June 3, 2025 • 15 mins
In this episode of Tuesday with Tom, we explore the Michigan Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act and what it means for your estate plan. From emails and cloud storage to social media and cryptocurrency, Tom explains how your digital life can be managed after death—and what steps you need to take now to protect it. Don’t miss this essential guide to planning for the digital side of your legacy.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well, good afternoon, Michiganders. Today is Tuesday, June second, twenty
twenty five, and of course this is Tuesday with Tom,
Michigan's Only podcast where we talk about estate planning, a
state settlement, and everything in between. I'm your host, Tom Doyle,
the state planning attorney, lifelong Michigander, and your guide to
(00:55):
planning for the future. Last episode was what happens if
you die without a will in Michigan. So if you
don't have an estate plan together, you don't have a will,
you don't have your affairs. In order, I encourage you
(01:17):
listen to last week's episode where you will learn what
is going to happen if you die without a will
in Michigan. Today today we're talking about something that's becoming
increasingly important, but again is often overlooked, and those are
(01:38):
your digital assets. Thats include your emails, your social media accounts,
online banking, cloud storage, and yes, even your Netflix subscription.
And more importantly, what happens to all of that when
(01:58):
you die And that's where the Michigan Fiduciary Access to
Digital Assets Act comes in. But just a quick note
before we get started. What I'm about to discuss is
meant to be educational and informative. It is not legal advice.
Every person's situation is different, so be sure to talk
(02:21):
with your own attorney to figure out what makes sense
for you and your estate plan. What happens to your
(02:41):
digital assets when you die? Well, let's start with what
is the Michigan Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. In
simple terms, this law that was passed in twenty twenty
six gives your fiduciary that's going to be your person
representative or a trustee or an agent under a financial
(03:05):
power of attorney. But it gives your fiduciary the legal
authority to access your digital assets when you're incapacitated or
after you die. Before this law, fiduciaries often hit a
brick wall when trying to access things like Gmail, Facebook,
(03:29):
iCloud accounts because companies cited privacy laws and refused access
even if you had named the person in your will.
So the problem was you died, your personal representative tried
to get access to your Gmail account and Google said sorry,
we're not giving you access because of privacy law. Well,
(03:51):
Michigan law fixes that. Michigan law is modeled after a
national law that's called the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to
Digital Assets Act, a lot of words often shortened to
the are you FADDA? Not sure? That is much clearer
(04:13):
than the name itself. But why does this matter? Well,
imagine your family is trying to maybe recover important financial
records better stored in your email. Maybe you get monthly
statements emailed to you rather than mailed to you by
your bank. Maybe they're looking to shut down your Facebook
(04:34):
account to try and to avoid scams going forward once
you've died. Or another example, perhaps you store photos and
videos in the cloud and your family is trying to
access them. Well, without legal access, they could be locked
out permanently. So this law helps to make sure your
(04:57):
fiduciary can legally request and manage those digital assets. But
here's the catch. You need to explicitly authorize that access.
So how do you do that? How do you grant access? Well,
there are three main ways to give your fiduciary access
to your digital assets under the Act. One are online tools.
(05:21):
Companies such as Google and Facebook lets you set up
access directly through their platform. For example, Google's Inactive Account
manager lets you name someone to take over your account
after certain period of inactivity. So if you have a
Google account, you can go over to the inactivity account
(05:44):
manner and you can set it up so that if
there's a defined period of inactivity on your account, which
presumably is because you have died or becoming capacitated, then
Google will notify the person that you wanted to have
access to the account. So that's online tools working with
(06:06):
the online services that you're already working with. Second, your
state plan, your will, your trust, your durable power of
attorneys should include language authorizing your fiduciary to access digital
assets if you want them to access those digital assets. Now,
(06:30):
we do have some situations where clients might not want
someone to access certain digital assets after the desk, so
you might have to define which assets, if you've got
that situation, are to be accessed in which are not
Number three terms of service. If you don't do the
(06:52):
first two, if you don't use an online tool that's
provided by the company, or you don't provide it in
your state plan, then the companies terms of service, Yes,
those long agreements that we all skip over, we never
read them before agreeing to them, will control what your
fiduciary can or can't do. So bottom line, if you
(07:17):
want to control and give your fiduciary access, you need
to plan ahead. So what can someone access? Well, essentially,
the loss splits access into two things, content and catalog.
