Q. I am a frequent user of Facebook and other social media accounts, and I sometimes wonder what would happen to my accounts upon my death. Would my family be able to access my posts or terminate my accounts?
A. Under a California law that went into effect January 1, 2017, the answer is “yes”, provided that you take proactive steps during your lifetime to authorize access after your death. The law is called the “Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act” (“Act”) or AB 691. Previously, California law was silent on the right of family members to access such records after the owner’s death.
Under this Act, there are essentially four ways in which you may give a person you trust (your “fiduciary”) access to your social media accounts after your demise. The “Act” calls these “digital assets”.
1) Use On Line Tool: You may give consent in the “Online Tool” set up by the custodian, such as Facebook or Twitter (“X”), in response to the new law. The consent you provide in this tool overrides anything to the contrary in the custodian’s “terms of service”, or any contrary intention in your will or other legal document;
2) Grant Authority In A Legal Document: Under the new law, you may grant access in your Last Will, Power of Attorney, Trust, or other legal document. However, this authorization must specifically grant the right to access your digital assets; a general grant of authority to deal with your estate may not be sufficient.
3) Terms of Service Agreement: If you have failed to grant access by using the account custodian’s “Online Tool”, nor given specific authority in your Last Will or other legal document, then the custodian’s Terms of Service (“TOS”) would control, and the TOS may or may not grant authority to access records of your digital communications after your death.
4) Court Order: Finally, unless you have specifically objected to the release in the Online Tool or in your Will or other legal document, your executor might apply for a court order, provided that he or she can show that disclosure is reasonably necessary for estate administration.
So, if you would like others to have access to your digital assets after your death, the two best ways to do this are as follows: (a) go to the custodian’s website, locate the “online tool” established pursuant to this legislation and specifically consent to disclosure to your executor, successor trustee, or other designated loved ones after your death; and/or (b) specifically authorize disclosure in your Last Will, Power Of Attorney, Trust or other legal document.
If you have already prepared your estate planning documents, you might consider the creation of a stand-alone Power Of Attorney for Digital Assets. Note: normally, a power of attorney expires upon the death of the maker. However, under this legislation, a consent in a power of attorney to access digital assets would apparently still be valid, for that limited purpose, after the death of the maker.
Further, this Act was recently amended, effective this year (2025), to address a previous shortcoming: previously, your fiduciary could only access these accounts upon your death. Now, under recently enacted AB 1458, your designated fiduciary can also do so upon your incapacity. This now allows your Agent under a Durable Power of Attorney, or your court-appointed Conservator, to act during your lifetime where you are not able to do so yourself.
Lastly, the term “digital assets” is a bit confusing regarding bank accounts. It appears that the online access to these accounts (which permits you to pay bills electronically and view your banking transactions) is considered a covered “digital asset”, but the actual money in those accounts is not. Thus, you may still need to go into your loved one’s bank in order to handle certain transactions with respect to those accounts. Still, where the need is to pay bills and determine account balances, the Digital Asset law is a welcome addition to the power now given to your Executor, Trustee, and – most recently – your Conservator and Agent under a POA.
In summary, if you desire to provide access to your social medial and other on line accounts upon your incapacity or your demise, you may now do so, provided that you take proactive steps as outlined above.