For many people, access to their financial and business assets is primarily online—including bank accounts, brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, retirement plans, life insurance policies, cryptocurrencies, domain name registrations, blogs, and websites. If you do not make passwords, keys, and the identity of these assets known to your beneficiaries or heirs it may be difficult or impossible for them to gain access to these assets at your death.

In addition to these financial and business assets, access to email accounts, phone passwords, computer passwords, home security accounts and passwords, cloud storage accounts, digital photo albums, videos, and social media accounts are often valuable personal assets and methods for accessing other assets. You may want to allow certain members of your family, friends, or other heirs to receive access to these assets and to have authority to bypass, reset, or recover passwords.

You may want to consult with your estate planning lawyer or financial advisor about options for distributing these assets (and providing access to them) by will, trust, or other means.

Many states have laws that govern access to digital assets and the obligations of a custodian of digital assets (including a website or online service provider) to disclose digital assets to a fiduciary such as the executor or administrator of a deceased person’s will or estate. These laws are usually located in a state’s statutes; are a version of the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act; and are similarly titled (named) in the state’s statutes.

In Virginia, the management and inheritance of digital assets are governed by the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (UFADAA), which Virginia has adopted as the Virginia Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. This act allows individuals to plan for the management and disposition of their digital assets in a similar manner to physical assets. It provides legal authority for designated fiduciaries, such as executors or administrators of estates, to access, manage, or transfer digital assets and electronic communications upon a person's incapacity or death, provided that the user has given consent. This can be done through the use of wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and other estate planning tools. It is important for individuals to include digital asset planning in their estate plans and to provide necessary access information to their fiduciaries to ensure smooth transition and management of these assets. Consulting with an attorney who specializes in estate planning is advisable to ensure that all aspects of digital asset inheritance are properly addressed according to Virginia law and individual wishes.