RUFADAA: The Access Framework

Nearly every state has enacted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access To Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), which sets a three-tier priority for who controls a digital asset on death or incapacity:

1.

An online tool the provider itself offers — Google’s Inactive Account Manager, Apple’s Legacy Contact, Facebook’s legacy contact. If you have used it, it overrides everything else.

2.

Absent a tool, the directions in your will, trust, or power of attorney.

3.

Absent both, the provider’s terms-of-service agreement — usually the worst outcome, and often an outright denial of access.

Even with authority, the default grant is thin: a fiduciary may obtain a catalogue of electronic communications — who corresponded with whom, and when — but the content of emails and messages only where you have explicitly consented. Two actions follow. Set every provider’s online legacy tool now, while you can. And confirm that your will, your revocable trust, and your durable power of attorney each carry explicit RUFADAA-conforming language authorizing the fiduciary to access digital assets, digital currency, and the content of electronic communications.