Vermont Digital Assets After Death

Vermont answers the online-accounts question in 14 V.S.A. chapter 125, the Vermont Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, effective July 1, 2017. The chapter ranks a provider's online tool above your will, splits every account into content and catalogue, and gives a custodian 60 days to answer a complete request.

This guide walks the Vermont digital assets rules in the order a family meets them: where the sections sit, who counts as the fiduciary, the ladder at 14 V.S.A. § 3554, the paperwork an executor or administrator mails a custodian, how the same authority runs through a Vermont power of attorney, and what a custodian may do once the request lands. Read it beside the Vermont executor duties guide and the Vermont probate guide. Check anything touching your own accounts with a licensed Vermont attorney.

Where Chapter 125 Sits, and How Far Back It Reaches

Chapter 125 lives in Title 14, Decedents Estates and Fiduciary Relations, and runs from 14 V.S.A. § 3551 through § 3568. Every one of those 18 sections closes with the same line: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. Sec. 2 of that act, 2017 Act No. 13 (H.152), reads "This act shall take effect on July 1, 2017." The Governor signed it on May 1, 2017.

14 V.S.A. § 3553 sets the reach, and it looks backward as well as forward. The chapter applies to a fiduciary acting under a will or power of attorney executed before, on, or after July 1, 2017, to a personal representative acting for a decedent who died before, on, or after that date, to a guardianship proceeding commenced before, on, or after that date, and to a trustee acting under a trust created before, on, or after that date. A will signed in 2003 gets the benefit of the 2017 statute.

Section 3553(b) fixes who a custodian owes the duty to: the chapter binds a custodian if the user resides in Vermont or resided here at the time of death. Section 3553(c) carries the chapter's only carve-out, and it is narrow. A digital asset of an employer used by an employee in the ordinary course of the employer's business falls outside chapter 125, so a work inbox is the employer's question rather than the estate's. Read against the whole chapter, no health-information exception appears anywhere in §§ 3551 through 3568, so a patient portal is governed by whatever federal and Vermont health-privacy law says about it and not by any exclusion written into this chapter.

The Priority Ladder in 14 V.S.A. § 3554

14 V.S.A. § 3554 settles most disputes before they start. Read it as three rungs.

Subsection (c) is the sentence that gives planning its weight. A user direction under (a) or (b) overrides a contrary provision in a terms-of-service agreement that does not require the user to act affirmatively and distinctly from the user's assent to the terms of service. One click on an I agree button years ago does not outrank a direction you gave later.

14 V.S.A. § 3552(16) defines the online tool as an electronic service the custodian provides, in an agreement distinct from the terms-of-service agreement, that lets the user give directions for disclosure or nondisclosure of digital assets to a third person. The person named through that tool is a designated recipient under § 3552(8). Ten minutes in those account settings outranks a paragraph a lawyer drafts, and that is the whole planning lesson of chapter 125.

One trap follows from rung one. Because the tool wins, an old setting can quietly defeat a newer will. Review those settings whenever you update documents, and treat them as part of the estate plan rather than as account housekeeping.

What Vermont Counts as a Digital Asset

Section 3552(9) defines a digital asset as an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest, then narrows it with a sentence worth reading twice: the term does not include an underlying asset or liability unless the asset or liability is itself an electronic record.

That line draws the boundary an estate cares about. Online access to a checking account is a digital asset. The money in the account is not, and it moves through the estate or by beneficiary designation the ordinary way. The same split applies to a brokerage login and the securities behind it. Chapter 125 opens doors, and it does not retitle property. Section 3555(b) says the same thing from the other side: the chapter gives a fiduciary or designated recipient no new or expanded rights beyond those the user held.

Inside the boundary, the definition is wide:

• Email, message history and cloud storage
• Social accounts, photo libraries and video channels
• Online banking, bill pay and payment apps
• Exchange accounts, hosted wallets and tokens
• Domain names, seller accounts and advertising accounts
• Loyalty balances, gaming accounts and password vaults

Content and Catalogue Are Two Different Requests

Every request under this chapter is one of two things, and the two carry different burdens.

