Digital Legacy Planning: A Complete Guide for 2026

The average person now manages 168 online accounts, according to a 2024 NordPass survey. Each one holds a fragment of your identity — photographs, messages, financial records, creative work, relationships. When you die, none of these accounts disappear on their own. They persist in a kind of digital limbo, continuing to receive notifications, renew subscriptions, and accumulate data — while your family has no idea how to access, manage, or close them.

A 2025 Forbes report found that the average American has nearly $200,000 in digital asset value, yet fewer than 15% have an estate plan that addresses digital assets. Trust & Will's 2025 Estate Planning Report reveals an even starker picture: 55% of Americans have no estate documents at all, and only 31% have even a basic will. The digital dimension of legacy planning barely registers.

This guide walks through every category of digital asset you're likely to own, explains what happens to each if you do nothing, and provides step-by-step instructions for the free tools — from Google, Apple, Microsoft, and password managers — that can prevent your digital life from becoming a burden for the people you leave behind.

What are digital assets?

A digital asset is any content or account that exists electronically and has personal, sentimental, or financial value. The scope is broader than most people realize. When estate attorneys talk about digital assets, they're referring to everything from your email accounts and social media profiles to your cryptocurrency wallets, online banking credentials, and cloud-stored documents.

To make this concrete, digital assets fall into six major categories:

What happens to your digital life if you do nothing?

If you die without any digital estate planning in place, the consequences unfold across multiple dimensions — financial, emotional, and legal.

What happens to your subscriptions and finances?

Subscription services continue charging your credit card or bank account until someone cancels them — and without your passwords, your family may need to contact each company individually with a death certificate. This process can take weeks per account. Charges can accumulate for months before they're all identified and stopped.

What happens to your social media profiles?

Your social media profiles remain live and visible unless someone reports your death to each platform. Facebook and Instagram offer memorialization — a "Remembering" badge appears next to your name, and the account is locked so no one can log in. LinkedIn provides a similar "In remembrance" tag. But X (formerly Twitter) does not offer memorialization at all; the only option is permanent account deletion.

If no one files a report, your profiles remain active indefinitely, vulnerable to hacking, identity theft, and the unsettling experience of your name appearing in friends' "People You May Know" suggestions.

What happens to your cryptocurrency?

For cryptocurrency, the stakes are higher. Crypto wallets are secured by private keys — long strings of characters that function as the sole means of access. Losing those keys means losing the assets permanently. There is no customer service number to call, no "forgot password" link.

A 2025 CNBC report detailed how crypto investors' estate planning failures have left holdings tied up in court for years, and in the case of self-custody wallets, potentially lost forever. If your heirs don't have your private keys, they don't have your crypto.

Why is email the most critical digital asset?

Your email accounts are perhaps the single most critical digital asset — not because of their intrinsic value, but because email is the recovery mechanism for nearly every other account. If your executor can access your email, they can typically reset passwords for banking, subscriptions, social media, and more. If they can't, each account becomes an isolated problem requiring separate documentation and verification.

What is RUFADAA and how does it protect your digital legacy?

The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) is the legal framework that determines who can access your digital assets after death. It has been adopted by 46 states plus Washington D.C., making it one of the most widely enacted uniform laws in recent history. RUFADAA grants your executor or personal representative the legal authority to access your digital assets — but with important limitations.

How does the RUFADAA priority system work?

RUFADAA establishes a three-tier priority system for determining how digital assets are handled after death:

1. In-platform instructions (highest priority): If you've configured Google's Inactive Account Manager to share your data with specific people, that setting takes precedence over your will.
2. Your will, trust, or power of attorney (second priority): These legal documents must specifically mention digital assets and electronic communications.
3. The platform's terms of service (lowest priority): This applies when no higher-priority instructions exist.

This priority system means that the in-platform tools described later in this guide aren't just convenient — they're legally the most powerful instructions you can leave.

Can your executor read your private emails and messages?

Not automatically. RUFADAA distinguishes between access to the content of communications (like reading your emails) and access to non-content data (like a list of your accounts). Executors get the catalogue of accounts by default, but accessing the actual content — reading messages, viewing files — typically requires explicit authorization in your will or through the platform's own tools.

