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Digital Assets and Estate Planning in Minnesota
Support GuideMinnesota14 min read

Digital Assets and Estate Planning in Minnesota

How to plan for and access a deceased person's digital assets in Minnesota under RUFADAA: legacy tools, will and POA language, crypto, and executor access.

By Settled Editorial

Most Minnesota estates now include property that has no paper form: email and cloud photos, social media accounts, an online bank login, maybe a Coinbase balance or a hardware wallet in a drawer. These digital assets carry real financial and sentimental value, yet a family often has no idea an account exists, let alone how to reach it. Minnesota answers this with its own statute: Minnesota Statutes Chapter 521A, the "Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act," at sections 521A.01 through 521A.19. It is the state's enactment of the 2015 revised uniform act, and it is the law a Minnesota fiduciary actually works from.

This guide leads with what Chapter 521A says, then covers what you can do now so your own executor is not locked out, and where cryptocurrency needs special handling. It pairs with the Minnesota estate planning basics guide, which covers the core documents every adult needs. It is general information, not legal advice.

Minnesota Statutes Chapter 521A

Chapter 521A is Minnesota's specific digital-asset access law, and several of its provisions are worth reading closely before a family starts sending requests to providers.

The order of authority is codified, not just custom. Section 521A.04, "User Direction for Disclosure of Digital Assets," sets the priority a Minnesota fiduciary must follow. A direction the user gave through a provider's online tool "overrides a contrary direction by the user in a will, trust, power of attorney, or other record." If there is no online tool, the will, trust, or power of attorney controls, and either of those user directions overrides a contrary provision in the provider's terms of service. That is the three-tier order below, and in Minnesota it is a statute, not a courtesy each company chooses to honor.

Catalogue and content are split by two different sections. Minnesota separates the outside of an electronic communication from its text. Under Section 521A.08, "Disclosure of Other Digital Assets of Deceased User," the personal representative can obtain the catalogue: a list of electronic communications the user sent or received and the user's other digital assets, but not the content of the messages. Reaching the content itself falls under Section 521A.07, "Disclosure of Content of Electronic Communications of Deceased User," which a custodian discloses only when the user consented through an online tool or in a will, trust, or power of attorney (or a court orders it). So a Minnesota executor can learn that emails were exchanged with a bank without being able to read what they said, unless the deceased gave that specific consent.

A custodian has 60 days to comply. Section 521A.16, "Custodian Compliance and Immunity," gives providers a hard clock: not later than 60 days after receiving the required documentation, a custodian must comply with a fiduciary's request to disclose digital assets or terminate an account, and a fiduciary who is stonewalled can ask a court for an order compelling compliance. A custodian that acts in good faith under the chapter also gets immunity, which is what makes providers willing to respond at all.

It runs on your fiduciary's authority in the Minnesota estate. Section 521A.15, "Fiduciary Duty and Authority," treats a personal representative's power over digital assets as part of the same duties of care, loyalty, and good faith that govern the rest of the estate. Your authority to make the request comes from your appointment: the Letters the Minnesota district court issues when it names you. Section 521A.08 lets a custodian require proof of that appointment along with a certified death certificate before it hands anything over.

Because Chapter 521A is Minnesota's version of a uniform act that most states share, the mechanics below (the three tiers, the online tools, the executor's document checklist) look similar from state to state. What is specific to Minnesota is the chapter itself: the codified priority in 521A.04, the catalogue-versus-content split across 521A.07 and 521A.08, the 60-day compliance clock in 521A.16, and the tie to your Letters from the Minnesota district court. A Minnesota estate planning attorney drafts your documents to Chapter 521A, and the sections below explain how to use the law in practice.

What Counts as a Digital Asset

Chapter 521A defines a digital asset broadly as an electronic record in which a person has a right or interest. In practical terms, that sweeps in nearly everything you own or manage online:

  • Email accounts such as Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo Mail
  • Cloud storage and photo libraries on iCloud, Google Drive, 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 credit card points
  • Subscriptions for streaming, software, and storage that keep charging the estate
  • Digital business assets like an Etsy or Shopify store, an ad account, or an affiliate account

One line matters for estate work: the digital asset is the electronic record itself, not the money behind it. The dollars in an online bank account still pass through Minnesota's ordinary financial and probate rules. Chapter 521A governs the login and the records, not the underlying account balance.

The Three-Tier Priority System

Section 521A.04 sets the access order as a matter of Minnesota law, and a fiduciary and a family should walk down it in order.

