SC Digital Assets Planning

Most South Carolina 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. A family often has no idea an account exists, let alone how to reach it. South Carolina answers this with a specific statute of its own, and this guide leads with what that statute actually requires before it turns to the steps you can take now. It pairs with the South Carolina estate planning basics guide.

The South Carolina Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act

South Carolina's rules are codified as the South Carolina Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, enacted by 2016 Act No. 260 and placed in the Probate Code at S.C. Code Ann. Sections 62-2-1010 through 62-2-1090 (Title 62, Article 2, Part 10). It took effect June 3, 2016. That location matters for South Carolina practice: because the act sits inside the Probate Code, a personal representative works through the same South Carolina Probate Court appointment and the same Letters that govern the rest of the estate, and the act's court-order provisions run to the probate court that issued them.

The act does two jobs at once. It gives your fiduciary a legal path to the accounts needed to settle the estate, and it protects the privacy you reasonably expected while alive. Several features are worth knowing in South Carolina terms specifically:

A codified priority order (Section 62-2-1020). South Carolina puts the priority ladder into statute, not custom. A direction made through a provider's online tool overrides a contrary direction in your will, trust, or power of attorney; a direction in those documents overrides the provider's terms of service.
A content-versus-catalogue split written into the definitions (Section 62-2-1010). The act separately defines the "catalogue of electronic communications" (who a message was to or from, and the date and time) from the "content" (the substance of the message), and it treats the two very differently for a deceased user.
A hard compliance clock (Section 62-2-1080). A custodian must comply with a proper request within sixty days of receiving the required documents. If it does not, the fiduciary may apply to the court for an order directing compliance.
Fiduciary duties carried over (Section 62-2-1075). The ordinary duties of care, loyalty, and confidentiality that apply to tangible property apply to digital assets too, and a fiduciary may not use access to impersonate the user.

What Counts as a Digital Asset

Section 62-2-1010 defines a digital asset 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 South Carolina's ordinary financial and probate rules. The act governs the login and the records, not the underlying account balance.

The Three-Tier Priority System (Section 62-2-1020)

South Carolina puts the access question into a statutory order of priority in Section 62-2-1020. 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. 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 personal representative 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, RUFADAA 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 a personal representative 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

South Carolina splits this into two separate statutes, and the difference decides what your personal representative can actually read. Section 62-2-1010 defines the two layers:

The catalogue is the metadata: who a message was to or from, and the date and time.
The content is the substance of the message.

Section 62-2-1040 handles the catalogue and other digital assets of a deceased user: unless the user prohibited it or the court directs otherwise, the custodian must disclose those to the personal representative on a documented request. Section 62-2-1035 handles the content of electronic communications, and it is stricter: the custodian discloses content only if the deceased user consented, or a court directs it. Without that consent, a South Carolina personal representative may learn that emails were exchanged with a bank but not read what they said. This is exactly why generic "my personal representative may handle my affairs" language often is not enough for email content, and why specific consent to content disclosure matters.

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 Probate 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 a Personal Representative Requests Access After Death

When you are the personal representative of a South Carolina estate, Sections 62-2-1035 and 62-2-1040 set out exactly what the custodian may require, and Section 62-2-1080 sets the clock.

Check for an online tool designation first. Under the priority order, a provider tool the person used controls above the will, so look at each provider's legacy, memorialization, or inactive account pages before anything else.
Match the request to what you actually need. For the catalogue and other digital assets you rely on Section 62-2-1040; for the content of emails and messages you rely on the stricter Section 62-2-1035, which needs the user's consent or a court order.
Assemble the documents the statute names. Both sections let the custodian require a written request, a certified copy of the death certificate, and a certified copy of your Letters of appointment from the South Carolina Probate Court (a small estate affidavit or court order can stand in). For content, Section 62-2-1035 also lets the custodian require the will, trust, or power of attorney evidencing the user's consent, unless consent came through an online tool. The custodian may additionally ask for the account identifier or evidence linking the account to the user.
Submit through the provider's official channel and track the sixty-day clock. Under Section 62-2-1080, the custodian must comply within sixty days of receiving the required information. Providers differ widely in practice: Google's process is functional, Meta is slower, and some small platforms have no process at all. Document every request and response.

If a custodian ignores a complying request, Section 62-2-1080 lets you apply to the court for an order directing compliance, and for the content of communications you may need a court order in the first place. A South Carolina probate attorney can help you enforce these rights.

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 statutory process in Sections 62-2-1035 and 62-2-1040 and the provider's official channels rather than self-help logins. When in doubt, a South Carolina estate attorney can tell you where the line sits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my South Carolina personal representative 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 the documentation the statute names, such as your Letters, a certified death certificate, and a written request, and can insist on the user's consent or a court order for the content of communications. Under Section 62-2-1080 it must otherwise comply within sixty days, and if it does not you can apply to the South Carolina Probate Court for an order directing compliance.

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 Probate Court. Keep passwords in a password manager or a sealed letter of instruction and reference that separate document in your will.

Sources:

Title: South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 62, Article 2, Part 10, South Carolina Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (Sections 62-2-1010 through 62-2-1090; 2016 Act No. 260, eff. June 3, 2016). Publisher: South Carolina Legislature (scstatehouse.gov). Publication Date: Current official code, accessed 2026-07-02. URL: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t62c002.php
Title: Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (2015). Publisher: Uniform Law Commission. Publication Date: 2015, accessed 2026-07-02. URL: https://www.uniformlaws.org/committees/community-home?CommunityKey=f7237fc4-74c2-4728-81c6-b39a91ecdf22
Title: Inactive Account Manager. Publisher: Google. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-07-02. URL: https://myaccount.google.com/data-and-privacy
Title: Add a Legacy Contact for a memorialized account. Publisher: Meta (Facebook). Publication Date: Accessed 2026-07-02. URL: https://www.facebook.com/help/1568013990080948

This guide provides general information about digital assets and RUFADAA in South Carolina. Digital asset planning involves legal and technical choices specific to your situation, so consult a South Carolina estate planning attorney for advice on your accounts. It is not legal advice.