Digital Assets and Estate Planning in Illinois

 Posted on September 10, 2025 in Estate Planning

When most of us think of estate planning, we think of who we will leave our home, bank accounts, and life insurance to. In today’s digital world, there is much more to estate planning than just traditional assets. Estate planning can include determining what to do with our social media accounts, cloud storage, digital photographs, cryptocurrency, and the information on our phones.

Illinois has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (755 ILCS 70/), which lets executors access (or prevents access to) all online data.  While it can be easy to overlook digital assets, it is important to discuss these assets with your Geneva, IL estate planning attorney to ensure they will be taken care of as you would wish.

What Counts as Digital Assets?

Digital assets can include any of the following:

• Email accounts
• Social media accounts
• Instant messaging accounts
• Online financial accounts such as Venmo, PayPal, Coinbase, etc.
• Airline and hotel loyalty/reward points
• Digital intellectual property, including blogs, music, or YouTube revenue
• Cloud-stored data and personal photos
• Cryptocurrency accounts
• Online only bank accounts like Stash
• Online stocks and bonds, like eTrade

About the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act

The RUFADAA was adopted in Illinois in 2017, granting fiduciaries limited rights to access a decedent’s digital assets and providing a framework for executors and trustees to access and manage a decedent’s digital assets. The Act separates "content of communications" (emails, texts, etc.) from "catalog information," which is account metadata.

The Act generally allows access to digital property, but restricts access to the contents of private communications unless the user explicitly consents to disclosure via an estate planning document.  In some cases, service provider online tools, including Facebook Legacy Contact and Google Inactive Account Manager, can override wills and trusts.

The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act has a three-tiered hierarchy for accessing digital assets:

1. Instructions from online tools, such as a legacy contact feature on social media, have the highest priority.
2. The user’s wishes as expressed in an estate plan have the next highest priority if there are no online tool instructions.
3. If there are no online tool instructions or a legal estate document, the digital company’s terms of service apply.

How Digital Assets Can Be Lost

Digital assets can be easily lost if they are not explicitly addressed by the decedent. Federal privacy laws in the form of the Stored Communications Act (8 U.S.C. Section 2701-2712) limit what companies can legally release. Passwords may be locked behind two-factor authentication and encryption, and terms of service agreements can prohibit the transfer of accounts. Without express legal authority, executors can hit dead ends when trying to access digital assets.

How to Address Digital Assets in Your Estate Plan

It is important to create a full inventory of all your digital assets, including account information, usernames, and passwords. This "roadmap" will be given to your designated fiduciary (executor) at the time of your death or incapacitation. Use online tools when possible to designate legacy contacts. Authorize fiduciaries under RUFADAA in wills, trusts, and powers of attorney.

List crypto wallets and instructions in a secure password manager. Consider appointing a tech-savvy digital executor, in addition to the primary executor in your estate plan. Unlike banks, cryptocurrency cannot be released without private keys, meaning it can be lost forever. This makes secure, but accessible key storage strategies essential.

Contact a Kane County, IL Estate Planning Lawyer

Your digital life can be just as important as your physical assets. Without proper planning, many digital assets can be lost forever. An experienced Geneva, IL digital estate planning attorney from Loire Krajniak Law, LLC can ensure digital asset clauses are integrated into your estate plan to ensure your loved ones can access what matters. Call 630-448-2406 to schedule your free consultation.