What happens to online accounts, crypto, and digital assets when someone dies?
Photos, email, crypto, and subscriptions. A law called RUFADAA governs who can access them.
More and more of what people leave behind is digital: photos, email, social media, subscriptions, and increasingly crypto. Getting access after a death can be surprisingly hard, because privacy laws and company terms often block it.
The law that helps
Most states have adopted a law called RUFADAA (the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act). It gives an executor or trustee a legal path to a person's digital accounts, especially if they left instructions or used a platform's legacy-contact tool.
What to do
Look for a password manager first, since it's the master key. Use built-in tools like Apple's Legacy Contact and Google's Inactive Account Manager. For crypto you need the keys or seed phrase, or the exchange's estate process; without them, the assets can be lost for good.
Then memorialize or close social accounts, and cancel paid subscriptions to stop the charges.
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Start →Common questions
Often yes, through a law called RUFADAA, especially if they left instructions or used a platform's legacy-contact tool.
Without the private keys, seed phrase, or an exchange's estate process, the crypto is usually lost for good, so finding them is urgent.