The Modern Role Your Estate Plan Might Be Missing
When you think about what happens after you die, you probably think about your will, your bank accounts, your home. But what about your email? Your social media? Your cryptocurrency? Your cloud storage full of family photos?
This is where a digital executor comes in — someone you trust to manage your online presence and digital assets after your death.
What Does a Digital Executor Do?
A digital executor is responsible for carrying out your wishes regarding your digital accounts and assets. Depending on what you've specified, this might include closing or deactivating social media accounts, securing or deleting email accounts, transferring digital assets (cryptocurrency, domain names, digital media libraries) to beneficiaries, archiving important digital content (photos, documents, messages), canceling online subscriptions and services, managing any online businesses or revenue-generating accounts, and removing personal information from the internet.
Why Do You Need One?
The average person has more than 100 online accounts. Without someone authorized to manage them, these accounts can remain active indefinitely — creating security risks (identity theft from dormant accounts), financial drain (subscriptions continuing to charge), emotional pain (social media "memories" popping up for grieving family members), and lost assets (cryptocurrency wallets with no one who has access).
Traditional estate executors handle physical and financial assets, but they may not have the technical knowledge or even the legal authority to handle digital accounts. A digital executor fills this gap.
How to Choose a Digital Executor
Your digital executor should be someone who is tech-savvy enough to navigate different platforms and services, trustworthy enough to access your private digital life, reliable enough to carry out your specific wishes, and willing to take on the role.
This might be the same person as your estate executor, or it might be someone else — perhaps a tech-literate friend or family member. The most important thing is that they understand and are prepared for the responsibility.
What to Prepare for Your Digital Executor
A digital inventory. List every significant online account you have, including the service name, your username or email, the type of content or value stored there, and your wishes for each account (close, archive, transfer, memorialize).
Secure access to credentials. Use a password manager with an emergency access or legacy feature. Or store encrypted credentials in a secure vault with instructions for your digital executor. Never leave passwords in plain text in a document or note.
Specific instructions. Be as clear as possible about what you want done with each account. "Close my Facebook account" is clearer than "handle my social media." If there are accounts with sentimental value (like a photo storage account), specify exactly what should happen to the content.
Legal authority. To give your digital executor the legal authority to act, include the appointment in your will or create a separate digital estate document. Without explicit authorization, many platforms will refuse to grant access — even to close family members.
The Legal Landscape
The legal framework around digital assets and digital executors is still evolving. Some key things to know: many jurisdictions have enacted laws specifically addressing digital assets in estate planning. Most major platforms (Google, Facebook, Apple) have their own legacy or inactive account policies. Cryptocurrency and other blockchain assets have unique challenges — without private keys, these assets may be permanently inaccessible. Terms of service for most platforms technically prohibit sharing passwords — having legal authorization helps navigate this.
Taking Action
Appointing a digital executor is simpler than you might think. Start by creating your digital inventory, choose someone you trust and ask if they're willing, include the appointment in your will or estate plan, set up a secure method for sharing credentials, and make sure your digital executor knows where everything is.
Review and update this plan at least once a year — your digital life changes more quickly than your physical one.
Solace Care makes digital legacy planning simple — helping you create a digital inventory, document your wishes, and securely share access with the people you trust.
Related reading
Managing digital assets after a death
Living will vs. advance directive
Power of attorney explained simply