Tier 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 it, that choice controls above everything else. Under 521A.04 it overrides a contrary direction in a will, trust, or power of attorney. These online tools include:

  • Google Inactive Account Manager, which lets you name people to receive specific data (or delete the account) after a set period of inactivity
  • Facebook Legacy Contact, which names someone to manage a memorialized profile
  • Apple Digital Legacy, which names a legacy contact who can request access to iCloud content after death

A valid online tool designation beats your will. If you used Google Inactive Account Manager to send your Gmail data to your daughter, your executor cannot override that and route it to your son. That is why setting these tools now is the single most reliable step you can take.

Tier 2: Your Will, Trust, or Power of Attorney

If no online tool applies, 521A.04 looks to your own legal documents. Directions in a will, a trust, or a power of attorney that address digital assets control at this tier. A will clause granting your personal representative authority over your digital accounts, or a trust that names your digital property, gives your fiduciary a solid legal basis to ask providers for access.

Tier 3: The Provider's Terms of Service

If there is no online tool and no direction in your documents, the provider's terms of service decide. This is the weakest position. Many platforms restrict account sharing and give an executor little or nothing beyond memorialization or deletion. Relying on the terms of service means accepting whatever each company chooses to allow.

Catalogue Versus Content of Communications

The split between 521A.08 (catalogue) and 521A.07 (content) is the distinction that surprises the most Minnesota families, so it is worth making concrete. An electronic communication has two layers:

  • The catalogue is the metadata: who a message was to or from, the date and time, and often the subject line.
  • The content is the actual text of the message.

Under 521A.08 the personal representative gets the catalogue by default, but 521A.07 releases the content only with the deceased person's explicit consent, given through an online tool or written into the will, trust, or power of attorney. This is exactly why generic "my personal representative may handle my affairs" language often is not enough for email content in Minnesota, and why the specific consent that 521A.07 requires is worth adding while you can.

Steps to Take Now

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

Use the Online Legacy Tools Today

Set up the provider tools on 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 include a digital assets clause that authorizes your fiduciary to access, manage, and close your digital accounts, and that expressly consents to disclosure of the content of your electronic communications. That consent is what unlocks Tier 2 for email and messages.

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 becomes public record when it is filed with the district court. 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 documents that lists accounts and how to access them
  • Reference 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 permanently. Store seed phrases and private keys in a safe or safe deposit box, keep them out of any unsecured digital file, and tell your fiduciary where they are without exposing them to everyday risk. More on crypto below.

How an Executor Requests Access After Death

When you are the personal representative of a Minnesota estate, Chapter 521A gives you a workable path:

  1. Check for an online tool designation first. Section 521A.04 puts it at the top of the order, so look at each provider's legacy, memorialization, or inactive account pages before anything else.
  2. Review the will and any trust. Confirm what digital asset authority the documents grant, and whether they include the 521A.07 consent needed for the content of communications.
  3. Gather your documentation. Section 521A.08 lets a custodian require a certified copy of your Letters (the Minnesota district court's proof of your appointment), a certified death certificate, a written request, and, if asked, account-identifying information. For the content of communications, 521A.07 may require a court order.
  4. Submit the request through the provider's official channel and keep records. Once the custodian has the required documentation, 521A.16 gives it 60 days to disclose the assets or terminate the account. Providers still differ widely in practice: Google's process is functional, Meta is slower, and some small platforms have no process at all, so document every request and response.

If a provider ignores the 60-day clock or refuses a request that complies with Chapter 521A, 521A.16 lets you ask the Minnesota district court to compel compliance, and for the content of communications you may need a court order under 521A.07.

Cryptocurrency: Special Care

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

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 financial institution, providing your Letters and the death certificate. If the person used a self-custody wallet, a hardware device or a software wallet, then no key means no access. There is no customer service line and no court order that can recover it. The crypto is simply gone.

When settling 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 records. Once you secure access, document 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, restricts unauthorized computer and account access, and most providers' terms forbid password sharing. The safer path is to use the Chapter 521A process and the provider's official channels rather than self-help logins. When in doubt, a Minnesota estate attorney can tell you where the line sits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my Minnesota executor automatically get into my online accounts?

No. Access depends 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 request access. Without either, the provider's terms of service control, and many restrict what a fiduciary may see.

Can a provider refuse my fiduciary's request?

A provider can require proper documentation, such as your Letters, a death certificate, and a written request, and can insist on a court order for the content of communications under Section 521A.07. It cannot lawfully refuse a valid request that complies with Chapter 521A, and Section 521A.16 gives it only 60 days to comply once it has the required documents.

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

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

Should I put my passwords in my will?

No. A will becomes public record when it is filed with the district court. Keep passwords in a password manager or a sealed letter of instruction and reference that separate document in your will.

Related Minnesota Guides

Sources:

This guide provides general information about digital assets and Minnesota Statutes Chapter 521A. Digital asset planning involves legal and technical choices specific to your situation, so consult a Minnesota estate planning attorney for advice on your accounts. It is not legal advice.

Information current as of July 1, 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 Minnesota can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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