What does each major platform offer for digital legacy planning?

Most major platforms now provide free built-in tools for managing your account after death. Here's what each one offers and how to set it up.

How do you set up Google Inactive Account Manager?

Google's Inactive Account Manager is arguably the most comprehensive free digital legacy tool available. It lets you decide what happens to your Google data — Gmail, Drive, Photos, YouTube, and more — if your account becomes inactive for a period you choose (3, 6, 12, or 18 months).

To set it up, go to myaccount.google.com/inactive. The configuration involves five decisions: choosing the inactivity timeout period, adding a phone number for Google to verify before taking action, adding up to 10 trusted contacts who will receive notification and optional data access, selecting which Google services to share with each contact, and choosing whether to delete the account entirely after notification.

After your chosen period of inactivity, Google first attempts to reach you via text message and email. If you don't respond within one month, it notifies your trusted contacts and, depending on your settings, either shares your selected data with them or deletes the account. Trusted contacts have three months to download the data before it's removed.

Because Google accounts serve as the login for many third-party services, configuring Inactive Account Manager is the single highest-impact action in this entire guide.

How do you set up Apple Legacy Contact?

Apple's Legacy Contact feature, available on devices running iOS 15.2 or later, allows you to designate people who can access your Apple Account data after your death. Go to Settings, tap your name, then Sign-In & Security, then Legacy Contact, then Add Legacy Contact.

When you add someone, Apple generates an access key — a unique code that your Legacy Contact will need, along with your death certificate, to request access. You can share this key digitally or print it and store it with your estate documents. Your Legacy Contact doesn't need to own an Apple device or have an Apple ID.

After your death, your Legacy Contact submits a request through digital-legacy.apple.com with both the access key and proof of death. If approved, Apple grants access to your iCloud data — photos, notes, mail, contacts, calendars, and more — for three years, after which the account is permanently deleted.

One important limitation: Apple's Legacy Contact does not provide access to licensed media (movies, music, books purchased through iTunes), passwords stored in Keychain, or payment information.

How does Microsoft OneDrive Digital Legacy work?

Microsoft's Digital Legacy feature for OneDrive allows you to designate a trusted contact. Sign in to OneDrive at onedrive.com, go to Settings, then Digital Legacy, and invite your trusted contact by entering their email address. They'll receive an invitation and must accept it using their own Microsoft credentials.

Unlike Google and Apple's tools, Microsoft's approach is more limited in scope — it covers OneDrive files but not your entire Microsoft account (Outlook email, Xbox, etc.). For the broader Microsoft account, the company requires next-of-kin to submit a formal request with legal documentation.

How do social media platforms handle deceased users?

Each social media platform handles deceased users differently:

How do password managers help with digital legacy planning?

Password managers with emergency access features are the most practical bridge between digital estate planning and everyday account access. Rather than listing individual passwords in a will (which becomes a security liability), you maintain all credentials in an encrypted vault and grant emergency access to a trusted person.

Bitwarden's Emergency Access allows you to designate trusted contacts and set a waiting period (1 to 30 days). If your contact initiates an emergency access request and you don't deny it within the waiting period, they gain either "view" access (can see your passwords) or "takeover" access (can reset your master password). This feature is available on Bitwarden's premium plan ($10/year).

1Password takes a different approach through its Family or Teams plan ($4.99/month for families). You can create a shared vault containing selected credentials and grant family members access. While 1Password doesn't have a dedicated timer-based emergency access feature, the shared vault and family recovery process provides ongoing access to designated items.

What does a digital legacy planning checklist look like?

The following checklist is designed to be completed in a single sitting, though you can spread it across multiple sessions. Each step builds on the previous one.

Step 1: Create your digital asset inventory. Open a spreadsheet or document (stored in your password manager, not on a sticky note) and record every digital account you own. For each account, note the service name, your username or email, the type of account (financial, social, communication, storage, subscription), and whether it has monetary value. Start with the accounts you use daily and expand from there.

Step 2: Set up platform-specific legacy tools. Configure the built-in legacy features for your most important accounts. Start with Google Inactive Account Manager, then Apple Legacy Contact, then Facebook Legacy Contact, then OneDrive Digital Legacy. Each takes five to ten minutes and costs nothing.

