Digital estate planning: passwords, accounts and photos

Updated 2026-10-16 · Expert review in progress

The short answer

Use each company's own tool where one exists, such as Apple's Legacy Contact or Google's Inactive Account Manager. Then give your executor and financial agent written permission over digital assets in your will and power of attorney, and keep an up-to-date account list, without passwords, somewhere they can find it.

Your photos live in the cloud now. So do your bank statements, your email and the video of the dog in the snow. If something happened to you, could the right person actually reach them?

Digital estate planning answers that question. It is part of our guide to estate planning documents, and it sits alongside your will and powers of attorney rather than replacing them. We use Washington as the worked example, with each rule tied to its statute.

Why digital accounts are different

With a paper statement, your executor opens the mail and calls the bank. With an online account, a company holds the data, and its terms of service set many of the rules. Even someone acting for you is bound by those terms, except where the law says otherwise (RCW 11.120.150).

Washington has a law to sort this out: the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, at chapter 11.120 RCW, passed in 2016. It covers who can get into your accounts and how.

What Washington's law says, in plain words

The law sets up three layers. The higher layer wins.

A company's own online tool comes first. If a company offers a tool for naming who gets your data, and you use it, your choice there overrides a contrary instruction in your will, trust or power of attorney (RCW 11.120.040).
Your documents come next. If you didn't use a tool, you can allow or forbid disclosure to your fiduciaries in a will, trust, power of attorney or other record. That instruction overrides a contrary term buried in the company's terms of service (RCW 11.120.040).
The terms of service apply if you said nothing either way.

A "fiduciary" here means your executor, trustee, agent under a power of attorney or guardian (RCW 11.120.020). In general, a fiduciary is legally required to act in your interest and follow what you wrote.

The content of messages gets extra protection

The law treats the content of your email and messages more carefully than everything else. It separates two things.

Type of information	What it means	What your executor gets by default
A catalogue	Who you wrote to, when, and their address	Yes, on request with proof, unless you said no (RCW 11.120.080)
Content	What the messages actually say	Only if you consented or a court orders it (RCW 11.120.070)
Other digital assets	Photos, files and account records	Yes, on request with proof, unless you said no (RCW 11.120.080)

So if you want someone to be able to read your email after you die, say so in writing. Without that consent, your executor can generally get the list of who you wrote to, but not the messages.

While you're alive: your power of attorney

The same split applies to your financial agent. An agent can get the content of your messages only if your power of attorney expressly grants that authority (RCW 11.120.090).

For the catalogue and other digital assets, the power of attorney must grant specific authority over digital assets or general authority to act for you (RCW 11.120.100). Our post on what a power of attorney does covers the rest of the agent's job.

Your trustee, and your devices

A trustee can also be given access to digital assets the trust holds, on showing a certification of trust (RCW 11.120.130). Our post on what a living trust is explains how a trust works.

A fiduciary with authority over your computer or phone may access them and the files stored on them. The law adds a firm limit: that authority "may not be used to impersonate the user" (RCW 11.120.150). A fiduciary can also ask a company in writing to close your account.

Other states' rules may differ, so check yours.

The online tools to set up now

Because a company's tool comes first, setting these up is the most direct step. Here are three common ones, as each company describes them.

Apple Legacy Contact. You choose one or more people in your Apple Account settings and give each an access key. After your death, they need that key and a death certificate to reach data such as photos, messages, notes and backups. Passwords and payment details in iCloud Keychain are not included (Apple).
Google Inactive Account Manager. You pick up to 10 people and a waiting period. If your account goes unused that long, they are notified and can download the data you chose (Google). Google says it may delete an account after two years or more of inactivity.
Facebook legacy contact. You choose someone to look after your profile once it is memorialized. They can write a pinned post and download a copy of what you shared, if you allow it. They can't log in or read your messages. You can choose deletion instead (Facebook).

Check your other important accounts for similar settings. If a company offers none, your documents carry the instruction instead.

What to put in your documents

Ask whoever drafts your documents to cover digital assets plainly.

In your will or trust: consent to your executor or trustee receiving the content of your electronic communications, if that is what you want. Or say clearly that you don't.
In your financial power of attorney: express authority over the content of electronic communications and over digital assets, if you want your agent to manage them while you're alive.

What to keep out of your will

Never put passwords in a will. In Washington, whoever holds a will must deliver it to the court or the executor after death (RCW 11.20.010). Once filed, it is part of a court record.

Passwords also change. A will is hard to update; a list is easy.

Your digital inventory

Keep a simple list, updated once or twice a year. Store it somewhere your executor and financial agent can find it, and tell them where it is.

What to list	Example
Email accounts	The address and provider
Phone and computer	How to unlock them, or where that is kept
Photo storage	Which service holds the family pictures
Online banking and investments	The institution, not the password
Bills paid automatically	The utility, streaming service or gym, and which card
Social media	Which accounts, and whether to memorialize or delete
A password manager	That you use one, and how your fiduciary can reach it
Anything with sentimental value	The blog, the recipe folder, the dog's photo album

Some people keep this inside a letter of instruction or a fuller care plan. Our estate planning checklist shows where it fits among everything else.

Here is a typical case, a composite. Linda, 70, keeps twenty years of photos in one cloud account. She adds her niece as a legacy contact, notes the account on her list, and her will consents to her executor reading her email. The photos are reachable without anyone guessing a password.

Who will actually do this?

Every step above depends on a person who will follow through: request the data, close the accounts, keep the photos. That is part of the executor's and agent's job. Our guide to the four roles explains each one.

If the people you'd name are your own age or far away, our guide to choosing professional help compares the options. A Kinly member's care plan holds this kind of list, and Trella Trust Company can be named executor or financial agent, first or as backup.

Common questions

Can my executor get into my email after I die?

In Washington, your executor can generally get a list of who you wrote to and when. They can read the messages themselves only if you consented, through a company's tool or in your will or other document, or if a court orders it.

Should I leave my passwords in my will?

No. A will is delivered to the court after death and can become part of a public court file, and passwords change. Keep a separate list of accounts, and use each company's legacy tools or a password manager with a plan for access.

What is a digital asset?

Washington defines it as an electronic record in which you have a right or interest. That includes email, photos, documents and online account records. It does not include the money in an account itself, which passes like any other asset.

Does a power of attorney cover my online accounts?

Partly. In Washington, an agent with general authority can get a catalogue of your messages and other digital assets. To read the content of your messages, the power of attorney must expressly grant that authority.

Sources

This page is general information, not legal or financial advice. Laws vary by state.

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