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Delaware Enacts Law Granting Rights to Decedents' Online Accounts
Practical Law Legal Update 5-578-7983 (Approx. 3 pages)
Delaware Enacts Law Granting Rights to Decedents' Online Accounts
by Practical Law Intellectual Property & Technology
| Published on 21 Aug 2014 • Delaware |
Delaware has enacted a law granting fiduciaries access and control rights to decedents' online accounts, including social media and e-mail.
On August 12, 2014, Delaware enacted the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets and Digital Accounts Act (the "Act"), becoming the first state to pass legislation based on the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act.
The Act provides an estate's fiduciary, among others, access and control of a decedent's digital assets and digital accounts. The Act covers a broad range of digital accounts, including:
- E-mail accounts.
- Social network and social media accounts.
- File sharing accounts.
- Health insurance and health care accounts.
- Financial management and tax preparation accounts.
- Accounts related to domain registration and web hosting.
- Online store accounts.
While the Act broadly applies to digital assets and accounts, a fiduciary's access rights under the Act are explicitly subject to limitations of federal law and any applicable end user license agreement. Further, the Act is not explicit regarding its jurisdictional reach, and it is unclear whether other states will follow suit. Thus, it remains to be seen how significant the Act's impact will be. The Act takes effect on January 1, 2015.