Skip to main content
Kentucky Digital Assets Planning
Support GuideKentucky13 min read

Kentucky Digital Assets Planning

How Kentucky's digital assets law (KRS 395A) ranks who may reach a deceased person's online accounts: the online tool, then the will or POA, then the terms.

By Settled Editorial

Kentucky answers who may reach a deceased person's online accounts with a written statute: KRS Chapter 395A, the commonwealth's version of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, in force since July 15, 2020. 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 about Kentucky law, not advice for your situation.

Kentucky's Digital Assets Act, KRS Chapter 395A

Kentucky adopted the national uniform act on fiduciary access to digital assets in 2020 and gave it its own chapter, KRS Chapter 395A, rather than folding it into the probate chapter. The General Assembly passed it as 2020 Ky. Acts ch. 63, and it took effect on July 15, 2020. A 2021 amendment (2021 Ky. Acts ch. 93) reworked the disclosure procedure. A few features of the Kentucky act carry weight when you settle an estate here.

It covers four kinds of fiduciaries. KRS 395A.020(14) defines a fiduciary as a personal representative acting for a deceased person, an agent under a power of attorney, a trustee, and a conservator appointed for a living protected person. The same rules follow the account whether the person died, lost capacity, or planned ahead through a trust.

A written priority order (KRS 395A.040). Kentucky 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, power of attorney, or other record 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 (KRS 395A.070 and 395A.080). The act separates the content of electronic communications from everything else. A personal representative reaches the non-content catalogue on a lighter showing under KRS 395A.080, while the text of emails and messages comes out under KRS 395A.070 only when the deceased person consented through an online tool or in a will, trust, power of attorney, or other record. So a broad handle-my-affairs clause often falls short for email content in Kentucky.

A 60-day compliance clock (KRS 395A.160). Once a custodian receives a request that meets KRS 395A.070 through 395A.150, it must comply within 60 days. If it does not, the fiduciary may ask the court for an order directing compliance, and that order must find the disclosure would not violate the federal Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. sec. 2702. The custodian and its staff have good-faith immunity for acting under the chapter.

It runs through the District Court. KRS 395A.020(7) defines the court for this chapter as the District Court, which is where Kentucky probate is opened and where a personal representative receives the order of appointment. The letters and order a custodian asks for under KRS 395A.070 come from that court. The accounts you recover feed the same inventory you file, so treat online balances and crypto as estate property to report.

What Kentucky adds is the standalone chapter, KRS 395A, the 60-day clock in KRS 395A.160, the content-versus-catalogue line in KRS 395A.070 and 395A.080, and the District Court 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. A Kentucky estate planning attorney drafts to these sections, and a durable power of attorney is where much of the digital-asset authority is granted.

What Counts as a Digital Asset

KRS 395A.020(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 accounts like an Etsy or Shopify store or an ad account

One line matters for estate work. The same definition 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 Kentucky's ordinary financial and probate rules. The act governs the login and the records, not the money behind them.

The Three-Tier Priority Order

KRS 395A.040 sets the order a Kentucky fiduciary and family walk down.

  1. 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 surest step you can take.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 KRS 395A.070 needs the user's consent to content disclosure, while the non-content catalogue (who, when, subject lines) comes more easily under KRS 395A.080. 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 Express 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 Kentucky power-of-attorney rule: under KRS 395A.090 a custodian discloses the content of a principal's communications to an agent only to the extent a power of attorney expressly grants that authority, 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 admitted to the District 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 a Kentucky Personal Representative Requests Access After Death

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

  1. 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 KRS 395A.040.
  2. Review the will and any trust for digital asset authority and, above all, for consent to disclose the content of communications.
  3. Gather your Kentucky paperwork. For content under KRS 395A.070 a custodian may require a written request, a certified death certificate, a certified copy of your order of appointment from the District Court (or an order dispensing with administration under KRS 395.455 for a small estate), and, unless an online tool was used, the will, trust, or power of attorney that shows consent. Catalogue requests under KRS 395A.080 take a lighter showing, and the custodian may ask instead for an affidavit that the disclosure is reasonably necessary to administer the estate.
  4. Submit through the provider's official channel and track the 60-day clock. Under KRS 395A.160 the custodian has 60 days from receiving your information to comply. The custodian may grant full access, partial access, or a copy under KRS 395A.060, and it may charge a reasonable administrative fee. 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 District Court for an order directing compliance under KRS 395A.160. That order must find that disclosure would not break 18 U.S.C. sec. 2702. Report the accounts and balances you recover on the inventory you file with the 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 order of appointment 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 figure you report and the beneficiary's income-tax 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. Kentucky answers part of this in KRS 395A.150, which treats a fiduciary acting within the scope of their duties as an authorized user of the person's property for computer-access purposes under the Kentucky unlawful-access statutes, KRS 434.840 to 434.860. 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, a Kentucky estate attorney can tell you where the line sits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my Kentucky 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 KRS 395A.040. 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 order of appointment from the District 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 Kentucky act, and under KRS 395A.160 it must respond within 60 days or you can ask the District 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 admitted to a Kentucky District 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.

Related Kentucky Guides

This guide is general information about digital assets and the Kentucky 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 Kentucky estate planning attorney before you rely on them.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

Information current as of July 20, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Kentucky can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

Need help with your probate case?

Answer a few questions to see whether Kentucky probate is required and which process applies.

Take the 2-minute assessment
All Kentucky guides← Back to all articles