From Likes to Legacy: Inheriting Social Media Accounts in the Age of Digital Assets
By: Madison Daub
People spend their entire lives collecting things: memories, possessions, money. But in the last quarter of a century, people have started collecting something new: followers. Society has experienced an explosion of social media platforms and Internet usage, resulting in the line between business and personal use of social media accounts exponentially blurring. What was once a fun and simple way to interact and stay connected with friends and family has now become flooded with advertisements and people known as “influencers” – individuals who use social media to influence others to act or behave in a certain way or to purchase certain products.[1] The grip social media has on the lives of its users creates ideal marketing opportunities for brands and companies where they can partner with and pay influencers to promote products or services on their social media accounts.[2] The precise amount of money influencers can make varies, and most utilize more than one social media platform to maximize their ability to generate income.[3] Many influencers generate enough money that their only job is to manage their social media accounts.[4] As of 2024, the influencer sector is worth approximately $250 billion.[5]
Social media is valuable. Not only is there the potential for income through influencing, but there is also the seemingly unmeasurable value of sharing a portion of your life with others. And where there is value, the owner of said value may desire to transfer it to another upon their death so that the recipient may likewise enjoy the value. A social media account is just one form of a digital asset.[6] Other digital assets include nonfungible tokens (NFTs), cryptocurrency, and photos in the cloud.[7] While digital assets are not exempt from the problems real and personal property face during probate,[8] they face additional challenges including access issues, lack of clear ownership, privacy laws, valuation disparities, tax consequences, and lack of inclusion within typical estate plans.[9]
There is no singular legal definition of a digital asset. For estate planning purposes, a digital asset is any electronic record that an individual has a right or interest in.[10] Social media accounts, however, are unique because the account itself is the asset.[11] Its value stems not just from the existence of the account, but from what the account’s owner is doing with the account in order to reach followers, share content, and generate income.[12] Putting aside the complexity of how a social media account is monetized, questions of account inheritability may arise when the owner of an income generating social media account dies, leaving behind a digital asset. Public policy would stress the importance of protecting the right to convey financial interests upon death, similar to the right to alienate property.[13]
In 2014, in an attempt “to aid fiduciaries in the inventory, reporting, and distribution of digital assets,” the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) introduced the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (UFADAA).[14] The statute attempted to address the issue of digital asset management after one’s death or incapacity. A revised version of the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, RUFADAA, was later proposed in 2015, in response to criticism from the custodians that had previously supported UFADAA.[15] Since its introduction, all but two states have adopted either URFADAA or RUFADAA in some format. Failure to adopt RUFADAA in the remaining two states can likely be explained by a preexisting state statute restricting fiduciary authority as it pertains to digital assets, a general lack of attention outside of legal circles, and being overshadowed by other issues during legislative sessions.[16]
In its final version, RUFADAA grants individuals the ability to plan for the management and disposition of their digital assets, treating them as if they were real and tangible property.[17] Under RUFADAA, the traditional power a fiduciary has in managing tangible personal property is expanded to include digital assets such as digital files, web domains, and types of cryptocurrency; but, it restricts access to potentially sensitive electronic communications like email, text, and social media accounts – unless the testator has given express consent through an estate planning document or other record.[18]
Through the use of estate planning documents, the decedent (the owner of the digital asset) expresses their desire whether to allow a custodian to give fiduciary access to the decedent’s digital assets and their content.[19] One can elect to grant a fiduciary full disclosure, partial disclosure, or no disclosure.[20] However, if the documents do not provide explicit directions or there are no estate planning documents, the terms of service (TOS) agreement for that particular digital service provider applies.[21] In the situation where explicit directions are missing and there is no TOS agreement, or where the one in place does not provide guidance, RUFADAA default rules will govern.[22] Details about the content of such communications remain private.[23] Without this express permission to see content, RUFADAA’s default rules allow the fiduciary to see only the sender, receiver, and timestamp of an electronic communication.[24] While ensuring compliance with the Stored Communications Act of 1986, this feature of RUFADAA can overrule a TOS agreement, thus allowing custodians to give a fiduciary access to the digital asset.[25]
In states with statutes straying from RUFADAA and its default rules, key features of governing legislation include limitations on what fiduciaries can access – specifically whether a fiduciary can access the contents of communications stored within the digital asset, what the fiduciary can do with the digital asset once accessed, and whether a court order is required to gain access.[26] In any situation, the court may issue an order for a fiduciary to be given access.[27] This occurs most often in cases where a conservator or guardian is trying to gain access to a dependent’s digital assets.[28] Overall, limiting the scope of a fiduciary’s access, even if the decedent allows full disclosure, is important in protecting a decedent’s privacy and desires upon death.
Although the ability to devise one’s social media account to another may not currently be a pressing concern for lawyers and estate planners, the overwhelming presence of social media in our lives, coupled with the potential high sentimental and monetary values of such accounts, indicates that a legal dispute over inheriting a social media account may soon be at the forefront of estate litigation proceedings.[29] Creating a digital estate plan may soon be another routine way of protecting your assets. The process of digital estate planning mimics that of other assets that typically pass through probate. In creating a digital estate plan, an account holder, in compliance with their state’s RUFADAA or equivalent statute, can take inventory of digital assets, choose how to allocate digital assets, and appoint a digital executor to make a binding legal plan for devising digital assets, such as a social media account.[30]
The value of social media cannot be overlooked. As you go about using social media and building and collecting digital assets, think about whether preserving your online legacy in something you might want to plan for. In today’s age of digital assets, planning for and preserving one’s legacy includes more than what you can hold in your hands.
