Why the will is only part of the plan
A will can say who should receive digital property and who should manage it, but online providers follow their own terms and a set of state rules about access. New York, like most states, has a law that lets a user direct what happens to accounts, and a direction given through a provider's own online tool, such as a legacy contact or inactive account setting, generally takes priority over a will for that account. Access to the content of messages usually requires the user's consent, while account records may be easier to obtain. Some digital items, like a domain name or a monetized channel, can also have real business value and may belong to a company rather than to you personally.
Cryptocurrency and passwords
Cryptocurrency raises a different problem: whoever controls the private keys or recovery phrase can move the assets, and lost keys can mean lost assets. Putting keys or passwords in a will is risky, because a will that goes through probate can become a public court record. A safer approach is usually a separate, secure record that the will or another estate document points to, kept with care and updated as accounts change. Assets held on an exchange follow that platform's procedures for deceased users, which often require court papers. Tax reporting and valuation also have to be handled for these holdings like any other estate asset.
Building the inventory with us
We usually begin by making a list together of the accounts and assets that matter: email, cloud storage, social media, financial apps, exchange accounts, self-held wallets, domain names, and any online business. From there we decide who should have authority to manage them, whether a trust should hold some of them, and which provider settings you should update yourself so they match the plan. We also discuss what you want deleted rather than passed on. The will is then drafted to give the executor clear authority over digital assets, and we point to where access information is kept without putting it in the document.
