Indiana Digital Assets Planning

Indiana settles who may reach a deceased person's online accounts with a written law: the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, IC 32-39, effective July 1, 2016. It ranks three sources of authority. An online tool you set with the provider comes first, your will, trust, or power of attorney comes next, and the provider's terms of service apply only when neither of those speaks.

This guide leads with what those sections say, then covers what you can do now so your own fiduciary is not locked out, and where cryptocurrency needs extra care. It is general information, not legal advice.

Indiana's Digital Assets Act, IC 32-39

Indiana adopted the national uniform act on fiduciary access to digital assets and placed it in the property code as IC 32-39. Lawmakers passed it in 2016 (Public Law 137-2016), and it took effect on July 1, 2016. A few features of the Indiana act carry weight when you settle an estate here.

It covers four kinds of fiduciaries. IC 32-39-1-1 applies the act to a personal representative acting for a deceased person, an agent under a power of attorney, a trustee, and a court-appointed guardian, and it reaches any custodian that holds the digital assets of a user who lived in Indiana. So the same rules follow the account whether the person died, lost capacity, or planned ahead through a trust.

A written priority order (IC 32-39-2-1). Indiana ranks the sources of authority rather than leaving them to guesswork. A provider's online tool controls if the user set one that can be changed at any time. A direction in a will, trust, or power of attorney comes next. The terms of service apply only when neither of the first two does. The steps below follow this order.

The content-versus-catalogue split (IC 32-39-2-4 and 32-39-2-5). The act separates the content of electronic communications from everything else. A personal representative can reach the non-content record, the catalogue, on a lighter showing under section 5, while the text of emails and messages comes out under section 4 only when the deceased person consented through an online tool or in a will, trust, or power of attorney. That is why a generic "handle my affairs" clause often falls short for email content in Indiana.

A 60-day compliance clock (IC 32-39-2-13). Once a custodian receives a request that meets sections 4 through 11, it must comply within 60 days. If it does not, the fiduciary may ask a court for an order directing compliance. The same section gives custodians good-faith immunity for acting under the law. Under IC 32-39-2-3 a custodian may charge a reasonable administrative fee, may grant full access, partial access, or a copy, and may ask a court to step in when a request would impose an undue burden.

It runs through the probate court. An Indiana personal representative is appointed and receives letters from the circuit or superior court that handles probate in the county where the estate is opened. The letters testamentary or letters of administration a custodian asks for under section 4 are those letters. The accounts you recover feed the same inventory you file with the court, so treat online balances and crypto as estate property to report.

What Indiana adds is the codified article: IC 32-39, the 60-day clock in section 13, the content-versus-catalogue line in sections 4 and 5, and the probate letters that supply the paperwork. The rest of the moving parts, naming a fiduciary, using provider tools, keeping an inventory, come from the uniform act that many states share. An Indiana estate planning attorney drafts to those sections, and the Indiana estate planning basics guide shows where digital-asset wording sits among the documents.

What Counts as a Digital Asset

IC 32-39-1-10 defines a digital asset as "an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest." That reaches almost everything you own or manage online:

Email accounts such as Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo Mail
Cloud storage and photo libraries on iCloud, Google Photos, or Dropbox
Social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and TikTok
Cryptocurrency and exchange accounts, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, tokens, and balances on Coinbase or Kraken
Domain names and websites the person registered or ran
Online financial accounts like online banking, PayPal, and Venmo
Loyalty and rewards balances such as airline miles and card points
Subscriptions for streaming, software, and storage that keep charging the estate
Digital business assets like an Etsy or Shopify store or an ad account

One line matters for estate work. The same section says a digital asset "does not include an underlying asset or liability unless the asset or liability is itself an electronic record." The dollars in an online bank account still pass through Indiana's ordinary financial and probate rules. The act governs the login and the records, not the money behind them.

The Three-Tier Priority Order

IC 32-39-2-1 sets the order an Indiana fiduciary and family walk down.

