Digital Assets and Your Missouri Estate Plan: Protecting Your Online Life

Digital Assets and Your Missouri Estate Plan: Protecting Your Online Life

Think about how much of your life exists online. Your bank accounts, investment portfolios, email, social media profiles, digital photos, streaming subscriptions, cloud storage, and maybe even cryptocurrency. Now ask yourself: if something happened to you tomorrow, would your family know how to access any of it?

For most people, the answer is no. And that's a problem. Digital assets are an increasingly important part of estate planning, yet they're one of the most commonly overlooked areas. At The Taormina Firm, we make sure our clients in Clayton, Chesterfield, Kirkwood, and across the St. Louis area have a plan for their digital lives, not just their physical ones.

What Are Digital Assets?

Digital assets include anything you own, control, or have access to in electronic form. This covers a wide range, including email accounts (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo), social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X), online financial accounts (banking, brokerage, PayPal, Venmo), cryptocurrency and digital wallets (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others), cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud), digital media libraries (iTunes, Kindle, streaming services), online business accounts and websites, loyalty program accounts and rewards points, and domain names and intellectual property stored online.

The value of these assets can be significant. Cryptocurrency holdings alone can be worth substantial sums, and without proper planning, they can be permanently lost.

Missouri's Law on Digital Assets

Missouri has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), codified in Chapter 461 of the Missouri Revised Statutes. This law governs how fiduciaries, including executors, trustees, agents under a power of attorney, and guardians, can access a deceased or incapacitated person's digital assets.

Under RUFADAA, there's a priority system for determining who can access your digital accounts. First, the law looks at any instructions you provided directly to the online service provider (like Google's Inactive Account Manager or Facebook's Legacy Contact settings). Second, it looks at directions in your estate planning documents (will, trust, or power of attorney). Third, it falls back on the service provider's terms of service agreement.

This means that if you haven't addressed digital assets in your estate plan and haven't set up any provider-specific tools, the platform's terms of service will control what happens, and many platforms default to simply deleting the account.

Why Standard Estate Plans Often Miss Digital Assets

Traditional estate planning focuses on tangible assets: houses, bank accounts, investment portfolios, and personal property. Many wills and trusts created even a few years ago don't mention digital assets at all. And even if your attorney included general language about "all property I own," accessing digital accounts requires more than legal authority. It requires knowing the accounts exist and having the credentials to log in.

Steps to Include Digital Assets in Your Estate Plan

Create a digital asset inventory. Start by making a comprehensive list of all your digital accounts, including the platform name, your username or email associated with it, and the type of asset (financial, social, storage, etc.). Store this inventory in a secure location that your trusted person can access.

Document your access credentials. Your executor or trustee will need passwords, PINs, and potentially two-factor authentication information to access your accounts. Consider using a password manager (like 1Password, LastPass, or Bitwarden) and sharing the master password or recovery key with your trusted person. Never put passwords directly in your will, as wills become public record through probate.

Update your estate planning documents. Your will, trust, and power of attorney should include specific language granting your fiduciary the authority to access, manage, and distribute your digital assets. At The Taormina Firm, we include digital asset provisions in every estate plan we create.

Use platform-specific tools. Several major platforms offer their own legacy or memorial tools. Google's Inactive Account Manager lets you designate someone to receive your data after a period of inactivity. Facebook allows you to name a Legacy Contact. Apple has a Digital Legacy program. Setting up these features adds an extra layer of protection.

Cryptocurrency: A Special Case

Cryptocurrency requires extra attention because of how it works. Unlike a bank account, there's no institution holding your crypto that your family can contact. If you hold cryptocurrency in a self-custody wallet, the private keys or seed phrases are the only way to access those funds. If those keys are lost, the cryptocurrency is gone forever.

If you own cryptocurrency, make sure your private keys or seed phrases are stored securely and accessible to your trusted person, your estate plan specifically addresses your crypto holdings, and your fiduciary understands how cryptocurrency works or knows to seek professional help.

Protecting Your Digital Legacy

Beyond the financial value, many digital assets have deep personal significance. Family photos stored in the cloud, years of email correspondence, and social media memories are things your family may treasure. Planning for these assets ensures they're preserved and accessible to the people who matter.

Get Your Digital Life in Order

If your estate plan doesn't address digital assets, it's time for an update. Whether you're in Brentwood, Florissant, O'Fallon, Sunset Hills, or anywhere in the St. Louis area, contact The Taormina Firm to make sure your digital life is protected alongside everything else.