Section 3552(4) defines the catalogue of electronic communications as information that identifies each person with whom a user has had an electronic communication, the time and date of the communication, and the electronic address of that person. Who, when, and at what address. No words.

Section 3552(5) defines the content of an electronic communication as information concerning the substance or meaning of a communication that has been sent or received by a user, is in electronic storage by a custodian providing an electronic-communication service to the public or is carried or maintained by a custodian providing a remote-computing service to the public, and is not readily accessible to the public. All three parts have to be true, which is why a public post generally falls outside content while a private message falls inside it.

Email is where the split hurts. The inbox holds the password-reset links for everything else, and the reset link lives in the message body. A catalogue tells an executor that the bank wrote on March 3. Only content shows what the bank said.

What a Vermont Executor or Administrator Sends a Custodian

The two deceased-user sections take the same shape and ask for different proof.

Both sections then let the custodian ask for more if it wants: an account identifier, evidence linking the account to the user, an affidavit that disclosure is reasonably necessary for administration of the estate under § 3558(4)(C), or a finding by the court. Section 3557(5)(C)(ii) adds a longer optional item, a court finding that disclosure would not violate 18 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq., 47 U.S.C. § 222, or other applicable law.

Section 3558 also carries a default that favors the estate. Unless the user prohibited disclosure of digital assets or the court directs otherwise, the custodian shall disclose the catalogue and the non-content assets. Silence does not block that request. Silence blocks the content request.

The Vermont paperwork behind that word certified is worth pricing out before you start. 14 V.S.A. § 902 has the Probate Division issue letters of administration to the person named executor once the will is allowed and any required bond is filed, which is the appointment chapter 125 wants proof of. 32 V.S.A. § 1434(b) charges no fee for the documents opening an estate, including two certificates of appointment and the letters, and § 1434(c) charges $5.00 for each additional certification of appointment of a fiduciary. 18 V.S.A. § 5017(a) sets a certified copy of a vital event certificate at $10.00. Each custodian keeps its own set, so two free certificates cover two companies. Count the accounts, then order what you need in one trip rather than going back for a third round. The Vermont probate courts page has the Probate Division for each county.

The Agent's Route Runs Through 14 V.S.A. Chapter 127

An agent under a power of attorney has a parallel pair of sections, and both turn on the wording of the document.

14 V.S.A. § 3559 releases the content of the principal's electronic communications only to the extent the power of attorney expressly grants the agent authority over that content. 14 V.S.A. § 3560 releases the catalogue and the other digital assets where the power of attorney gives the agent specific authority over digital assets or general authority to act. Both want a written request, an original or copy of the power of attorney, and a certification by the agent under penalty of perjury that the power of attorney is in effect.

Vermont's own act lines up with that split. 14 V.S.A. § 4031(a)(8), part of the Vermont Uniform Power of Attorney Act adopted in 2023, lists authority to "exercise authority over the content of an electronic communication of the principal in accordance with chapter 125 of this title" among the acts an agent may take only if the power of attorney expressly grants them. General authority alone does not get there.

The statutory form does the job in one line. 14 V.S.A. § 4051 prints a GRANT OF SPECIFIC AUTHORITY block whose items take effect only where the principal initials them, and one of those items reads "Exercise authority over the content and catalogue of electronic communications and digital assets under 14 V.S.A. chapter 125 (Vermont Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act)." That line reaches wider than § 4031(a)(8) does, since it names the catalogue and digital assets alongside content, so initialing it answers both § 3559 and § 3560. Leave it blank and the agent is left with the § 3560 request and no route to the messages. Check that initial before you file the document away.