(07:38):
Catalog is what is oftentimes referred to as metadata. For example,
knowing you emailed someone is metadata, but it is not
what was said. What was said is actually the content
of the message. So sometimes people are gonna only receive
(08:02):
the metadata, like you send an email, if you're not
clear in what it is, you want them to have
access too. So catalog again, is that metadata that something
got sent. Content is the actual message that was sent.
So for douciaries generally need explicit permission to access the content.
(08:26):
For example, just saying that my executor can manage my
estate isn't enough. You really need to spell it out.
So what should you do? Well, I'm going to give
you your Tuesday to do list. One, Make a list
of your digital assets and passwords. Make a list. Sometimes
(08:49):
people don't realize how many different digital assets they are
using and what those passwords are in the user name.
In order to access those things. Now, then you some
sort of secure password manager. If you're an Apple user,
you might know that Apple has a new password app
(09:09):
that's designed for that. There are also other online services
where you can securely store passwords, et cetera. Or old
school many clients write it down, but make sure that
you keep it in a safe place and that no,
it isn't under the keyboard to your computer. It needs
(09:30):
to be in a safe place that somebody isn't just
going to find it. But then when you do that,
you obviously whether you're using a secure password manager or
keeping it in a safe place, you need to make
sure that your fiduciary knows where to locate it, and
you're going to find that. Some of the online services
(09:51):
where you can store store passwords might have a feature
where you can set it up with the service that
if they are provided with a copy of your death certificate,
they will then release that information on your assets and
passwords to the person that you have designated. So it's
(10:14):
utilized making a list and then using a secure service
or password manager to track all that. Number two would
be update your estate plan to include digital asset provisions.
So if you look at your estate plan, look at
your will, look at your trust, look at your powers
of attorney. If they don't have digital asset provisions in them.
(10:37):
That is something that you're going to want to take
care of by having updates to those documents. And again
use online tools where they're available. So if you have
a Google account or have a Facebook account, utilize their
legacy options to set up access. And if you do that,
(11:00):
track it when you make your list of digital assets.
If it's a Google account and you're using the legacy option,
notpe that in your list that you've already done that.
It's a way to track what you're doing and making
sure that everything has been covered. And number four, of course,
talk to your estate planning attorney and yes that can
(11:23):
be Amanda or me to make sure that you have
covered those.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Things in your documents.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Of course, as always, Amanda and I would be honored
to help you protect the ones you love and including
giving them access to your digital assets if that's what
you want to do, and whether that means creating a
brand new estate plan, updating an existing plan, or perhaps
guiding you through the estate settlement process during a difficult time.
(12:18):
We try to make it easy and convenient to get started.
We have in person appointments available in Grand Rapids and
our Lancing location, or we offer virtual consultations by zoom
or food so phone or so wherever you are in Michigan,
(12:38):
you should be able to consult with us through virtual
consultations and a reminder too. If all you're looking for
is an individual document, maybe all you need is a
new certificate of trust or a new power of attorney.
Check out the Legal Store. That's where you can look
through and you can order documents on online that can
(13:02):
then be delivered to you through email. All of that
information on how to schedule an appointment, whether it's in
person or virtual, and the Legal Store, of course, is
available at our website, which is Doyle LAWPC dot com. Well,
(13:34):
I think that is going to be a wrap for
today's show. Of course, if you have a comment about
the program, a question that you'd like to have answered,
a topic that you'd like to have covered in the
future episode, simply head over to Tuesday with Time dot com.
(13:58):
There you can leave me a voicemail or voice message
simply by clicking on the microphone, or just send me
an email at Tuesday at Tom at Tuesday with Tom
dot com. Please be sure to follow us on Facebook
and invite your family and friends to do the same.