An online tool the provider offers. If the provider gives users a built-in way to say what happens to an account, and the person used a tool they could change at any time, that choice controls above everything else. Common tools are Google Inactive Account Manager, Facebook Legacy Contact, and Apple Digital Legacy. A valid online tool designation beats your will. If you used Google to send your Gmail data to your daughter, your personal representative cannot reroute it to your son. Setting these tools now is the single most reliable step you can take.
Your will, trust, or power of attorney. With no online tool, the act looks to your own documents. A clause granting your personal representative authority over digital accounts, or a trust naming your digital property, gives your fiduciary a solid basis to ask providers for access.
The provider's terms of service. With no online tool and no direction in your documents, the terms of service decide. This is the weakest spot, and many platforms give a personal representative little beyond memorialization or deletion.

Remember the content-versus-catalogue line. Even at the second tier, reaching the text of emails and messages under section 4 needs the user's consent to content disclosure, while the non-content catalogue (who, when, subject lines) comes more easily under section 5. A broad "handle my affairs" grant often is not enough for email content, which is why the wording matters.

Steps to Take Now

A few deliberate steps while you are healthy save your family months of work later.

Set the Online Legacy Tools Today

Turn on the provider tools for the accounts that matter. They take minutes and sit at the top of the priority order:

Google: Data and privacy settings, then "Make a plan for your account"
Facebook: Settings, then Memorialization Settings, to name a Legacy Contact
Apple: your name, then Password and Security, then Legacy Contact

Add Explicit Authorization to Your Documents

Ask the attorney who prepares your will, trust, or power of attorney to add a digital assets clause that lets your fiduciary access, manage, and close your accounts, and that consents to disclosure of the content of your electronic communications. That consent is what opens the second tier for email and messages. Watch the Indiana power-of-attorney rule: under IC 32-39-2-6, authority over the content of a principal's communications must be granted expressly in that power of attorney, so a broad grant is not enough on its own.

Keep an Inventory, Not a List of Passwords

Build a running inventory of your accounts and where the credentials live, then keep it current. Do not put passwords in your will, because a will filed with the court can become a public record. Instead:

Store credentials in a password manager and arrange for your fiduciary to reach the master password
Keep a sealed letter of instruction with your estate papers that lists accounts and how to reach them
Point to that separate document in your will rather than pasting the details into the will itself

Secure Cryptocurrency Separately

Crypto is the one asset class that can vanish for good. Store seed phrases and private keys in a safe or a safe deposit box, keep them out of any unsecured digital file, and tell your fiduciary where they sit without exposing them to daily risk. More on crypto below.

How an Indiana Personal Representative Requests Access After Death

When you are the personal representative of an Indiana estate, the act gives you a workable path built on the probate paperwork you already hold:

Check for an online tool designation first. Look at each provider's legacy, memorialization, or inactive account pages before anything else. An online tool controls over your other steps under IC 32-39-2-1.
Review the will and any trust for digital asset authority and, above all, for consent to disclose the content of communications.
Gather your Indiana paperwork. For content under section 4 a custodian may require a written request, a certified death certificate, a certified copy of your letters from the probate court, and, unless an online tool was used, the will, trust, or power of attorney that shows consent. Catalogue requests under section 5 take a lighter showing, and the custodian may ask instead for an affidavit that the disclosure is reasonably necessary to settle the estate.
Submit through the provider's official channel and track the 60-day clock. Under IC 32-39-2-13 the custodian has 60 days from receiving your information to comply. Providers differ widely, so keep a record of every request and reply.

If a provider misses the 60-day deadline or refuses a request that meets the act, you may apply to the court for an order directing compliance under section 13, and for the content of communications you may need a court order. Report the accounts and balances you recover on the inventory you file with the probate court.

Cryptocurrency: Special Care

Cryptocurrency behaves unlike any other digital asset because no company holds it for you. Access depends on the private keys, or the seed phrase, a short series of words that regenerates them.