Trustees Get Three Sections of Their Own

14 V.S.A. § 3561 handles the simple case. A trustee that is an original user of the account gets every digital asset of the account held in trust, including the catalogue and the content, unless the court orders otherwise or the trust provides otherwise.

14 V.S.A. § 3562 covers a successor trustee asking for content. That trustee sends a written request, a certified copy of the trust instrument or a certification of the trust under 14A V.S.A. § 1013 that includes consent to disclosure of the content of electronic communications to the trustee, and a certification under penalty of perjury that the trust exists and the trustee is currently acting. Section 3563 asks for the same package without the consent language for the catalogue and the non-content assets.

That phrase, includes consent to disclosure, is the one to carry into drafting. A certification of trust prepared for a bank closing rarely contains it, and a successor trustee who hands that document to a custodian has proved the trust and not the consent.

Guardians, and Why Vermont Never Says Conservator

Vermont appoints guardians rather than conservators, and chapter 125 was written to match. The word conservator appears nowhere in §§ 3551 through 3568. Section 3552(14) defines a guardian as a person appointed by a court to manage the estate of a living individual, including a limited guardian, and § 3552(18) defines a person under guardianship to include an individual for whom an application for the appointment of a guardian is still pending.

14 V.S.A. § 3564(a) is the incapacity path where no usable power of attorney exists. After an opportunity for a hearing under 14 V.S.A. § 3068, the court may grant a guardian access to the digital assets of a person under guardianship. The custodian then discloses the catalogue and the digital assets other than content on a written request plus a certified copy of the court order giving that authority.

Content is absent from that list, and that absence is the argument for planning ahead. Section 3564(c) adds a power in the other direction: a guardian with general authority to manage the assets may ask a custodian to suspend or terminate an account for good cause, again on a certified copy of the order.

What the Custodian Chooses, and the 60-Day Clock

14 V.S.A. § 3556 leaves the method to the company. At its sole discretion the custodian may grant full access to the account, grant partial access sufficient to perform the tasks the fiduciary is charged with, or provide a copy in a record of any digital asset the user could have accessed on the date the custodian received the request. It may assess a reasonable administrative charge, it need not disclose an asset the user deleted, and it need not hand-sort a partial request where segregating the assets would impose an undue burden. Where the burden is real, either side may ask the court to order a date-limited subset, everything, nothing, or an in camera review.

14 V.S.A. § 3566 sets the deadline. A custodian shall comply not later than 60 days after receipt of the information required by sections 3557 through 3565, and a fiduciary or designated recipient who gets no answer may apply to the court for an order directing compliance. Section 3552(6) defines that court as the Probate Division of the Superior Court of Vermont, so the motion goes to the same division that appointed you. The order has to contain a finding that compliance is not in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2702. The custodian may tell the user that a request was made, and § 3566(f) gives it immunity for anything done in good faith compliance with the chapter.

Subsection (d) is the trap almost nobody reads. A custodian may deny the request where it is aware of any lawful access to the account following receipt of the fiduciary's request. A relative who keeps logging in with the old password after the paperwork went out hands the company a reason to say no. Send the request, then leave the account alone.

Duties Travel With the Assets

14 V.S.A. § 3565 settles what a Vermont fiduciary owes and what a fiduciary may do.

Section 3565(a) carries the duties of care, loyalty and confidentiality across from tangible property to digital property in the same words. Section 3565(b) keeps that authority subject to the applicable terms of service except as § 3554 provides, subject to other law including copyright law, limited by the scope of the fiduciary's duties, and closes with a flat prohibition: the authority shall not be used to impersonate the user. Knowing the password is a different thing from holding the right to disclosure.

Two subsections open doors nothing else opens. Section 3565(c) gives a fiduciary with authority over the property of a decedent, person under guardianship, principal or settlor the right to access any digital asset in which that person had a right or interest and that is not held by a custodian or subject to a terms-of-service agreement. Section 3565(e) gives a fiduciary with authority over tangible personal property the right to access that property and any digital asset stored in it. Both make the fiduciary an authorized user for the purpose of computer-fraud and unauthorized-computer-access laws, including 13 V.S.A. § 4102, which is what keeps a lawful search of the decedent's laptop from looking like the offense that section describes.

