Your cryptocurrency wallet holds $50,000. Your photo library contains 20 years of family memories. Your email manages business correspondence and financial records. Does your trust account for any of this? Most people haven’t thought about it. They’ve spent hours planning how their house and retirement accounts will pass to their kids, but nobody’s mentioned what happens to their Bitcoin or Instagram account. It’s an easy thing to overlook, but it can create serious problems for your trustee.
What Counts As A Digital Asset
We’re talking about more than just online bank accounts. The category’s surprisingly broad:
- Cryptocurrency and NFTs
- Social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn)
- Email accounts and cloud storage
- Online business accounts and domain names
- Digital photos, videos, and music libraries
- Reward points and airline miles
- Gaming accounts with purchased content
Some of these have obvious financial value. Others matter because of what they represent or the memories they hold. Both types deserve a place in your planning.
Why Traditional Trust Language Falls Short
Most trust documents were written before iPhones existed. They talk about “personal property” and “financial accounts,” which sounds like it should cover everything. It doesn’t. Service providers won’t give your trustee access based on vague language. They need specific authorization that matches their policies. Google, Apple, and your bank all have different rules about posthumous access, and these rules don’t always line up with what Missouri trust law says. You need explicit provisions. A Missouri trust administration lawyer can update your documents with language that works in the real world, not just in theory.
Federal Law Creates Additional Hurdles
Missouri follows the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. That’s a mouthful, but what it does is create a specific hierarchy for who gets access to your digital stuff. Your online tool settings come first. If you’ve designated a legacy contact through Facebook or set up Google’s inactive account manager, those choices override what your trust says. You can’t just put instructions in your trust and call it done. This means coordination matters. Your trust language needs to work with your account settings, not against them.
Practical Steps For Digital Asset Planning
Start with an inventory. Write down every account you’ve got. Every platform. Every piece of digital property that has value or meaning to you. Don’t put passwords in the trust itself. That’s a security nightmare. Instead, document where your trustee can find secure password information when they need it. Then update your trust to specifically authorize your trustee to access, manage, and distribute digital assets. This language should reference RUFADAA compliance and grant broad powers to deal with technology that hasn’t even been invented yet. Because let’s be honest, five years from now, there’ll be new platforms and new problems we can’t predict today. Review your settings on major platforms too. Designate legacy contacts where the option exists. Make sure everything aligns with your overall estate plan.
Cryptocurrency Requires Special Attention
Digital currency is different from everything else. With a traditional bank account, your trustee can eventually get access through legal processes. With cryptocurrency, if the private keys are lost, the money’s gone. Forever. There’s no customer service number to call. No bank manager can help. Just inaccessible assets that might as well not exist. Your trust needs to address how private keys will be stored and transferred. You might want to consider appointing a co-trustee who actually understands this stuff. The volatility of crypto values also raises questions about timing. Should your trustee hold the assets or liquidate them? When? These aren’t simple decisions.
Social Media And Personal Accounts
Not everything’s about money. Family photos stored in iCloud might not have a dollar value attached, but try telling that to your kids who want those pictures of their childhood. Personal correspondence matters. Social media presence matters. These accounts hold pieces of your life that beneficiaries will want to access or preserve. Think through what should happen. Should accounts be memorialized? Deleted? Transferred to specific family members? Different people might want access to different types of content, and you’re the only one who can make those calls while you’re still around to make them.
Business And Income-Generating Digital Property
If you’re running an online business, this gets complicated fast. Domain names can be valuable. Digital content that generates royalties needs ongoing management. Websites don’t just sit there waiting patiently while your estate gets sorted out. They lose traffic. They lose revenue. They might lose value entirely if nobody’s paying attention. A Missouri trust administration lawyer can help structure provisions for immediate management or orderly sale of these properties. Digital businesses often require faster action than traditional assets, and your trust should reflect that reality.
Getting Your Trust Updated
Digital assets aren’t going away. They’re becoming a bigger part of most people’s estates every year. The attorneys at Legacy Law Center can review your current trust and recommend specific updates to address your digital property. Don’t leave your trustee struggling to access accounts or, worse, watching valuable assets disappear because outdated documents didn’t give them the authority they needed.
