You have spent years building it. A social media following. A monetized YouTube channel. An email account. An online business generating real income. Florida law governs exactly what happens to all of it when you die — and most families, and most estate planning attorneys, are not prepared for what that law actually says.
Florida Chapter 740 — The Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
Florida Chapter 740 — the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act — gives your designated fiduciary legal authority to access, manage, and transfer your digital property after death. But legal authority and practical access are two different things. There is a critical gap between what the statute allows and what the platforms actually do.
The online business scenario is the one most families never see coming. A Shopify store. An Etsy shop. A monetized YouTube channel. A domain name portfolio generating passive income. Without explicit planning under Chapter 740, your family may be legally entitled to those assets and completely unable to access or transfer them.
The Problem: Platform Terms of Service vs. Florida Law
Every major digital platform — Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok — has its own terms of service that govern what happens to an account when the owner dies. Those terms often conflict with what Florida law allows. Chapter 740 attempts to bridge that gap, but it requires proactive planning. You must designate an online tool or provide instructions in your will that explicitly authorize your fiduciary to access your digital accounts.
Without that explicit authorization, your fiduciary may have the legal right under Chapter 740 but face a wall of platform policy when they try to exercise it.
What Digital Assets Are Covered Under Chapter 740?
Chapter 740 covers a broad range of digital property, including email accounts and communications, social media accounts, online financial accounts, digital files and documents, domain names, and any online account with monetary value. The statute distinguishes between content (emails, messages, photos) and non-content data (account access, subscriber information), and the level of access granted to a fiduciary differs for each category.
What You Need to Do Now
If you have digital assets of any value — financial or personal — your estate plan needs to address Chapter 740 explicitly. That means designating a digital fiduciary, providing the proper authorization language in your will or trust, and maintaining a secure record of accounts and access credentials that your fiduciary can legally use. Contact Weidner Law to ensure your digital estate is properly planned under Florida law.
Read the Exact Statute
The Florida statutes cited in this article are published word-for-word — free, complete, and fully organized — at FloridaRules.net.
FloridaRules.net — Every Florida Probate Rule, Statute, and Case Commentary. In One Place.