Closing an account has its own paragraph. Section 3565(g) wants the termination request in writing, in physical or electronic form, with a certified copy of the death certificate where the user has died, plus a certified copy of the certificate of appointment of fiduciary, court order, power of attorney or trust giving the fiduciary authority over the account.

Cryptocurrency and Anything No Custodian Holds

The § 3565(c) right to reach assets no custodian holds is the reason self-custody crypto belongs in its own plan. No help desk sits behind a hardware wallet and no company can be served with a certified copy. Chapter 125 hands your fiduciary the legal right of access and cannot hand over the seed phrase.

• Write down what you hold: each exchange account, each wallet, the wallet type, and roughly what it is worth.
• Keep seed phrases and private keys offline, in a fireproof safe or a safe deposit box, never in an email draft or a photo roll.
• Say in your will or trust that the fiduciary may manage and sell digital currency, and leave a separate letter of instruction pointing at the storage location.
• Expect a slow process at hosted exchanges, which run their own deceased-account procedures on top of the certified paperwork chapter 125 already asks for.

Property that never reaches a fiduciary is property the estate cannot distribute, which is the same reasoning behind the non-probate transfers in how to avoid probate in Vermont.

Set the Online Tool Before Anyone Needs It

1. Open the online tool settings on the accounts that matter, starting with the email address that receives password resets. A direction there sits on rung one of § 3554.
2. Write digital authority into your Vermont will, and name the content of electronic communications on purpose so § 3557 is satisfied. Keep passwords out of the will itself, since a filed will becomes a court record.
3. Initial the chapter 125 line in the § 4051 statutory power of attorney, or write the same grant into a custom document, so your agent can reach both the catalogue and the content.
4. If you use a trust, give the trustee the same two grants and put consent to content disclosure into any certification of trust under 14A V.S.A. § 1013 that a successor will hand a custodian.
5. Build an inventory: platform, username, account type, rough value, and where the credentials live. Store the credentials somewhere secure and point at the location rather than copying the contents.
6. Tell your fiduciary the inventory exists and how to open it, then review the whole set once a year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Vermont have a digital assets law?

Yes. 14 V.S.A. § 3551 names it the Vermont Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. The chapter runs from § 3551 through § 3568, every section carries the enactment line Added 2017, No. 13, § 1, and Sec. 2 of that act set the effective date at July 1, 2017. It sits in Title 14, Decedents Estates and Fiduciary Relations, rather than under any technology chapter.

Can a Vermont executor read the decedent's email?

Only where the user consented or a court directs it. 14 V.S.A. § 3557 releases the content of electronic communications to the personal representative when the deceased user consented through an online tool or in a will, trust, power of attorney or other record, or when the court orders disclosure. Without one of those, § 3558 still opens the catalogue of who wrote to whom and when, and it leaves the messages closed.

What does a Vermont executor or administrator send a custodian?

14 V.S.A. § 3558 asks for a written request in physical or electronic form, a certified copy of the death certificate, and a certified copy of the certificate of appointment of fiduciary. Section 3557 asks for the same package plus proof of consent. The word certified governs both, so order spare copies while the estate is opening.

Does a Vermont power of attorney cover digital assets?

Only where the document says so. 14 V.S.A. § 4031(a)(8) makes authority over the content of an electronic communication a power that works only if the power of attorney expressly grants it. The statutory form at 14 V.S.A. § 4051 carries an initial line reading Exercise authority over the content and catalogue of electronic communications and digital assets under 14 V.S.A. chapter 125. Skipping that initial leaves the agent with the catalogue request under § 3560 and nothing more.

How long does a custodian have to answer in Vermont?