Step 3: Configure password manager emergency access. If you don't already use a password manager, this is the strongest reason to start. Set up Bitwarden or 1Password, import your passwords, then configure emergency access or shared vaults for your designated trusted person. Store your master password recovery information — and only this — in a sealed envelope with your estate documents.

Step 4: Update your legal documents. Work with an estate attorney (or use a reputable service like Trust & Will or Nolo) to ensure your will includes three things: a clause authorizing your executor to access, manage, and close your digital accounts; a specific grant of access to the content of electronic communications (required under RUFADAA in most states); and the name of your designated digital executor.

Step 5: Record personal messages. Digital estate planning isn't just about accounts and passwords — it's about the people who will miss you. Once the practical infrastructure is in place, take the time to record personal messages for the people who matter most. A video saying "I love you" or a letter explaining your life philosophy has more emotional value than any account login. LastWithYou allows you to record and schedule afterlife messages — video, text, or a combination — that are delivered to your chosen recipients after your death. The free plan includes one video message for up to three recipients.

Step 6: Communicate and review annually. Tell your executor and trusted contacts that you've created a digital estate plan and where to find the relevant documents. Review and update your plan annually, or whenever you create a significant new account.

What special planning does cryptocurrency require?

Cryptocurrency requires additional planning because of its unique security model. Unlike a bank account — where a court order can compel the institution to grant access — a self-custody crypto wallet has no institution to compel. The wallet is controlled exclusively by whoever holds the private keys or seed phrase (a series of 12 or 24 words generated when the wallet is created).

If your crypto is held on a centralized exchange like Coinbase or Kraken, the situation is more manageable. These exchanges have established processes for estate claims, typically requiring a death certificate, proof of legal authority, and identity verification. Include the name of the exchange and your account email in your digital asset inventory.

For self-custody wallets (hardware wallets like Ledger or Trezor, or software wallets like MetaMask), the seed phrase is everything. Store it in a fireproof safe or safety deposit box, separate from your will (which becomes public record during probate). A robust solution is to use a metal seed phrase backup (like Cryptosteel or Billfodl) and store it with your estate attorney in a sealed envelope with instructions.

What are the most common mistakes in digital legacy planning?

There are five mistakes that come up again and again — each one entirely preventable.

Mistake #1: Writing passwords on paper or in a will. Your will becomes a public document during probate, meaning anyone can read it. Passwords written on paper degrade, get lost, and become outdated every time you change a login. Use a password manager with emergency access instead.

Mistake #2: Assuming your family can "figure it out." They can't — or at least, not without significant time, stress, and legal expense. A 2024 Bryn Mawr Trust survey found that only 29% of Americans feel knowledgeable about digital assets. If you don't feel confident navigating this space, your grieving family certainly won't.

Mistake #3: Ignoring subscriptions. The average American has a dozen or more active subscriptions. After a death, these continue billing until someone identifies and cancels each one. Without a master list or password manager access, this process can take months and cost hundreds of dollars.

Mistake #4: Not distinguishing between ownership and licensing. You don't own your Kindle books, your iTunes movies, or your Spotify playlists — you license them. Those licenses are non-transferable upon death under most terms of service. If a media collection matters to your family, consider maintaining physical copies or DRM-free alternatives for the most important items.

Mistake #5: Setting up a plan once and never updating it. Digital lives change rapidly. New accounts, new passwords, new financial instruments, new relationships. An annual review — even a brief one — ensures your plan reflects your current reality.

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick Reference: Legacy Tools by Platform

Conclusion

Digital legacy planning is no longer optional. With 168 online accounts per person, nearly $200,000 in digital asset value, and 55% of Americans having no estate documents at all, the gap between our digital lives and our preparedness for death is enormous.

The good news is that the most important steps are free and take less than an hour. Google Inactive Account Manager, Apple Legacy Contact, Facebook Legacy Contact, and a password manager with emergency access — these four tools, combined with a will that includes digital asset provisions, cover the vast majority of what your family will need.

But accounts can be closed, passwords recovered, and subscriptions canceled. The words you never said to the people you love can't be reconstructed from a spreadsheet. While you're organizing your digital life, take five minutes to record a message that matters.