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Katz & Associates / Florida estate planning
Your family may know about an account but not how to get its files. Align your wishes, legal papers, and account settings now.
Start with what you want preserved
Your Florida estate plan should cover digital assets. Knowing a password does not give someone the legal right to use an account.
Choose who may get your records and what they should save or delete. Plan how they can ask for them. Cover both death and a time when you cannot act for yourself. Our Florida estate planning services put those decisions in the context of your wider plan.
Two different questions
These may be two people with different jobs. An online bank statement is a digital record. The money is a separate asset. Who gets that money depends on who owns it, any named beneficiary, and other law.
Florida’s definition of a digital asset makes this distinction: an underlying asset or debt is not included unless it is itself an electronic record. A legacy contact does not, just by being named, inherit all assets tied to an account.
Start with the outcome. You may want your daughter to get family photos. Your estate’s representative may need bank records. You may want messages kept private. These wishes call for different access rights, not one shared login.
Resolve conflicts while you can
Yes, in the circumstances set out in Florida Statutes §740.003. A direction made through an online tool can take priority. It can override a will, trust, power of attorney, or other record that says something else. For this rule to apply, the tool must let you change or delete the direction at all times.
What if you have not used such a tool, or none is offered? You can allow or bar disclosure in a will, trust, power of attorney, or other record. The law also sets rules for when your choices override standard service terms.
This is a reason to compare instructions, not to abandon legal documents. Check the actual account settings when reviewing your will and trust arrangements. Fix each conflict through the proper channel. One document cannot fix every account.
An account-by-account decision aid
Pick an important account. Ask your chosen person to explain the steps they would take. Do not hand over live passwords just to test the plan.
| Desired result | Check before relying on the plan |
|---|---|
| Preserve family photos | Which files can the provider release, to whom, and with what documents or access key? |
| Find estate records | Can the person handling your estate find the account? Can they show the right to request its records? |
| Keep messages private | Do the settings and legal papers agree on what can be shared? |
| Transfer a valuable asset | Who owns it, who inherits it, and what separate access or transfer process applies? |
This aid draws on Florida Chapter 740 and the access rules of each provider. It does not promise access or replace the provider’s process.
A concrete example
Apple requires your chosen person’s access key and your death certificate. They may get photos and files. They cannot get iCloud Keychain passwords or passkeys. Certain purchased media and subscriptions are also excluded. Follow Apple’s Legacy Contact instructions and confirm the key was received.
This tool responds when an account has not been used for a set time, not only to death. You choose who gets which data. Check your choices, waiting period, and contact details in Google’s current instructions.
A named contact may not get every password or purchase. Access may not be prompt. Record the limits with the account’s name.
Choose the scope of disclosure
A list of who sent messages is not the same as the messages. For a deceased person’s message contents, §740.006 requires the user’s consent or a court direction. The request must include the required papers. More account details or court findings may be needed.
Lifetime planning matters too. Section 740.008 covers access by an agent. The power of attorney must expressly grant that person authority over message contents. A fiduciary has a legal duty to act for a person or estate. Trusting a friend does not, by itself, give them that role.
Discuss whom you trust, which information they need, and what you want kept private. Our guide to powers of attorney and health-care planning explains the broader incapacity question.
Make the next review productive
List important email, storage, financial, subscription, domain, business, and digital-wallet accounts. For each, note its purpose and provider. Add whom you chose, what they should do, and where secure instructions are kept.
Keep passwords and recovery secrets safe and separate. Do not put them in an ordinary email or a publicly shared document. For valuable crypto or business accounts, ask for legal and technical help with that account. A general list is not enough.
Review the plan when you change an account, phone number, chosen person, or security method. Ask the chosen person whether they can locate the instructions without asking them to sign in as you. This tests the plan without giving away access today.
Bring the pieces together
Bring your account inventory and existing estate documents. Talk with Katz & Associates about your chosen people, privacy wishes, and estate plan.
Before you hand over access
Not necessarily. Under §740.005, a provider may grant full access, limited access, or a copy of available records. Disclosure is not a guarantee of a working login.
The label alone does not grant rights to an account. Match the person’s legal role, your directions, and the provider’s rules. A tech-savvy helper and the person appointed by a court to handle your estate can have different jobs.
Yes. Florida law lets you allow or bar disclosure. Discuss your limits. Match your documents to the online settings. You can choose to save family photos without treating every private message the same way.
About the author
This article provides general information, not legal advice for a particular account or estate.
Sources checked October 26, 2026. Laws and provider procedures can change.
