Digital Assets Estate Planning in Vermont: Accounts, Crypto, and Fiduciary Access

Your executor has legal authority over your bank accounts, real estate, and vehicle titles. But the moment they try to access your email, social media, cryptocurrency wallet, or cloud storage, they hit a wall that most estate plans never anticipated.

Vermont addressed this with the Vermont Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (VRUFADAA) under Title 14, Chapter 125 — but the law creates a three-tier system that works very differently from physical asset administration.

The Three-Tier Access System

VRUFADAA establishes a strict hierarchy that determines whether your executor can access your digital accounts:

Tier 1 — Online tools override everything. If you used a platform's built-in tool to direct what happens to your account at death — such as Google's Inactive Account Manager or Facebook's Legacy Contact — that choice controls. It overrides your will, your trust, and your power of attorney.

Tier 2 — Your estate planning documents. If you did not use an online tool, explicit instructions in your will, trust, or power of attorney govern access. This is where most planning should happen.

Tier 3 — Terms of Service. Without either of the above, the platform's Terms of Service control. Most TOS agreements default to account deletion or permanent lockout. Your executor gets nothing.

The practical consequence: if your will says "my executor may access all my digital accounts" but you previously set Google's Inactive Account Manager to delete your account after 12 months of inactivity, Google's tool wins.

The Content vs. Catalogue Distinction

VRUFADAA draws a critical line between two types of digital information:

• Catalogue (metadata): sender, recipient, date, and time of communications. Under 14 V.S.A. § 3558, your executor can obtain this by submitting a written request, death certificate, and certificate of appointment. The custodian must disclose it.

• Content (actual messages, emails, files): Under 14 V.S.A. § 3565, the custodian is prohibited from disclosing content unless you explicitly consented to disclosure or a court orders release because it is reasonably necessary for estate administration.

This means your executor can see who emailed you and when — but cannot read the emails unless you planned ahead or a judge intervenes.

Cryptocurrency and Digital Financial Assets

Cryptocurrency creates the most urgent estate planning problem. Unlike a bank account, there is no institution to contact. If your executor does not have your private keys, seed phrases, or hardware wallet PINs, the assets are permanently inaccessible.

What to document:

• Exchange accounts (Coinbase, Kraken, etc.) — login credentials and two-factor authentication backup codes
• Self-custodied wallets — seed phrases, private keys, and hardware wallet PINs
• DeFi positions — protocol names, wallet addresses, and any time-locked staking
• NFTs and digital collectibles — marketplace accounts and wallet addresses

Where to store this information: Create a private "letter of instruction" that lists all digital accounts, credentials, and access methods. Keep this document with your will but do not file it with the probate court — probate inventories are public records in Vermont. Store it in a sealed envelope with your original will, a fireproof safe, or with your attorney. Reference its existence and location in your will.

Update this document at least annually. Digital accounts change passwords, enable new security features, and add authentication requirements constantly.

Practical Steps for Vermont Residents

1. Audit your digital life. List every account: email, social media, financial, cloud storage, subscriptions, cryptocurrency, domain registrations, online businesses.

2. Set platform-specific tools. Configure Google Inactive Account Manager, Facebook Legacy Contact, Apple Digital Legacy, and similar tools for every platform that offers them. These override everything else under VRUFADAA.

3. Add explicit digital asset provisions to your will. A general "all my property" clause may not be enough. Specifically authorize your executor to access, manage, and distribute digital assets.

4. Create and maintain a digital asset inventory. Store credentials separately from your will to keep them out of public probate records.

5. Consider a revocable living trust for significant digital holdings. Trust administration is private — unlike probate — which keeps your digital asset inventory confidential.

The Vermont Basic Estate Planning Kit includes a digital asset planning framework and inventory template to help you organize this critical — and commonly overlooked — part of your estate plan.

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