A majority of the elderly now use the Internet and many have online access to their financial accounts. Most agreements governing online accounts ignore death and incapacity altogether, or worse, provide for automatic account termination if either occurs. This means agents, conservators, trustees and even personal representatives are often hampered when attempting to marshal and manage digital assets.
Connecticut laws governing the actions of most fiduciaries do not address digital assets. The state is the first to enact a fiduciary access law in 2005 (codified as Connecticut General Statutes §45a-334a), but it is limited to a decedent’s electronic mail. Help is on the way, however, in the form of the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (FADA), which should be finalized at the Uniform Law Commission’s annual meeting this July. FADA will vest personal representatives, conservators, agents acting under powers of attorney and trustees with the authority to access most digital assets, and is broader than any existing state law.
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