannot reach. None of this is solved by his will alone, because access is a separate problem from ownership.
Why digital assets need special handling
Three issues make digital property different. First, access: providers restrict logins, and “sharing your password” can violate terms of service. Second, discovery: heirs cannot manage what they do not know exists. Third, control type: some assets you truly own (crypto, files, an online business), while others are mere licenses (a streaming library) that die with you.
Granting authority under New York law
New York gives you tools to authorize a fiduciary to handle digital assets, but you must use them affirmatively:
- Your will (EPTL §3-2.1): can grant your executor authority over digital assets and name who inherits items like a domain name or online business.
- A durable power of attorney (GOL §5-1513): can empower an agent to manage digital accounts while you are alive but incapacitated — important for paying bills and freezing fraud.
- A revocable trust (EPTL Art. 7): can hold digital business assets and pass them without Surrogate’s Court probate.
New York has also adopted rules allowing fiduciary access to digital assets, but the practical key is using each provider’s own legacy or inactive-account tools — Apple’s Legacy Contact, Google’s Inactive Account Manager, and similar settings often control faster than any court order.
A practical NYC digital inventory
Build a living inventory and store it securely (a reputable password manager, with emergency access designated). Include:
- Crypto wallets and exchange accounts — with clear, separately stored instructions for seed phrases (never inside the will itself, which becomes a public record once filed in Surrogate’s Court).
- Financial logins, brokerage and bank portals.
- Email and cloud storage (the gateway to password resets).
- Revenue-generating accounts: an online shop, ad-monetized channel, rental-listing profile.
- Sentimental files — family photos and videos most heirs care about most.
- Subscriptions to cancel so the estate is not drained.
Critically, keep credentials out of the will. A will admitted to probate is a public document; sensitive access information belongs in a separate, secure system referenced by your plan.
Consult a New York attorney
Digital assets sit at the intersection of property law, contracts, and privacy. A New York estate planning attorney can integrate them into your will, power of attorney, and trust so your executor in Surrogate’s Court has both the right to act and a realistic way to do it.
Have a question about your estate?
Talk it through with Russel Morgan — free 30-minute consult.
