New Jersey may soon join a growing number of states recognizing a fiduciary heir's right to obtain control of a decedent's digital assets.
On Monday, the Assembly gave final legislative approval to A-3433, known as the "Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act." The bill passed both houses of the Legislature without opposition and now goes to Gov. Chris Christie for consideration.
The legislation was proposed in 2014 by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. The commission said 23 states already have enacted a version of the legislation, while 18 others are in the process of doing so.
The legislation sponsored in the Assembly by Majority Leader Louis Greenwald, D-Camden, and in the Senate by Patrick Diegnan Jr., D-Middlesex is designed to help residents secure their digital assets much as they would tangible assets.
"This is a digital age we are living in. If a custodial party wants to guard their digital assets they should be able to without regulatory barriers. Digital property such as email accounts, social media accounts, and internet-based currency is just as important as any other asset a person may have," Greenwald said in a statement. "UFADAA is comprehensive legislation that will help individuals protect digital properties as they would their physical assets."
Under the UFADAA, the traditional power of a fiduciary to manage a person's tangible property when that person dies or loses the ability to manage his own property would be extended to include digital assets.
The act defines the term "digital assets" as a person's digital property and electronic communications. Some examples of digital assets are financial accounts such as online bank accounts, email accounts and social media accounts, computer files, web domains, and virtual currency.
The UFADAA would allow fiduciaries to manage digital property but restricts a fiduciary's access to electronic communications such as email, text messages and social media accounts unless the original user consented in a will, trust, power of attorney or other record, the sponsors said.
The act covers four types of fiduciaries: executors or administrators of deceased persons' estates, court-appointed guardians of incapacitated persons, agents appointed under powers of attorney, and trustees.
The bill would not apply to digital assets of an employer used by an employee.
Also under the UFADAA, fiduciaries for digital assets are subject to the same fiduciary duties that normally apply to tangible assets. For example, an executor would not be authorized to publish the decedent's confidential communications or impersonate the decedent by sending email form the decedent's account.