Digital Assets and Your Brooklyn Estate Plan

Planning for digital assets in a Brooklyn estate plan has become one of the most overlooked yet legally complex parts of modern estate work, and here is the fact that surprises most Brooklyn residents: under New York law, the words written in your will mean very little to Google, Apple, or a cryptocurrency exchange unless you have separately given your executor explicit authority to read the content of your accounts. New York adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) as Article 13-A of the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL), and that statute, not just your testamentary wishes, controls whether the person you trust can log in, recover your Bitcoin, or download decades of family photos after you are gone.

What Counts as a Digital Asset Under New York Law

A “digital asset” is broadly defined in EPTL Article 13-A as an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. That definition is intentionally wide. It does not just mean money. It captures the entire footprint a Brooklyn resident leaves online, much of which carries real financial or sentimental value that a family could lose forever without proper planning.

Categories Brooklyn Residents Tend to Forget

• Cryptocurrency and tokens — Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, and NFTs held on exchanges like Coinbase or in self-custody wallets such as Ledger or MetaMask.
• Financial and payment accounts — PayPal, Venmo, Zelle balances, online-only banks, and brokerage apps.
• Email and cloud storage — Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Dropbox, and Google Drive, which often hold the keys to everything else.
• Loyalty and reward programs — airline miles, credit-card points, and rewards balances that may be transferable at death.
• Revenue-generating accounts — a Brooklyn-based Etsy shop, a monetized YouTube channel, an Amazon seller account, or a domain-name portfolio.
• Social media and personal content — Facebook, Instagram, and the photo and video libraries that carry irreplaceable family memory.
• Subscriptions and recurring bills — streaming and software services that quietly keep draining the estate until someone cancels them.

It helps to separate the asset itself from the access to it. Cryptocurrency is property that belongs to your estate; the password to the exchange is the access mechanism RUFADAA governs. Both must be addressed, and they are handled very differently.

The NY RUFADAA Framework: Who Gets Access and How

EPTL Article 13-A creates a clear order of priority that determines how a fiduciary obtains access to your digital property. Understanding this hierarchy is the heart of effective planning, because the law was written to protect privacy first and convenience second. A custodian, meaning the company that holds the account, will follow this sequence.

The Critical Difference Between “Catalogue” and “Content”

RUFADAA draws a sharp line that trips up even experienced families. The “catalogue” of electronic communications is the record of who you communicated with and when, similar to a phone log. The “content” is the actual substance, the body of the emails and messages. Under EPTL Article 13-A, a fiduciary can usually obtain the catalogue, but accessing the content of private communications requires that you specifically consented to that disclosure. A generic clause naming an executor is not enough; the document must affirmatively authorize disclosure of content under the statute.

Building Digital Assets Into Your Plan: A Step-by-Step Approach

For Brooklyn residents, integrating digital property into an estate plan is a deliberate, multi-document process. No single tool does the whole job. Follow these steps in order.

1. Create a complete inventory. List every account, platform, and wallet, but do not write passwords into your will. A will becomes a public record once filed with the Kings County Surrogate’s Court, so anything in it can be read by the public.
2. Use provider online tools first. Set up Google Inactive Account Manager, Apple’s Legacy Contact, and Facebook’s Legacy Contact. Because these sit at the top of the RUFADAA priority order, they are the cleanest path to access.
3. Add explicit RUFADAA language to your will, trust, and power of attorney. Each document should grant your fiduciary authority over digital assets and expressly authorize disclosure of the content of electronic communications.
4. Store credentials securely and separately. A reputable password manager with a designated emergency contact, or a sealed letter referenced by (but not contained in) your will, keeps the keys out of the public record.
5. Address cryptocurrency self-custody directly. If no one can find the seed phrase, the crypto is gone forever; no court order can recover it.
6. Review every two to three years. Platforms, holdings, and your own logins change constantly, so a digital plan goes stale faster than the rest of the estate.

Practitioner note: a password and the legal authority to use it are two different things. Sharing a login lets someone in; the RUFADAA authorization in your documents protects them from violating federal computer-fraud and privacy laws when they do.

Real-World Brooklyn Scenarios

The Crypto Investor in Park Slope

A Park Slope software engineer holds a meaningful Ethereum position in a self-custody hardware wallet. His will leaves everything to his spouse, but he never recorded his seed phrase anywhere his family could find it. When he passes, his executor petitions the Kings County Surrogate’s Court and is appointed without issue, yet that appointment is meaningless against a wallet that no human and no court can open. The estate plan was sound on paper but failed on access. The fix was not legal language; it was a secure, retrievable record of the recovery phrase, paired with RUFADAA authority to act on it.

The Family Business in Bay Ridge

A Bay Ridge family ran a thriving import business through an Amazon seller account and a business PayPal, both tied to the late owner’s personal email. Without access to that email, the executor could not reset passwords, customers went unpaid, and the account was frozen. Had the owner named a Legacy Contact for the Apple ID and used a password manager with an emergency contact, the business could have kept operating while the estate moved through probate.

