Most people don’t think about their digital life when they think about their estate. But they should. Online accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, digital photo libraries, subscription services, loyalty points, domain names, and social media profiles all have value, whether financial or personal, and all of them become somebody else’s problem to deal with after death. For Chicago executors, that problem is real and often underestimated.
Illinois has addressed this through a specific legal framework, but the framework only goes so far. The practical challenges of actually accessing and managing digital assets during estate administration are significant, and they don’t resolve themselves.
What Illinois Law Actually Says About Digital Asset Access
Illinois enacted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, codified at 755 ILCS 70, which gives executors and other fiduciaries a legal right to access certain digital assets belonging to a deceased person. That’s the good news.
The catch is that the law creates a tiered system of access that depends heavily on what instructions the deceased left behind before death. The tiers work like this:
- Tier one: If the deceased used an online tool provided by the platform to specify who can access their account after death, those instructions control. Google’s Inactive Account Manager and Facebook’s Legacy Contact feature are examples of these tools.
- Tier two: If no online tool instruction exists, the terms of a valid will, trust, or power of attorney that explicitly addresses digital assets can grant fiduciary access.
- Tier three: If neither of the above exists, the platform’s own terms of service govern, which typically means the executor gets limited or no access.
Most people don’t use tier one tools and don’t address digital assets in their estate planning documents. That leaves executors dealing with tier three, which is the most restrictive option, for the majority of accounts they encounter.
What Executors Can and Cannot Access
Even with proper authority under Illinois law, access to digital assets isn’t automatic. The act distinguishes between the content of electronic communications, like emails and private messages, and the catalogue of communications, like the list of who someone communicated with and when.
Content of electronic communications receives the highest protection. An executor can’t access the actual content of a deceased person’s emails or messages unless the deceased specifically authorized it in their will or through a platform tool. The catalogue, meaning metadata about communications, is more accessible.
Financial accounts that happen to be managed online, like brokerage accounts or bank accounts accessed through a web portal, are already covered by existing financial institution regulations and aren’t specifically addressed by the digital asset act. Cryptocurrency is different, and it’s one of the most complicated areas an executor can face.
The Cryptocurrency Problem in Illinois Estates
Cryptocurrency presents unique challenges that no other asset class quite replicates. A traditional bank account can be accessed through the financial institution with proper legal authority. Cryptocurrency held in a self-custody wallet, meaning one controlled by a private key rather than through an exchange, can only be accessed by someone who has that private key.
If the deceased didn’t leave the private key in a discoverable location, the cryptocurrency may be permanently inaccessible. It doesn’t transfer to the estate. It doesn’t become available through court order. It simply sits in a wallet that nobody can open. There’s no institution to serve with legal process. There’s no customer service line that can unlock access.
For executors, this means that locating private keys and wallet access information is a genuine priority during the early stages of estate administration. It also means that encouraging clients to document their cryptocurrency holdings and access information before death is one of the most valuable estate planning conversations a Chicago attorney can have.
A Chicago estate administration lawyer helps executors systematically locate and inventory digital assets, identify what access authority exists, and take appropriate steps to preserve cryptocurrency and other digital holdings before value is lost.
What Estate Planning Can Do to Prevent These Problems
The most effective solution to digital asset administration problems is addressing them before death. Several specific planning steps make an executor’s job significantly easier:
- Including explicit language in a will or trust authorizing the executor or trustee to access digital assets and specifying what should happen to them
- Using platform-specific legacy tools like Google’s Inactive Account Manager to designate who receives access to each account
- Maintaining a secure, updated document that lists account credentials, cryptocurrency wallet information, and private keys, stored somewhere the executor can locate after death
- Discussing digital asset inventory with an estate planning attorney so nothing is overlooked
These steps aren’t complicated. They just require thinking about digital life as part of the estate, which most people haven’t done.
Kravets Law Group helps Chicago executors navigate digital asset access and management as part of comprehensive estate administration support. Dan Kravets brings years of combined experience in Illinois estate administration, including the increasingly common challenges that digital assets present. If you’re serving as an executor and facing questions about digital accounts, cryptocurrency, or other online assets in the estate, reach out to a Chicago estate administration lawyer to discuss what access authority exists and how to proceed.