From a bird’s-eye view, digital assets encompass digitally stored documents, electronic communications, loyalty programs, airline miles, photos, videos, social media accounts, cryptocurrencies, subscriptions, online businesses and accounts provided by service providers (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, GoDaddy).
If this sounds overwhelming, imagine how taking care of this asset category will feel to your executor if you haven’t prepared a full inventory as part of your estate plan. A recent article from The National Law Review, “5 Ways Estate Attorneys Can Bring Order to Their Clients’ Digital Asset Chaos,” outlines the necessary steps to organize your digital affairs.
Clarify your digital asset status. In addition to the items listed in the first paragraph, you may own domain names, digital recordings and content, or conduct business on sites such as Amazon, engage in cryptocurrency, NFT, or gaming token transactions, to name a few. If you spend five minutes on the internet, you also have NIL—name, image and likeness, which is a digital identity.
Your estate planning attorney will ask if you use online bill pay for recurring expenses, how you store photos and videos, how extensively you use social media and if you have created a digital inventory in case someone needs to access this information to manage your estate or pay bills in the event of incapacity.
Make an inventory of digital assets. A thorough inventory of digital assets begins with hardware and ends with apps. This includes any devices where you store or access information, such as desktop and laptop computers, tablets, mobile phones, external hard drives, e-readers, digital cameras, gaming devices, smart home systems and flash drives. Cryptocurrency owners will also have online wallets.
Next, map out where data exists. This likely includes cloud services, such as Google Drive and Dropbox, as well as local hard drives, backup systems and applications.
Online accounts and digital assets encompass a wide range, from email to utilities, cryptocurrencies and NFTs, bank accounts, investment accounts, social media platforms, Venmo, PayPal, subscriptions, transportation apps and any other online activity, accessible on any device.
Creating an inventory might be easier if you scan and print emails for receipts and password reset links to uncover any forgotten accounts. While some people no longer print anything, this might be a good exception to make to help your executor’s tasks easier.
Determine your directives for each account. What makes this process more complicated is the different values ascribed to different digital accounts. A long-unused library application, for instance, doesn’t need to be treated in the same manner as the portal where you store your financial information. However, both require attention. Some accounts may need to be deleted in the interest of privacy, while others, like photos and videos, you may want to share with family members. None of this information should be included in your will, which will become a public document. It should instead be part of a digital estate plan.
Name a savvy executor who is comfortable in the digital world. Identifying traditional assets can be challenging without an inventory. However, identifying digital assets is even more complex: there is no paper trail. For those with significant assets, it may be wise to empower your executor to retain a technical advisor to help unravel a digital estate.
Make it legally binding. A bare-bones estate plan typically includes a will, a revocable trust and financial and healthcare powers of attorney. An estate plan that includes digital assets should provide clear directions about who will manage these assets. Speak with your estate planning attorney about how to maintain the inventory of assets and manage updating it as assets change at a more rapid pace than traditional assets.
Reference: The National Law Review (March 21, 2025) “5 Ways Estate Attorneys Can Bring Order to Their Clients’ Digital Asset Chaos”
