- A “digital executor” is someone you choose to deal with your online accounts. In most places it is not a separate legal office.
- In the UK, only an executor has legal authority. Appoint someone comfortable with technology as one of your executors.
- Platform tools such as Google Inactive Account Manager and Apple Legacy Contact let you name people directly, and in the US they take priority over your will.
Dealing with someone’s digital life takes patience and some technical confidence: finding accounts, filling in each provider’s bereavement form, downloading photos before an account is deleted. Many people want to give that job to a particular person. That person is often called a digital executor.
Whether the title means anything legally depends on where you live.
United Kingdom
There is no separate “digital executor” role in the law of England and Wales. Only executors (and administrators, where there is no will) have legal authority over the estate. Naming someone as digital executor in a letter of wishes does not give them legal power, because a letter of wishes is not binding.
A Law Society private client article suggests two practical steps:
- Appoint “at least one executor who is knowledgeable about digital assets”. A will can confine an executor’s authority to “a defined class of assets”, so you can appoint someone just for your digital affairs alongside your main executor.
- Give detailed guidance in a letter of wishes alongside the will. See writing a letter of instruction.
Even an executor’s authority has limits online. The same article notes that the service provider controls who may access an account, and that the Computer Misuse Act 1990 makes unauthorised access an offence. No reported prosecution of a relative was found. Treat it as a legal risk, and use providers’ official processes.
A Lasting Power of Attorney does not fill the gap either. It usually ends when the donor dies, so an attorney who helped with your accounts while you were alive has no authority afterwards.
Whether to appoint a limited executor is a real decision about your will. A solicitor can confirm the right wording for your situation.
United States
RUFADAA (the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act) does not create a separate digital executor office either. The person who acts is your personal representative (executor or administrator), trustee or agent under a power of attorney. You effectively choose who handles your digital assets in two ways:
- Through a provider’s online tool, such as Google Inactive Account Manager or a Facebook legacy contact. This comes first and overrides a contrary direction in your will.
- In a will, trust or power of attorney, by giving authority over digital assets, including consent to disclose the content of your messages.
That consent matters. By default, the personal representative gets only the “catalogue”: who you communicated with, when, and at which address. The content of emails and messages needs your consent in a tool or document, unless a court orders disclosure.
RUFADAA is state law. Almost every state has adopted it or a version of it. California adopted a modified version in 2016 for deceased users and widened it from 2025. Louisiana has its own civil-law rule instead, Oklahoma adopted RUFADAA in 2024, and Massachusetts had not enacted RUFADAA as of its last recorded bill action (November 2025).
ABA guidance from 2026 recommends naming a digital executor and keeping a digital asset inventory up to date.
European Union
EU law does not give heirs rights over a dead person’s data. The GDPR says it “does not apply to the personal data of deceased persons” and leaves rules to each country. National approaches differ:
- Spain comes closest to a digital executor. Article 96 of its 2018 data protection law, as described in Spanish legal commentary, lets the testamentary executor (albacea) or a person expressly named by the deceased instruct online providers.
- France lets you leave directives about your personal data after death, under article 85 of its data protection law. General directives can be lodged with a trusted third party such as a notaire.
- Italy allows a person acting on the deceased’s behalf as their agent (mandatario) to exercise data rights.
- Germany has no specific statute, but its Federal Court of Justice held in 2018 that a social network account passes to the heirs like letters and diaries.
- The Netherlands has no specific law. The government said in 2021 that legislation was not currently appropriate.
See digital inheritance in the European Union for more.
Whatever the law says, platform tools are the most direct way to name someone. Set up Google Inactive Account Manager, Apple Legacy Contact and password manager emergency access for the same person you choose as your digital executor.
Choosing and briefing the person
Pick someone who is organised, comfortable with online forms and likely to outlive you. Then:
- Ask them first, and explain what the job involves.
- Name them in the platform tools listed above.
- Give them, or tell them where to find, your digital asset inventory.
- Tell them where the master password and recovery codes are kept.
- If you are in the UK, decide whether to appoint them formally as an executor.