Digital Will Laws by State: Online Accounts After Death

If you are planning a digital legacy in the US, two separate legal questions decide what happens: who can access your accounts (RUFADAA), and whether a fully digital will can be legally valid (electronic will statutes). Most confusion comes from mixing the two. This guide maps both frameworks state by state; for the underlying law, start with our RUFADAA guide.

Two frameworks: access and execution

The access question — who may log into your accounts or request your data — is answered by RUFADAA, the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, adopted state by state since 2015. The execution question — whether a will you create and sign entirely on a device is a valid last will — is answered by each state's electronic will legislation, which only some states have passed. Many people assume one law covers both; it does not.

RUFADAA and the three-tier access rule

• Tier 1: platform tools override everything — Apple Legacy Contact, Google Inactive Account Manager, Facebook memorialization — whatever you set inside the platform itself comes first, before any will
• Tier 2: your estate documents — If no platform tool exists, what you wrote in a will, trust, or power of attorney controls access to covered assets
• Tier 3: terms of service — If neither applies, the platform's ToS governs — and most ToS restrict access to the original user, which is why "no plan" usually means family is locked out

Which states follow RUFADAA

As of 2026, roughly 47 states plus the District of Columbia have adopted the revised 2015 act — nearly universal. The exceptions get the attention: California enacted a modified version, Delaware kept the original 2014 act, and states like Oklahoma and Louisiana have older or no equivalent statutes. Massachusetts was the last major full adoption (2024). Adoption numbers vary slightly by source and by how "modified" versions are counted, so always verify your own state.

Electronic wills: where a digital will is actually legal

• UEWA states — North Dakota and Utah adopted the Uniform Electronic Wills Act directly; Colorado and Washington have closely related statutes
• Own-statute states — Arizona (A.R.S. § 14-2518), Florida (Fla. Stat. § 732.522), Indiana (Ind. Code § 29-1-21-1), Nevada (NRS 133.085), Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, plus New York (2025) and Missouri (2025)
• Typical formalities — Two witnesses (remote witnessing often allowed), an electronic signature, and in several states a qualified custodian who stores the original
• Everywhere else — Most states still require a paper will signed in the physical presence of witnesses; a "digital will" there is not a valid testamentary document

How to check your own state

• Search your legislature site — Look up "Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act" or "electronic will" plus your state name
• Use a state-by-state guide — Estate-planning sites and state bar articles keep adoption tables; cross-check the year and statute number
• Ask a local estate attorney — State law changes and statute numbers shift; a licensed attorney in your state gives the current answer
• Check the platform itself — Google, Apple, Meta, and banks publish their own deceased-user policies, which control in practice at tier 1

What to do this week

• Set platform legacy tools — Google Inactive Account Manager, Apple Legacy Contact, Facebook memorialization — these sit at tier 1 and override your will
• Add a digital asset clause to your will — Authorize your executor to access, manage, and distribute digital assets; see the [digital executor guide](/seo/digital-executor-guide)
• Keep a separate inventory — List accounts and where credentials live — never put passwords in a will, which becomes public at probate
• Store credentials in an encrypted vault — A password manager plus a legacy vault covers the assets a will cannot reach, like crypto seed phrases

State law can't hand over what it never sees

RUFADAA gives your executor legal standing; it does not hand over credentials. Accounts, seed phrases, and files your executor cannot unlock stay locked regardless of the statute. TimeWill (时间遗书) is an encrypted digital legacy vault that holds your account list, passwords, and letters and releases them to a trusted contact via heartbeat check-in — the practical layer that makes the legal framework usable. For families, the international checklist covers non-US rules, and the comparison with traditional wills is in digital will vs traditional will.

Disclaimer

State adoption counts and statutes change; this article is informational, not legal advice. Verify your state's current law with an estate attorney licensed in your jurisdiction before relying on any framework described here.