Oregon and Wyoming enact model digital assets law
March 24, 2016
While a number of states (South Carolina included) have introduced legislation to adopt the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, only three have actually adopted it thus far. The first was Delaware, which adopted it on August 12, 2015, effective January 1, 2015. Second was Oregon, adopted on March 2, 2016, effective January 1, 2017. Now Wyoming makes the third, which adopted the uniform law on March 7, 2016.
The Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act allows personal representatives, executors, guardians/conservators, and persons acting under a power of attorney to have access to digital accounts of a decedent or incapacitated person. The law is intended to make it easier to gather the digital assets and get access to them to administer a decedent’s or incapacitated person’s estate. Nowadays, an important part of estate planning will be focused on generating a list of digital assets and providing the ability for our designated agents to obtain access to the digital assets when necessary. Other bills are pending around the country, so it is expected that this uniform law will be adopted somewhat rapidly.
South Carolina has a bill currently pending in the state legislature. You can find it here. It will be interesting to see if this bill can move forward, particularly when lots of attention seems to be on the highway bill and gas tax proposal. I am unsure however how effective this bill will be. The various terms of services agreements users accept when using online services can potentially take the effectiveness out of this law. This will be a fascinating area of estate planning and probate to watch in the coming years.
Check out this prior post for some examples of why this bill can be so important.