That again is Tuesday with Tom and of course the
office Facebook page is Doyle Law PC. Don't forget to
(14:24):
subscribe chart email list at Tuesday with Tom dot com
to stay up to date with new episodes and important
estate planning tips. Remember, too, you can listen to Tuesday
with Tom wherever you enjoy your podcast. We're on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
Amazon Music, Google Podcast, iHeartRadio, Speaker and many many other
(14:49):
online services and you can always just ask your smart
speaker to play Tuesday with Tom. Well, thanks again for
spending part of your day with this and as always,
I hope you have an awesome day and an awesome
week in Michigan. Stay safe. Tuesday with Tom has been
(15:14):
brought to you by the estate planning attorneys at Doyle
Law PC. To learn how we can help you with
your estate plan or with settling a loved one's estate,
please call us today at five one seven three two
three seven three sixty six. That's five one seven three
two three seven three sixty six
Well, good afternoon, Michiganders. Today is Tuesday, June second, twenty
twenty five, and of course this is Tuesday with Tom,
Michigan's Only podcast where we talk about estate planning, a
state settlement, and everything in between. I'm your host, Tom Doyle,
the state planning attorney, lifelong Michigander, and your guide to
(00:55):
planning for the future. Last episode was what happens if
you die without a will in Michigan. So if you
don't have an estate plan together, you don't have a will,
you don't have your affairs. In order, I encourage you
(01:17):
listen to last week's episode where you will learn what
is going to happen if you die without a will
in Michigan. Today today we're talking about something that's becoming
increasingly important, but again is often overlooked, and those are
(01:38):
your digital assets. Thats include your emails, your social media accounts,
online banking, cloud storage, and yes, even your Netflix subscription.
And more importantly, what happens to all of that when
(01:58):
you die And that's where the Michigan Fiduciary Access to
Digital Assets Act comes in. But just a quick note
before we get started. What I'm about to discuss is
meant to be educational and informative. It is not legal advice.
Every person's situation is different, so be sure to talk
(02:21):
with your own attorney to figure out what makes sense
for you and your estate plan. What happens to your
(02:41):
digital assets when you die? Well, let's start with what
is the Michigan Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. In
simple terms, this law that was passed in twenty twenty
six gives your fiduciary that's going to be your person
representative or a trustee or an agent under a financial
(03:05):
power of attorney. But it gives your fiduciary the legal
authority to access your digital assets when you're incapacitated or
after you die. Before this law, fiduciaries often hit a
brick wall when trying to access things like Gmail, Facebook,
(03:29):
iCloud accounts because companies cited privacy laws and refused access
even if you had named the person in your will.
So the problem was you died, your personal representative tried
to get access to your Gmail account and Google said sorry,
we're not giving you access because of privacy law. Well,
(03:51):
Michigan law fixes that. Michigan law is modeled after a
national law that's called the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to
Digital Assets Act, a lot of words often shortened to
the are you FADDA? Not sure? That is much clearer
(04:13):
than the name itself. But why does this matter? Well,
imagine your family is trying to maybe recover important financial
records better stored in your email. Maybe you get monthly
statements emailed to you rather than mailed to you by
your bank. Maybe they're looking to shut down your Facebook
(04:34):
account to try and to avoid scams going forward once
you've died. Or another example, perhaps you store photos and
videos in the cloud and your family is trying to
access them. Well, without legal access, they could be locked
out permanently. So this law helps to make sure your
(04:57):
fiduciary can legally request and manage those digital assets. But
here's the catch. You need to explicitly authorize that access.
So how do you do that? How do you grant access? Well,
there are three main ways to give your fiduciary access
to your digital assets under the Act. One are online tools.
(05:21):
Companies such as Google and Facebook lets you set up
access directly through their platform. For example, Google's Inactive Account
manager lets you name someone to take over your account
after certain period of inactivity. So if you have a
Google account, you can go over to the inactivity account
(05:44):
manner and you can set it up so that if
there's a defined period of inactivity on your account, which
presumably is because you have died or becoming capacitated, then
Google will notify the person that you wanted to have
access to the account. So that's online tools working with
(06:06):
the online services that you're already working with. Second, your
state plan, your will, your trust, your durable power of
attorneys should include language authorizing your fiduciary to access digital
assets if you want them to access those digital assets. Now,
(06:30):
we do have some situations where clients might not want
someone to access certain digital assets after the desk, so
you might have to define which assets, if you've got
that situation, are to be accessed in which are not
Number three terms of service. If you don't do the
(06:52):
first two, if you don't use an online tool that's
provided by the company, or you don't provide it in
your state plan, then the companies terms of service, Yes,
those long agreements that we all skip over, we never
read them before agreeing to them, will control what your
fiduciary can or can't do. So bottom line, if you
(07:17):
want to control and give your fiduciary access, you need
to plan ahead. So what can someone access? Well, essentially,
the loss splits access into two things, content and catalog.
(07:38):
Catalog is what is oftentimes referred to as metadata. For example,
knowing you emailed someone is metadata, but it is not
what was said. What was said is actually the content
of the message. So sometimes people are gonna only receive
(08:02):
the metadata, like you send an email, if you're not
clear in what it is, you want them to have
access too. So catalog again, is that metadata that something
got sent. Content is the actual message that was sent.
