RUFADAA: Digital Assets in PA Estates

Your parent dies and leaves you as executor of the estate. You need to access their email to notify contacts and locate financial information. You contact Gmail, explain that you are the executor, and ask for the password. Gmail says no. They have a policy against it. You are blocked from a crucial digital asset, and there is nothing you can do.

This scenario plays out regularly. Pennsylvania law provides a partial answer. On a written request, a certified copy of the death certificate, and certified letters, you can ask the custodian for the catalog of your parent’s electronic communications and their other digital assets. The custodian can require more before it discloses anything, and the platform’s terms of service can narrow even that. The content of the messages themselves is a different question, and that one turns on the direction your parent left before death in a will, a trust, a power of attorney, or a platform’s own online tool.

RUFADAA: What It Does

Pennsylvania adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) as Act 72 of 2020. It took effect January 19, 2021 and is codified at 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3901 et seq. The statute gives executors, trustees, agents, and guardians a legal framework for accessing digital assets after death or incapacity.

A “digital asset,” under the statute, means an electronic record in which someone has a right or interest. That covers email, social media, cloud storage, cryptocurrency wallets, domain names, online financial accounts, and digital photos: anything stored electronically that has value or importance.

The Three-Tier Priority System

Pennsylvania uses a hierarchy. What controls?

First: User direction through an online tool. Google’s Inactive Account Manager, Facebook’s Legacy Contact feature, and similar platform-specific tools override a contrary direction in a will, trust, or power of attorney, but only if the tool lets the user change or delete the direction at any time. If your parent set up a Legacy Contact on Facebook before dying, that person can access the account according to Facebook’s rules.

Second: User direction in a will, trust, power of attorney, or other written instruction. If your parent’s will or trust says “my executor may access my email and social media accounts and take the following steps,” that language controls if no online tool applies.

Third: The custodian’s terms of service. With no user direction, the platform falls back on its own policy, and those policies are usually restrictive. There is a default rule underneath that. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3908(a), a custodian must disclose the catalog of a deceased user’s electronic communications, plus digital assets other than the content of those communications, to a personal representative who supplies a written request, a certified death certificate, certified letters, and whatever else the custodian is entitled to ask for. But the default is not absolute: when the user gave no direction under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3904, section 3905(c) lets a terms-of-service agreement or Federal law modify or eliminate a fiduciary’s access, and section 3915(b)(1) makes fiduciary authority subject to the applicable terms of service. So the practical answer in a no-direction case is a fight with the platform, not a clean handover.

The Critical Power of Attorney Problem

Here is where many people get trapped. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3909, an agent under a power of attorney can access the content of electronic communications only if the POA “expressly grants” that authority. For other (non-content) digital assets, 20 Pa.C.S. § 3910 requires the POA to give the agent specific authority over digital assets or general authority to act for the principal.

This means a general power of attorney gets your agent part of the way, not all of the way. A POA that gives your agent general authority to act on your behalf reaches the catalog of your electronic communications, meaning who you communicated with and when. It also reaches digital assets other than the content of those communications: cryptocurrency wallets, cloud storage files, and online account information. That access comes with conditions. Your agent has to make a written request, supply a copy of the POA, and certify under penalty of perjury that the POA is in effect, and a court order or the POA itself can direct otherwise. Where the POA says nothing about digital assets, a terms-of-service agreement or Federal law can still narrow what the custodian discloses. What it does not reach is the content. Unless the POA expressly grants authority over the content of electronic communications, Gmail and Facebook do not have to turn over the messages themselves, no matter how broad the POA is in other respects.

If you signed a POA years ago, there is a real possibility your agent cannot get at the content of your email and private messages even if they should be able to.

Types of Digital Assets to Consider

Email accounts (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) are crucial for locating financial information and notifying contacts. Social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn) may contain personal information or memorialization wishes. Cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud) may hold irreplaceable photos, documents, or videos.

Cryptocurrency and digital wallets can represent significant value. Domain names and websites may be ongoing business assets. Loyalty program accounts with monetary value (airline miles, hotel points) can be lost if not accessed quickly. Digital music, book, and media libraries have increasing monetary value and personal importance.

What To Do Now

Review any power of attorney you have signed. A broad POA reaches most digital assets, but it will not reach the content of your email and private messages unless it says so. If yours does not expressly authorize access to the content of electronic communications, update it.

Create or update your will or trust to include specific instructions about digital assets. Name someone you trust to access and manage them. Describe what you want done with different accounts (memorialize, delete, transfer, preserve).

Maintain a digital asset inventory. List your email addresses, social media accounts, online financial accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, and other digital assets. Store usernames and recovery information securely (not in the same place as passwords).

Use platform-specific tools where available. Set up a Legacy Contact on Facebook. Configure Google’s Inactive Account Manager. These give your wishes direct effect even before your formal estate documents are opened.

Why This Matters

Digital assets are often overlooked in estate planning because they are intangible. But they can represent real value, hold irreplaceable information, or require timely action to preserve. An email account unaccessed for too long may be deleted by the platform. A cryptocurrency wallet with no access becomes a lost asset. A social media account without direction may be memorialized, deleted, or left in limbo.

The law now provides a framework to handle all of this. Without explicit direction, your executor and your agent can still ask for the catalog of your electronic communications and your other digital assets, although the platform’s terms of service can narrow even that. What that request does not reach is the content of your email and private messages. Planning ahead is what gets them that content.

If you want to protect your digital assets, call us. We draft the specific language your POA and will need to give your executor and agent actual authority over digital accounts. Ballow & Lynde PLLC, 1200 Veterans Highway, Suite B-3, Bristol, PA 19007, lawyermarc.com.

Need help protecting your digital assets in your estate plan? Ballow & Lynde PLLC represents clients throughout Bucks County in estate planning and estate administration matters. Schedule a free consultation or call us at 215-949-0888.

Related Practice Areas:

• Estate Planning
• Powers of Attorney: Digital Assets & Agent Oversight
• Digital Assets in Pennsylvania
• Executor Duties & Personal Liability

Legal and factual content on this page was last verified: Aug. 2026. If you are reading this significantly after that date, confirm key provisions with current statute text or contact our office.