Digital Asset Estate Planning: Cryptocurrency, Online Accounts, and What Happens When You Die
Americans hold trillions of dollars in digital assets — from Bitcoin and Ethereum to PayPal balances, digital photos, online business accounts, and subscription services. Yet most Michigan estate plans completely ignore them. When a digital asset owner dies without proper planning, heirs may find that accounts are inaccessible, cryptocurrency is permanently lost, and beloved digital memories disappear forever. Castle Wealth Group Legal helps Michigan families plan for the digital dimension of their estates.
Michigan’s Digital Asset Law: The RUFADAA
Michigan enacted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) in 2016, codified at MCL 700.1001 et seq.. This law establishes a three-tier system for determining who can access a deceased person’s digital accounts:
Tier 1: Online Tool Designations
The highest priority goes to online tool designations — settings within a platform (like Google’s Inactive Account Manager or Facebook’s Legacy Contact) that allow you to name someone to access your account after death. If you use these tools, they override your will and trust.
Tier 2: Estate Planning Documents
If no online tool designation exists, your will, trust, power of attorney, or other estate planning documents can authorize a fiduciary to access digital assets. This is the primary mechanism for most Michigan residents.
Tier 3: Platform Terms of Service
If neither of the above exists, the platform’s own Terms of Service governs — and most platforms’ terms of service do not permit account transfer or even access by heirs. This means your digital assets may be permanently inaccessible.
Without explicit authorization in your Michigan estate plan, your executor may be legally prohibited from accessing your email, social media accounts, or even reading your digital files — regardless of what your will says.
Types of Digital Assets That Belong in Your Michigan Estate Plan
Financial Digital Assets: Digital Asset Estate Planning
- Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins) held in hot wallets, cold wallets, or exchanges.
- Online brokerage accounts, PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App balances.
- Online business accounts and payment processors (Stripe, Square, Shopify).
- Domain names and website properties with significant value.
Sentimental and Personal Digital Assets
- Email archives, digital photos and videos, and personal writings stored in the cloud.
- Social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X/Twitter).
- Streaming accounts, digital book libraries, and purchased digital media.
Business-Critical Digital Assets
- Intellectual property and software code stored in repositories.
- Client databases, CRM systems, and cloud business applications.
- Advertising accounts (Google Ads, Meta Business Suite) with prepaid balances.
The Cryptocurrency Problem: Access Without a Key Means Nothing: Digital Asset Estate Planning
Cryptocurrency presents a unique planning challenge that Michigan’s RUFADAA cannot fully solve. Legal authority to access a crypto wallet is worthless without the private key, seed phrase, or hardware wallet device. If a Michigan resident dies without leaving this information accessible to a trusted person, the cryptocurrency may be permanently and irrecoverably lost.
Estimates suggest that approximately 20% of all Bitcoin in circulation — worth hundreds of billions of dollars — is inaccessible because owners lost their private keys or died without passing them on.
Safe Cryptocurrency Succession Strategies: Digital Asset Estate Planning
- Memorandum of Instructions: A separate, private document (not filed with the court) that provides your fiduciary with the information needed to access your crypto holdings. This document should be stored securely — in a fireproof safe, with your attorney, or via a secure digital vault service.
- Crypto-savvy trustee or fiduciary: Name a trustee or successor trustee who understands cryptocurrency, or engage a professional digital asset custodian.
- Institutional custody: Consider moving significant crypto holdings to an institutional custodian that has established procedures for estate access.
How to Include Digital Assets in Your Michigan Estate Plan: Digital Asset Estate Planning
Our Michigan estate planning attorneys incorporate digital asset provisions into every estate plan we draft, including:
- Express RUFADAA authorization in your will, revocable trust, and durable power of attorney for your fiduciaries to access digital accounts.
- A personal digital asset inventory and instruction memorandum — updated regularly.
- Coordination with your online tool designations (Google, Apple, Facebook Legacy Contact, etc.).
- Guidance on cryptocurrency storage and succession specific to your holdings.
How Castle Wealth Group Legal Can Help
Digital assets are no longer a niche concern — they are part of virtually every Michigan estate. Our attorneys stay current with Michigan law and digital asset best practices to ensure your complete estate — physical and digital — is protected and accessible to your loved ones. Contact us to schedule a consultation.