So for douciaries generally need explicit permission to access the content.
(08:26):
For example, just saying that my executor can manage my
estate isn't enough. You really need to spell it out.
So what should you do? Well, I'm going to give
you your Tuesday to do list. One, Make a list
of your digital assets and passwords. Make a list. Sometimes
(08:49):
people don't realize how many different digital assets they are
using and what those passwords are in the user name.
In order to access those things. Now, then you some
sort of secure password manager. If you're an Apple user,
you might know that Apple has a new password app
(09:09):
that's designed for that. There are also other online services
where you can securely store passwords, et cetera. Or old
school many clients write it down, but make sure that
you keep it in a safe place and that no,
it isn't under the keyboard to your computer. It needs
(09:30):
to be in a safe place that somebody isn't just
going to find it. But then when you do that,
you obviously whether you're using a secure password manager or
keeping it in a safe place, you need to make
sure that your fiduciary knows where to locate it, and
you're going to find that. Some of the online services
(09:51):
where you can store store passwords might have a feature
where you can set it up with the service that
if they are provided with a copy of your death certificate,
they will then release that information on your assets and
passwords to the person that you have designated. So it's
(10:14):
utilized making a list and then using a secure service
or password manager to track all that. Number two would
be update your estate plan to include digital asset provisions.
So if you look at your estate plan, look at
your will, look at your trust, look at your powers
of attorney. If they don't have digital asset provisions in them.
(10:37):
That is something that you're going to want to take
care of by having updates to those documents. And again
use online tools where they're available. So if you have
a Google account or have a Facebook account, utilize their
legacy options to set up access. And if you do that,
(11:00):
track it when you make your list of digital assets.
If it's a Google account and you're using the legacy option,
notpe that in your list that you've already done that.
It's a way to track what you're doing and making
sure that everything has been covered. And number four, of course,
talk to your estate planning attorney and yes that can
(11:23):
be Amanda or me to make sure that you have
covered those.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Things in your documents.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Of course, as always, Amanda and I would be honored
to help you protect the ones you love and including
giving them access to your digital assets if that's what
you want to do, and whether that means creating a
brand new estate plan, updating an existing plan, or perhaps
guiding you through the estate settlement process during a difficult time.
(12:18):
We try to make it easy and convenient to get started.
We have in person appointments available in Grand Rapids and
our Lancing location, or we offer virtual consultations by zoom
or food so phone or so wherever you are in Michigan,
(12:38):
you should be able to consult with us through virtual
consultations and a reminder too. If all you're looking for
is an individual document, maybe all you need is a
new certificate of trust or a new power of attorney.
Check out the Legal Store. That's where you can look
through and you can order documents on online that can
(13:02):
then be delivered to you through email. All of that
information on how to schedule an appointment, whether it's in
person or virtual, and the Legal Store, of course, is
available at our website, which is Doyle LAWPC dot com. Well,
(13:34):
I think that is going to be a wrap for
today's show. Of course, if you have a comment about
the program, a question that you'd like to have answered,
a topic that you'd like to have covered in the
future episode, simply head over to Tuesday with Time dot com.
(13:58):
There you can leave me a voicemail or voice message
simply by clicking on the microphone, or just send me
an email at Tuesday at Tom at Tuesday with Tom
dot com. Please be sure to follow us on Facebook
and invite your family and friends to do the same.
That again is Tuesday with Tom and of course the
office Facebook page is Doyle Law PC. Don't forget to
(14:24):
subscribe chart email list at Tuesday with Tom dot com
to stay up to date with new episodes and important
estate planning tips. Remember, too, you can listen to Tuesday
with Tom wherever you enjoy your podcast. We're on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
Amazon Music, Google Podcast, iHeartRadio, Speaker and many many other
(14:49):
online services and you can always just ask your smart
speaker to play Tuesday with Tom. Well, thanks again for
spending part of your day with this and as always,
I hope you have an awesome day and an awesome
week in Michigan. Stay safe. Tuesday with Tom has been
(15:14):
brought to you by the estate planning attorneys at Doyle
Law PC. To learn how we can help you with
your estate plan or with settling a loved one's estate,
please call us today at five one seven three two
three seven three sixty six. That's five one seven three
two three seven three sixty six
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