Including Digital Assets in Your Estate Plan: A Miami Owner’s Guide

From the crypto wallet on your phone to the cloud drive holding decades of family photos, your digital life is now part of your legacy. For Miami residents, the question is not whether to address these assets, but which planning tool fits best. Below we compare the main options available under Florida law.

Option 1: Rely on Florida’s Default Access Law

Florida adopted the Fluciary Access to Digital Assets Act (Chapter 740, the Florida version of RUFADAA), which sets the order of authority a fiduciary uses to reach your accounts. The catch is that an online provider’s terms-of-service agreement and any “online tool” you set up (like a legacy contact) often outrank your will. Doing nothing means a Miami personal representative may be locked out of accounts entirely, even with letters of administration from the Miami-Dade probate court.

Option 2: Grant Authority in Your Will and Durable POA

A more deliberate approach is to add explicit digital-asset language to your will (executed under Fla. Stat. §732.502) and to your durable power of attorney under Chapter 709. The will controls access after death; the durable POA covers incapacity while you are alive. The advantage is clear written authority. The limitation is that anything passing through your will still travels through probate, which becomes public record in Miami-Dade. Digital files with sentimental rather than financial value gain little from probate exposure.

Option 3: Use a Revocable Trust

For Miami families who want privacy and continuity, a revocable trust under Chapter 736 is often the strongest option. Assets titled to the trust avoid probate, and the successor trustee can act immediately, without waiting for court appointment. You can fund the trust with the financial side of your digital estate and provide a separate, secured inventory for credentials. Because the trust stays private, your photo libraries, domain names, and monetized accounts pass without the public docket that comes with formal administration.

Special Notes on Cryptocurrency

Crypto is unforgiving: lose the private keys and the asset is gone, regardless of how perfect your documents are. No Florida statute can recover a key. The practical plan is to keep a secure, regularly updated record of wallet locations and access methods, stored separately from the documents themselves, and to name a fiduciary who is comfortable with the technology. Note that Florida imposes no state estate or inheritance tax, so the focus is access and security rather than state-level tax.

Which Approach Fits You?

If your digital footprint is light, default law plus clear will language may be enough. If you hold valuable crypto, an online business, or simply want privacy in a busy Miami-Dade court system, a revocable trust paired with a secure credential inventory usually wins. Most families end up combining tools rather than relying on one.

Talk With a Florida Attorney

Digital-asset planning sits at the intersection of Chapter 740, probate, and trust law, and the right mix depends on your specific holdings. Before drafting or updating documents, consult a licensed Florida estate planning attorney who understands how these rules apply to Miami residents.