Bill Strengthening Protection for an Individual's Digital Assets Advances

The Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act was approved by the Assembly last week and sent to the governor's desk. The New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) supports A-3433, sponsored by Assemblyman Louis Greenwald, as amended, which clarifies when and to what extent a fiduciary has access to digital accounts of an incapacitated or deceased person.

The bill underwent major changes from last session when the uniform commission revised the act. The revision came as a result of compromise among parties including AARP, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Facebook, Google and The Center for Democracy and Technology. The aim of the legislation is to update state fiduciary law to incorporate digital assets such as photographs, documents, social media accounts, websites and similar property as part of the assets a fiduciary would have legal authority to access.