If the person held crypto on an exchange such as Coinbase or Kraken, the exchange controls the keys, and you can work through its estate process much like a bank, giving your letters and the death certificate. If the person used a self-custody wallet, a hardware device or a software wallet, then no keys means no access. There is no support line and no court order that can recover it. The crypto is gone.

When you settle an estate that may hold crypto, search for a small hardware wallet device, printed or written seed phrases (often 12 or 24 words), files named "wallet," "seed," or "recovery," and any exchange login history. Once you secure access, write down the holdings promptly for the inventory, since crypto values swing sharply and the date-of-death value sets both the estate figure and the beneficiary's basis.

Stay Within Authorized Access

One caution runs through all of this. Using a deceased person's stored password to log in, even with good intentions, sits in a legal gray area. Federal law, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Stored Communications Act, limits unauthorized computer and account access, and most providers forbid password sharing in their terms. Indiana answers part of this in IC 32-39-2-12, which treats a fiduciary acting within their duties as an authorized user of the person's property for computer-access purposes, and it lists the state statutes that protection covers. The safer path is still to use the statutory process and the provider's official channels rather than a self-help login. When in doubt, an Indiana estate attorney can tell you where the line sits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my Indiana personal representative automatically get into my online accounts?

No. Access turns on the directions you left. If you used an online tool or added digital asset authority to your will, trust, or power of attorney, your personal representative has a legal basis to ask under IC 32-39-2-1. Without either, the provider's terms of service control, and many limit what a fiduciary may see.

Can a provider refuse my fiduciary's request?

A provider can require proper paperwork, such as your letters from the probate court, a death certificate, and a written request, and it can ask for evidence of consent or a court order for the content of communications. It cannot lawfully refuse a request that meets the Indiana act, and under IC 32-39-2-13 it must respond within 60 days or you can ask the court to order compliance.

What happens to cryptocurrency if no one has the private keys?

For a self-custody wallet, it is effectively lost for good. No central authority can recover crypto without the private keys or the seed phrase, which is why securing and writing them down matters so much.

Should I put my passwords in my will?

No. A will filed with an Indiana court can become a public record. Keep passwords in a password manager or a sealed letter of instruction, and point to that separate document in your will.

This guide is general information about digital assets and the Indiana Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, not advice for your situation. Digital asset planning turns on legal and technical choices that fit your accounts, so confirm the current wording of the statute and your own documents with a licensed Indiana estate planning attorney before you rely on them.

Sources:

Title: Indiana Code 32-39, Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. Publisher: Indiana General Assembly. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://iga.in.gov/laws/2025/ic/titles/32#32-39
Title: Indiana Code 32-39-1-10, Definition of Digital Asset. Publisher: Indiana General Assembly. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://iga.in.gov/laws/2025/ic/titles/32#32-39-1-10
Title: Indiana Code 32-39-2-1, User Direction Concerning Disclosure of Digital Asset. Publisher: Indiana General Assembly. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://iga.in.gov/laws/2025/ic/titles/32#32-39-2-1
Title: Indiana Code 32-39-2-4, Disclosure of Content of Electronic Communications to Personal Representative. Publisher: Indiana General Assembly. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://iga.in.gov/laws/2025/ic/titles/32#32-39-2-4
Title: Indiana Code 32-39-2-5, Disclosure of Catalogue to Personal Representative. Publisher: Indiana General Assembly. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://iga.in.gov/laws/2025/ic/titles/32#32-39-2-5
Title: Indiana Code 32-39-2-6, Disclosure to Attorney in Fact of Content of Principal's Electronic Communications. Publisher: Indiana General Assembly. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://iga.in.gov/laws/2025/ic/titles/32#32-39-2-6
Title: Indiana Code 32-39-2-12, Duties and Authority of Fiduciary With Respect to Digital Assets. Publisher: Indiana General Assembly. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://iga.in.gov/laws/2025/ic/titles/32#32-39-2-12
Title: Indiana Code 32-39-2-13, Custodian Compliance, Court Order, and Immunity. Publisher: Indiana General Assembly. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://iga.in.gov/laws/2025/ic/titles/32#32-39-2-13

It is not legal advice.