Sixty days. 14 V.S.A. § 3566(a) says a custodian shall comply not later than 60 days after receipt of the information required by sections 3557 through 3565, and a fiduciary who gets no answer may apply to the Probate Division of the Superior Court for an order directing compliance. Section 3566(b) requires that order to find compliance is not in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2702.

Can a Vermont guardian get into someone's online accounts?

Partly. 14 V.S.A. § 3564(a) lets the court grant a guardian access after an opportunity for a hearing under 14 V.S.A. § 3068. Section 3564(b) then opens the catalogue and the digital assets other than content on a written request and a certified copy of the order. Content is missing from that list, which is the argument for signing a power of attorney while capacity lasts.

What happens to cryptocurrency held in a private wallet?

14 V.S.A. § 3565(c) gives a fiduciary the right to access any digital asset in which the decedent, person under guardianship, principal or settlor had a right or interest and that is not held by a custodian or subject to a terms-of-service agreement. A self-custody wallet falls there. No company holds it, so nobody can be served, and without the seed phrase or the private keys the coins stay out of reach.

Related Guides

• Vermont Probate Guide
• Vermont Executor Duties
• Vermont Power of Attorney
• How to Avoid Probate in Vermont
• Vermont Will Requirements
• Vermont Probate Courts

Sources:

• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3551, Short title. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03551
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3552, Definitions. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03552
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3553, Applicability. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03553
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3554, User direction for disclosure of digital assets. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03554
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3555, Terms-of-service agreement. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03555
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3556, Procedure for disclosing digital assets. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03556
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3557, Disclosures of content of electronic communications of deceased user. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03557
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3558, Disclosure of other digital assets of deceased user. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03558
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3559, Disclosure of content of electronic communications of principal. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03559
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3560, Disclosure of other digital assets of principal. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03560
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3561, Disclosure of digital assets held in trust when trustee is original user. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03561
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3562, Disclosure of contents of electronic communications held in trust when trustee not original user. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03562
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3563, Disclosure of other digital assets held in trust when trustee not original user. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03563
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3564, Disclosure of digital assets to guardian of person under guardianship. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03564
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3565, Fiduciary duty and authority. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03565
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3566, Custodian compliance and immunity. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 13, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/125/03566
• Title: Act No. 13 (2017), An act relating to the Vermont Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (H.152), as enacted. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly. Publication Date: Signed May 1, 2017; Sec. 2 effective July 1, 2017. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2018/Docs/ACTS/ACT013/ACT013%20As%20Enacted.pdf
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 4031, Authority that requires specific grant; grant of general authority. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2023, No. 60, § 1, eff. July 1, 2023. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/127/04031
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 4051, Statutory form power of attorney. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2023, No. 60, § 1, eff. July 1, 2023; amended 2025, No. 64, § 14, eff. June 12, 2025. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/127/04051
• Title: 14A V.S.A. § 1013, Certification of trust. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2009, No. 20, § 1; amended 2009, No. 92 (Adj. Sess.), § 11. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14A/010/01013
• Title: 13 V.S.A. § 4102, Unauthorized access. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 1999, No. 35, § 1. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/13/087/04102
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 3068, Hearing. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 1979, No. 76, § 15; amended 2025, No. 64, § 13, eff. June 12, 2025. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/111/03068
• Title: 14 V.S.A. § 902, Will allowed; letters to executor. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Amended 2017, No. 195 (Adj. Sess.), § 5. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/14/061/00902
• Title: 32 V.S.A. § 1434, Probate cases. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Amended 2021, No. 65, § 8, eff. June 7, 2021. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/32/017/01434
• Title: 18 V.S.A. § 5017, Fees for copies. Publisher: Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online. Publication Date: Added 2017, No. 46, § 18, eff. July 1, 2019; amended 2023, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 15, eff. July 1, 2024. URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/18/101/05017

It is not legal advice.