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Massachusetts Digital Assets After Death
Support GuideMassachusetts15 min read

Massachusetts Digital Assets After Death

Massachusetts has not enacted RUFADAA. With no digital-assets article in c. 190B, account access runs on provider tools and written fiduciary authority.

By Settled Editorial

Massachusetts has not enacted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. M.G.L. c. 190B carries no digital-assets article, so a Massachusetts personal representative holds no statutory right to force a company to open an account. Access here comes from the provider's terms of service, the platform's own legacy tools, and authority you write into your documents.

That is the opposite of what most digital-assets articles say, which is why this page exists. Almost everything published on this topic describes a three-tier priority order and a 60-day custodian deadline. Those rules belong to other states. Read this guide as general information and prepare your questions, then have a Massachusetts attorney draft the language you sign.

Massachusetts Has No Digital Assets Statute

You can check this yourself in about two minutes, and you should, because a law firm blog copied from a national template will tell you otherwise.

Open the Chapter 190B table of contents at malegislature.gov. Every section number in the chapter starts with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7. Article V, Part 5 covers durable powers of attorney and stops at Section 5-507. Article 5A picks up with the adult guardianship jurisdiction act. There is no Article 10, there is no Part 5A on digital assets, and no separate chapter of the General Laws adopts the uniform act. Search the General Laws for "digital asset" and three sections come back, all of them about money transmission, life sciences, and virtual schools.

So when you read that a Massachusetts executor gets a statutory 60 days from a custodian, or that an online tool legally overrides a will here, the writer is describing Maine or Michigan and putting a Massachusetts headline on it.

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The Bills That Keep Getting Filed

Massachusetts legislators have filed a version of this act session after session. Two are alive in the 194th General Court as of this update:

  • H.4639, An Act for uniform fiduciary access to digital assets. The Judiciary Committee reported it on October 23, 2025 as a new draft of H.1855 and H.1968. The House suspended its rules, read the bill a second time, and ordered it to a third reading on November 17, 2025.
  • S.1110, An Act clarifying the rights of fiduciaries to access digital assets. The committee reported it favorably on January 29, 2026 and sent it to Senate Ways and Means.

Neither has been enacted. A third reading is not a law. Before you rely on anything above, open the bill history at malegislature.gov and confirm the current status, because this is the one fact on this page most likely to change.

Your Online Accounts Are Still Property in a Massachusetts Estate

Do not read a missing access statute as a missing duty. It is not.

M.G.L. c. 190B, Section 1-201 defines property to include real and personal property or any interest in it, and says it "means anything that may be the subject of ownership." A Bitcoin balance, a Shopify store, a domain name, an unspent PayPal balance, and a monetized YouTube channel all sit inside that definition.

Three sections then attach to them:

SectionWhat it saysWhy it matters online
3-709The personal representative has a right to, and shall take possession or control of, the decedent's propertyYour duty reaches the crypto wallet, not only the checking account
3-706Inventory the property owned at death, with fair market value, within 3 months after appointmentOnline holdings belong on the inventory with everything else
3-715Lists the transactions a personal representative may properly carry outRetaining, selling, and settling digital holdings is authorized work

Read those together and the Massachusetts position gets sharper. The possession duty in M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-709 is the whole of your statutory authority over a Massachusetts decedent's online accounts, and it runs to the property, not to the provider. State law tells you the account counts and that it belongs on your Section 3-706 inventory. State law gives you nothing to hand the company that holds it.

Why the Provider Holds the Switch, Not the Probate and Family Court

Two federal rules explain the wall you hit.

The Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 2702, bars a provider of electronic communication service from knowingly disclosing the contents of a stored communication. The statute lists exceptions, and the one that decides estate cases is the lawful consent of the subscriber. A provider that opens an inbox without consent takes on real liability, so most refuse until they see consent or a court order.

In a RUFADAA state, the statute itself supplies a channel for that consent through an online tool or a will clause. Massachusetts supplies no channel, so the consent has to come from the account holder's own words, written down before death. That single gap is the whole reason a Massachusetts plan has to be drafted with more care than a Maine or a Connecticut plan.

