Digital Assets
Also called: online accounts, digital estate, digital property
Updated June 7, 2026
Why digital assets are different
Physical property can be found in a house. Digital assets exist only as credentials and account relationships. Without passwords, two-factor authentication recovery codes, or platform-specific legacy settings, even a court-appointed executor may be unable to access email inboxes, digital photographs, or cryptocurrency holdings. Many of the most meaningful assets — years of family photos, personal correspondence — exist only online.
What you can do
- Use your platform's built-in legacy tools — Google's Inactive Account Manager, Facebook's Legacy Contact — where available.
- Create a letter of instruction that names your digital accounts and explains where credentials or recovery information are kept.
- Include language in your will or trust granting your executor explicit authority over digital assets.
- Store passwords and recovery codes securely — not in the will itself — somewhere your executor can access.
A letter of instruction is a practical place to map your digital world without creating a legal document that becomes public through probate.
Related terms
- Letter of Instruction — A letter of instruction is an informal, non-binding document that supplements a will or trust by providing practical guidance the legal documents do not cover — funeral wishes, a list of accounts and passwords, the location of important documents, explanations for unusual bequests, and personal messages to loved ones. Because it is not a legal document, it is flexible and easy to update.
- Executor — An executor is the person named in a will to carry out its instructions — gathering the deceased's assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing what remains to the beneficiaries. The executor is accountable to the probate court and must act in the interest of the estate, not their own.
- Durable Power of Attorney — A durable power of attorney is a legal document granting an agent authority to handle financial and legal matters on behalf of the principal, with the crucial feature that it remains in effect even if the principal becomes mentally incapacitated. "Durable" is the word that makes it useful for estate and incapacity planning.
- Living Trust — A living trust is a legal arrangement created during a person's lifetime in which they transfer ownership of their assets to the trust — typically naming themselves as the initial trustee — to be managed for their benefit while alive and distributed to named beneficiaries when they die, all without going through probate. Because the trust, not the individual, holds the assets, those assets pass directly to beneficiaries outside of the probate process.
Legatus Vault keeps your wills, trusts, and estate documents in one secure place and releases them — only when the time comes, and only after careful verification — to the people you choose.