Overcoming Challenges in Digital Asset Access and Management

Identify Digital Assets:

• List all digital accounts, including social media, email, online banking, subscriptions, and cryptocurrency keys. Include usernames, passwords, and any relevant access details.
• For NRIs, it’s crucial to also consider any international accounts and how digital assets might be affected by trust registration in India or abroad.

Challenges:

• Accessing digital assets can be difficult due to password protection, privacy laws, and terms-of-service agreements. Without specific instructions, your loved ones may struggle to recover these assets legally.
• It’s important for NRIs to think about how their trust with non-resident beneficiaries will handle digital assets across jurisdictions.

Legal Framework:

• The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) helps manage digital assets posthumously:
  • Tier 1: If a service offers a post-death management tool (e.g., Google’s inactive account manager), that designation controls the account.
  • Tier 2: In the absence of a tool, your will or legal documents determine access.
  • Tier 3: If neither is available, the terms-of-service agreement dictates access.
  • Can OCI be a trustee in India? Yes, understanding the inheritance tax in India for OCI is essential when considering digital assets in your estate plan.

Create a Digital Estate Plan:

• Prepare Email Accounts: Plan for access to email accounts as they can unlock other digital services and hold sentimental value.

• Consider how these might be handled through a trust with non-resident beneficiaries or a trust registration process.

• Inventory Logins: Maintain a secure list of usernames and passwords, stored separately from your will.

• For NRIs, ensure that these login details are securely shared with a trusted individual, considering how they will be passed through a trust using power of attorney.

• Outline Wishes: Specify what should happen to each account—whether they should be deleted, archived, or managed in some other way.

• It may be useful to specify how digital assets should be handled within your trust with non-resident beneficiaries.

• Name a Digital Executor: Appoint a digital executor if your main executor isn’t equipped to manage digital assets.

• This could be part of the responsibilities under a trust registration if you have assets spread across multiple countries.

• Safe Storage: Store your digital estate plan securely and provide access instructions to your executor.
  
  For NRIs, ensure that your plan is in accordance with both Indian laws and any international requirements to minimize complications like inheritance tax in India for NRI.

 Also Read: About Estate duty for NRI in US