Delaware is now granting heirs access to digital assets

Delaware families now have the right to access the digital assets of their deceased relatives. Last Tuesday, Governor Jack Markell signed House Bill 35, which allows families to handle online assets the way they would any physical documents. The move makes Delaware the first state to deal with a decedent’s digital assets, which includes email, cloud storage, social media accounts, health records and other online databases.

Delaware has become the first state in the US to enact a law that ensures families’ rights to access the digital assets of loved ones during incapacitation or after death. Last week, Gov. Jack Markell signed House Bill (HB) 345, “Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets and Digital Accounts Act,” which gives heirs and executors the same authority to take legal control of a digital account or device, just as they would take control of a physical asset or document. Earlier this year, the Uniform Law Commission, a non-profit group that lobbies to enact model legislations across all jurisdictions in the United States, adopted its Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (UFADAA). Delaware is the first state to take the UFADAA and turn it into a bona fide law. While some states, including Idaho and Nevada, have some existing provisions pertaining to limited digital assets for heirs, they are not as broad as the new Delaware law.