The second rule is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 1030, which penalizes access to a computer without authorization. Massachusetts has its own version.

Do Not Just Log In With the Password

Families do this constantly. Someone finds the sticky note, keeps the bank login open, and pays the bills from the deceased person's account for months.

Here is the problem. M.G.L. c. 266, Section 120F punishes anyone who knowingly accesses a computer system without authorization, with up to 30 days in the house of correction, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. The section adds a line worth reading twice: a password or other authentication requirement is itself notice that access is limited to authorized users. Provider terms of service say much the same thing and reserve the right to close the account, and a closed account can take the photos and the balance with it.

Use the estate's authority instead. Get appointed, collect your letters of authority from the Probate and Family Court, open an estate account, and ask each provider for its written process for a deceased account holder. Slower, and it survives review.

The Four Tools That Work in Massachusetts Right Now

With no statute to lean on, planning does all the work. Set these four up while the account holder is alive and able.

1. Set the platform tool on every account that offers one

These are contracts with the provider, so they operate whether or not Massachusetts ever passes the act. They are the strongest thing available here today.

PlatformToolWhat the named person gets
AppleLegacy ContactApple generates a code you share with the person you name. After your death, they file a request with that code and your death certificate to reach the data stored in your Apple Account.
GoogleInactive Account ManagerYou choose up to 10 people to receive selected data once the account sits inactive for a period you set.
FacebookLegacy contactOne friend can memorialize the profile, write a pinned post, update photos, and request removal. They cannot read your messages.

Set these today. They take a few minutes each and they are the only lever that works without a lawyer.

2. Put express digital authority in your will

Your Massachusetts will should grant the personal representative authority to access, manage, transfer, and close online accounts, and it should say plainly that you consent to disclosure of the contents of your electronic communications. That consent sentence is what a provider looks for under 18 U.S.C. Section 2702. A clause that only names the fiduciary usually will not open an inbox.

Never write passwords into the will. A will filed with the Probate and Family Court becomes a public record.

3. Put the same authority in your durable power of attorney

A Massachusetts power of attorney covers incapacity, not death. Massachusetts never adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, and Section 5-501 makes a power durable only when the writing carries the statutory wording about subsequent disability or incapacity. Ask your attorney to add digital-account authority and a consent-to-disclosure sentence to that document as well.

One line to keep straight: a power of attorney ends at the principal's death, so it is not the instrument that governs afterward. The one qualification is narrow and protects third parties rather than extending the agency: under M.G.L. c. 190B, § 5-504(a) an act the attorney in fact takes in good faith and without actual knowledge of the death still binds. Once the death is known there is no authority left, the estate takes over, and the Massachusetts probate process begins.

4. Give your trustee matching authority

If a revocable trust holds the property, M.G.L. c. 203E, Section 815 gives a trustee the powers an unmarried competent owner has over individually owned property, plus whatever the trust terms confer. Section 816 lists specific powers on top of that. Broad as those are, they still do not bind a custodian, so name digital assets and cryptocurrency in the trust document and add the same consent language. Trust-based planning is one route people use to keep property out of probate in Massachusetts.

All four tools have to say the same thing. Draft them as the full document set rather than one at a time, because digital authority in the will and silence in your durable power of attorney leaves a hole for exactly the stretch when you are incapacitated rather than dead.

Build an Inventory Your Fiduciary Can Use

Written authority without a list of accounts leaves your fiduciary guessing. Build the list.

  1. Gather the accounts. Walk your phone, your inbox, your bank statements, and your password manager. Record the platform, the login email, what the account holds, and a rough value.
  2. Note how to get in. Write down where the credentials live, the two-factor method, the recovery email, and the recovery phone. Keep the credentials themselves out of the list.
  3. Store it where it survives you. A password manager whose master credential your fiduciary can reach, or a sealed envelope in a home safe, both work. Point to the location from the will or trust, never the contents.
  4. Review it once a year. Add new accounts, drop closed ones, and update two-factor methods after you change a phone.
  5. Tell the person who will need it. Confirm your personal representative, agent, or trustee knows the list exists and how to open it.

