New Federal Law Makes a Digital-Only Will a Must

Traditional wills emerged in an age when an estate was defined by physical assets—tracts of land, herds of livestock, deeds to homes and pages of bank ledgers. Back then, handing down a family farm or transferring a share certificate was the bulk of estate planning. Fast forward to today, and much of our most precious “property” exists entirely online: financial accounts accessed through mobile banking apps, decades of cherished photographs stored in cloud albums, personal blogs and even in-game avatars with real-world value. The Digital Assets Estate Act acknowledges this shift, mandating that judges see explicit, line-item instructions for each kind of digital account before they’ll grant access or enforce your wishes.

Our Digital Will Generator turns that legal requirement into a straightforward, user-friendly process. First, you work through a guided checklist:

1. Inventory everything. From your primary email address and social platforms to niche services—photo-sharing sites, gaming networks, subscription boxes, password managers and crypto exchanges—no account is too small.

2. Choose its fate. For each service, decide if you want it handed off (“Transfer my Twitter handle @JaneDoe to my brother, Mark”), preserved (“Memorialize my Facebook profile”), or wiped clean (“Permanently delete my personal Gmail account”).

3. Pin down access details. Record exactly where your passwords live—whether in a hardware wallet, a secure USB vault or a trusted password manager—and list any recovery keys or backup codes that executors will need.

Once you’ve answered those questions, our system compiles your responses into a polished legal addendum formatted to meet varied state—and even international—requirements. That means the same document can accompany your primary will in Texas, New York or Maine without triggering extra affidavits or subpoenas. We embed clear metadata headers so a clerk reading “John Q Public’s Digital Assets Codicil” instantly sees that it’s a bona fide part of the estate packet.

Consider a recent client whose digital footprint spanned 25 different subscription services (streaming, software, online courses), three separate cryptocurrency wallets, two cloud-based drone-footage archives, and a collection of password-protected PDF journals. Without precise instructions, her executor would have faced multiple court petitions and weeks of legal wrangling just to gain access. Instead, her codicil specified “crypto wallet #1 to pass to Trust A,” “archive X to download and distribute to siblings,” and “cancel all expired subscriptions.” The result? Within days of probate opening, every folder was transferred, every account closed or memorialized, and her heirs avoided costly delays.

Don’t let an outdated will leave your loved ones scrambling through logins and legal red tape. Try our Digital Will Generator now and complete your digital codicil in minutes—so your wishes are enforced smoothly, exactly as you intend.