The Photographer in Williamsburg

A Williamsburg photographer stored a lifetime of work in iCloud and a Dropbox business account. Her will named her sister as executor but said nothing about content disclosure. Because the documents lacked specific RUFADAA content language, Apple was within its rights to limit access. Her family eventually recovered the photos, but only after delay and added legal cost that a single properly drafted clause would have prevented.

Common Mistakes Brooklyn Residents Make

• Writing passwords into the will. Once filed in Surrogate’s Court, the will is a public document, exposing credentials to anyone.
• Relying on a will alone. If an account offers an online tool, that setting beats your will every time under EPTL 13-A.
• Using boilerplate “executor” language. Generic authority does not satisfy the content-disclosure consent RUFADAA requires.
• Ignoring self-custody crypto. No lawyer, court, or exchange can recover a lost seed phrase. This is a planning failure, not a legal one.
• Forgetting the power of attorney. Digital-asset authority matters during incapacity, not only at death, and the POA is the document that operates while you are alive.
• Never updating the plan. A plan that ignores accounts opened after it was signed leaves a growing blind spot.

When to Call a Brooklyn Estate Planning Attorney

Some digital-asset situations are straightforward enough to handle with provider online tools, but many are not. If you hold significant cryptocurrency, run an online business, own monetized content, or simply want to be certain your fiduciary can lawfully access your accounts, the precision of the drafting matters. The difference between a clause that satisfies EPTL Article 13-A and one that merely sounds like it does can decide whether your family recovers your property or loses it. To get documents that coordinate your will, trust, and power of attorney with current New York law, schedule a consultation with a Brooklyn estate lawyer who can tailor the language to your specific holdings.

You can learn more about how our firm approaches New York estate planning on our about page, review answers to related questions in our estate planning FAQ, or reach our team directly through our contact page. For the procedural side, the official Kings County Surrogate’s Court page explains how estates are administered locally in Brooklyn.

Digital assets are no longer a niche concern. In 2026, the average Brooklyn household manages dozens of online accounts holding real money and irreplaceable memory. Treating those assets with the same care as a home or a bank account, and aligning your documents with NY RUFADAA, is now an essential part of any complete estate plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my New York will automatically give my executor access to my online accounts?

No. Under EPTL Article 13-A (NY RUFADAA), if an account provider offers an online tool like Google Inactive Account Manager or Apple Legacy Contact, that setting overrides your will. Even where the will controls, it must contain specific language authorizing disclosure of the content of electronic communications. Generic executor language is not enough.

What happens to my cryptocurrency if I die without sharing my seed phrase?

It is likely lost permanently. Self-custody cryptocurrency in a hardware or software wallet can only be accessed with the private key or seed phrase. No court, lawyer, or exchange can recover it. Your executor’s authority from the Kings County Surrogate’s Court is meaningless if no one can find the recovery phrase, so secure, retrievable storage is essential.

Should I list my passwords in my will?

Never. Once a will is filed with the Surrogate’s Court it becomes a public record, so any passwords inside it are exposed. Instead, use a reputable password manager with a designated emergency contact, or a sealed document referenced by your will, and keep the credentials separate from the public estate documents.

What is the difference between catalogue and content under NY RUFADAA?

The catalogue is the record of who you communicated with and when, like a log of email addresses and dates. The content is the actual substance of the messages. A fiduciary can usually obtain the catalogue, but accessing private content requires that you specifically consented to disclosure in your estate documents under EPTL Article 13-A.

Which Brooklyn court handles a digital-asset estate?

Estates of Brooklyn residents are administered through the Kings County Surrogate’s Court. That court appoints your executor or administrator, but appointment alone does not grant access to digital accounts. Access still depends on provider online tools and the RUFADAA language in your will, trust, and power of attorney.

Do I need RUFADAA language in my power of attorney too?

Yes. Your power of attorney governs who can manage your digital assets while you are alive but incapacitated, not just at death. Including explicit digital-asset and content-disclosure authority in your New York power of attorney lets your agent handle online accounts during incapacity without violating privacy and computer-fraud laws.

What digital assets do people most often forget to plan for?

Common omissions include cryptocurrency wallets, monetized accounts like Etsy shops or YouTube channels, PayPal and Venmo balances, airline miles and reward points, cloud photo libraries, and domain-name portfolios. Many carry real financial or sentimental value and can be lost without a coordinated plan.

How often should I update the digital-asset part of my estate plan?

Every two to three years, or sooner after any major change. Online platforms, your holdings, and your logins change far faster than the rest of your estate, so a digital plan goes stale quickly. Regular reviews keep newly opened accounts from becoming a blind spot for your fiduciary.