Digital Estate Planning in Rhode Island: Protecting Online Accounts After Death

Your executor can walk into a bank with a court order and access your accounts. They cannot do the same with your email, cryptocurrency wallets, or social media profiles — unless you planned ahead.

Rhode Island adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), codified at RIGL § 33-27.1-15, which gives executors authority to manage digital assets. But the law draws a sharp line between managing assets and reading private communications — and that line catches most families off guard.

What Your Executor Can and Cannot Do

Under RUFADAA, your executor or trustee has authority to manage:

• Digital files and documents (cloud storage, photos, videos)
• Domain names and websites
• Cryptocurrency and digital currencies
• Online financial accounts
• Loyalty program points and digital subscriptions

But they are blocked from accessing the content of private electronic communications — including emails, direct messages, and text messages — unless you explicitly granted that access in one of three ways:

1. Using the platform's own legacy contact or inactive account tool (Google, Facebook, and Apple all offer these)
2. Including a specific digital assets clause in your will, trust, or power of attorney
3. Providing written consent in a separate digital assets authorization document

Without explicit consent, your executor can see that you have a Gmail account but cannot read the emails inside it. This matters when the emails contain information about other assets, debts, or business relationships that the executor needs to settle the estate.

The Three-Tier Priority System

RUFADAA establishes a hierarchy for digital asset access:

1. Platform tools (highest priority): If you used Google's Inactive Account Manager or Facebook's Legacy Contact, those settings override everything else
2. Estate planning documents: Your will, trust, or power of attorney with explicit digital access language
3. Platform terms of service (lowest priority): If you did nothing, the platform's default terms of service control — and most default to deleting the account or locking it permanently

The practical takeaway: if you want your executor to have full access, you need to take action before your death. Relying on terms of service leaves your executor at the platform's mercy.

What to Include in Your Plan

A complete digital estate plan covers four categories:

Financial accounts: Online banking, brokerage accounts, PayPal, Venmo, cryptocurrency exchanges. Include account information and two-factor authentication recovery codes where possible.

Business assets: Domain names, website hosting, business social media accounts, SaaS subscriptions, advertising accounts. If you run an online business, these assets may be worth more than your physical property.

Personal accounts: Email, social media, cloud storage, photo libraries. Specify whether you want accounts memorialized, deleted, or transferred.

Cryptocurrency: Unlike bank accounts, cryptocurrency cannot be recovered by court order. If your executor does not have your private keys or seed phrase, those assets are gone permanently. Store recovery information in a secure location referenced in your estate plan — not in the will itself (which becomes public record during probate).

Practical Steps

1. Create an inventory of every online account, including the platform, username, and how to access it (password manager, hardware key, seed phrase)
2. Set up platform legacy tools on Google, Facebook, Apple, and any other service that offers them
3. Include a digital assets clause in your will or power of attorney that explicitly grants your executor access to communications content under RUFADAA
4. Store access information securely — a password manager with a trusted emergency contact, a sealed document in a fireproof safe, or a letter of instruction referenced in your will

The Rhode Island Basic Estate Planning Kit includes a digital assets inventory template and a RUFADAA-compliant authorization clause you can incorporate into your estate planning documents.

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