Cryptocurrency Needs Its Own Page in the Binder

Crypto is the one holding that disappears permanently when nobody plans, because no company can reset it for you and no Massachusetts court order can conjure a seed phrase.

  • List every wallet and exchange. Record wallet addresses, the type of storage (hot wallet, hardware device, exchange), and an approximate value for the Section 3-706 inventory.
  • Store recovery material offline. Seed phrases and private keys belong in a fireproof safe or a bank box, not in a phone note. Some owners split a seed phrase across two secure locations.
  • Name the authority. Say in the will or trust that your fiduciary may hold, transfer, and sell cryptocurrency, and leave a separate letter of instruction describing how to reach each wallet.
  • Expect an exchange process. Coinbase and Kraken run deceased-account procedures that ask for a death certificate, your letters of authority, and identification. Plan on weeks, not days.

What a Massachusetts Personal Representative Should Do First

If someone has already died and you are the one holding the file, work in this order.

  1. Get appointed. Nothing moves until you have letters of authority. Start with the Massachusetts probate guide and the rest of the personal representative duties.
  2. Order extra certified death certificates. Every provider wants its own copy.
  3. Check for platform tools before you write letters. A Google Inactive Account Manager plan or an Apple legacy designation can settle in days what a written request cannot settle in months.
  4. Read the will for consent language. If the document consents to disclosure of electronic communications, quote that clause in every request you send.
  5. Send written requests, not logins. Ask each provider for its deceased-account process, and attach the death certificate and your letters.
  6. Value and inventory what you find. Digital holdings go on the Section 3-706 inventory with the same fair-market-value treatment as a car or a brokerage account.
  7. Ask counsel about a court order. Where a provider refuses and the account holds real money, a Probate and Family Court order is the remaining route, and it is a matter for a Massachusetts attorney.

Common Questions

Does Massachusetts have a digital assets law?

No. Massachusetts has not enacted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. Chapter 190B contains no digital-assets article, and no other chapter of the General Laws adopts the uniform act. Bills including H.4639 and S.1110 are pending in the 194th General Court, and none has become law.

Can my executor read my email in Massachusetts?

Only with your recorded consent or a court order. The Stored Communications Act blocks a provider from disclosing message contents without the lawful consent of the subscriber, and Massachusetts has no statute that supplies that consent for you. Written consent in your will is what unlocks the inbox.

Is it illegal to use my late spouse's password?

It can be. M.G.L. c. 266, Section 120F penalizes knowingly accessing a computer system without authorization, and the statute treats a password prompt as notice that access is limited. Provider terms usually prohibit it as well. Use letters of authority and the provider's deceased-account process instead.

Do platform legacy tools work if Massachusetts has no statute?

Yes, and they are the most reliable option available here. Apple Legacy Contact, Google Inactive Account Manager, and Facebook legacy contact are contractual settings with the provider. They operate independently of state law, which is exactly why they matter more in Massachusetts than in a RUFADAA state.

What happens to cryptocurrency if nobody has the seed phrase?

It is gone. No exchange, no court, and no personal representative can recover coins held in a private wallet without the seed phrase or private keys. Record them offline and tell one trusted person where they live.

Should I list my passwords in my will?

No. A Massachusetts will becomes a public court record once it is filed. Keep credentials in a password manager or a sealed document in a safe, and reference the location from the will or trust.

Does my power of attorney cover my accounts after I die?

No. A power of attorney ends at the principal's death, and § 5-504(a) preserves only acts already taken in good faith without actual knowledge of the death. Digital-account authority in a power of attorney covers incapacity only, so the will or the trust has to carry the same language for what happens afterward.

Related Massachusetts Guides

This guide is general information about Massachusetts digital assets and estate planning. It is not legal advice. Whether a clause satisfies a provider, and whether a court order is worth seeking, turns on facts specific to your situation. Confirm anything that affects you with a licensed Massachusetts attorney, and re-check the enactment status of the pending bills before you act.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

Information current as of July 29, 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 Massachusetts can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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