[1] Influencer, Oxford English Dictionary, https://www.oed.com/dictionary/influencer_n?tl=true (last visited May 1, 2025); YEC, The Rise Of The Influencer: Predictions For Ways They’ll Change the World, Forbes (July 8, 2022), https://www.forbes.com/councils/theyec/2022/07/08/the-rise-of-the-influencer-predictions-for-ways-theyll-change-the-world/.
[2] Aaron Irmas, How New-Age Social Media Marketing Is Changing and What You Need to Know In 2025, Business.com (Feb. 3, 2026), https://www.business.com/articles/how-new-age-social-media-marketing-is-changing-and-what-you-need-to-know/; see also Tony Pec, Why Businesses and Brands Need to Be Taking Advantage of Social Media, Forbes (Sept. 6, 2022), https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesagencycouncil/2022/09/06/why-businesses-and-brands-need-to-be-taking-advantage-of-social-media/.
[3] Emma Kumer & Rachel Lerman, How Much Money Do Influencers Make? 10 Creators Give Us the Real Numbers, The Washington Post (Dec. 22, 2023), https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/22/how-much-influencers-make-youtube-tiktok/ (illustrating the different types of influencers and the varying amounts that influencers can make).
[4]Id.; see also Katie Bishop, Influencing Can Be a High-Earning Career. Why Don’t We Take It Seriously?, BBC (Sept. 21, 2023), https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230919-influencing-can-be-a-high-earning-career-why-dont-we-take-it-seriously.
[5] Matt Craig et al., Forbes Top Creators of 2024, Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2024/10/28/top-creators-2024-the-influencers-turning-buzz-into-billions/ (last updated Mar. 4, 2025).
[6] Estate Planning for Your Social Media Accounts/Digital Assets, RKPT (Nov. 27, 2023), https://www.rkpt.com/personal-planning/estate-planning/2023/11/27/estate-planning-for-your-social-media-accounts-digital-assets/.
[7] Id.
[8] Naomi Cahn, Probate Law Meets the Digital Age, 67 Vand. L. Rev. 1697 (2014).
[9] Id.; How Probate Courts Handle Digital Assets in High-Value Estates, Peabody Law Firm, PLLC (Dec. 24, 2024), https://peabodylawfirm.com/how-probate-courts-handle-digital-assets-in-high-value-estates/.
[10] Estate Planning for a Digital World, Merrill: A Bank of America Company, https://www.ml.com/articles/digital-assets-estate-planning.html (last updated Feb. 17, 2016).
[11] See Bhavya Aggarwal, How to Determine Social Media Value: Tips, Metrics and More, Sprinklr (Feb. 29, 2024), https://www.sprinklr.com/blog/social-media-value/.
[12] Id.
[13] Lars Torleif Reed, Contractual Indescendibility: Examining Inheritance of Income-Generating Digital Accounts, 20 Colum. Sci. & Tech. L. Rev. 93, 118 (2018).
[14] UFADAA, Revised: What is RUFADAA?, Bequest (Nov. 22, 2023), https://bequest.com/blog/ufadaa-revised-what-is-rufadaa.
[15] Sasha A. Klein & Mark R. Parthemer, Who Will Delete the Digital You? Understanding Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets, Probate and Property Magazine (July/Aug. 2016), https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/probate_property_magazine/v30/04/2016_aba_rpte_pp_v30_4_article_klein_parthemer_understanding_fiduciary_access_to_digital_assets.pdf.
[16] HB1118, Louisiana State Legislature, https://legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=16RS&b=HB1118&sbi=y (last visited May 1, 2025); Kathryn M. Barry, Digital Assets: A Potential Tripwire, MassBar Association (Apr. 2020), https://massbar.org/publications/section-review/section-review-article/section-review-2020-march-april2020/digital-assets-a-potential-tripwire.
[17] The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act – A Summary, Uniform Law Commission, https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.americanbar.org/digital-asset-abstract.html/content/dam/aba/publications/probate_property_magazine/v29/04/2015_aba_rpte_pp_v29_4_article_prangley_war_and_peac_in_digital_assets.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi_9e6ZrIaNAxVKGVkFHXw1KgMQFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3PsHKjl8iKHc4dNNwxNILp (last visited May 1, 2025).
[18] Sasha A. Klein & Mark R. Parthemer, supra note 15.
[19] UFADAA, Revised: What is RUFADAA?, supra note 14.
[20] I. Richard Ploss, Estate Planning for Digital Assets: Understanding the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act and Its Implications for Planners and Clients, Financial Planning Association (Apr. 2018), https://www.financialplanningassociation.org/article/journal/APR18-estate-planning-digital-assets-understanding-revised-uniform-fiduciary-access-digital-0.
[21] UFADAA, Revised: What is RUFADAA?, supra note 14.
[22] Id.
[23] Id.
[24] Id.
[25] Id.; I. Richard Ploss, supra note 20.
[26] State Laws Regarding Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Chart, Practical Law Trusts & Estates, https://us.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/w-006-8402 (last visited May 1, 2025).
[27] I. Richard Ploss, supra note 20.
[28] Id.
[29] Alfred L. Brophy et al., Experiencing Trusts and Estates, 245-46 (2d ed. 2017).
[30] How To Create Your Own Digital Estate Plan, Trust & Will, https://trustandwill.com/learn/digital-estate-planning (last visited May 1, 2025).
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