Your life now lives online: email, cloud drives, photo libraries, banking apps, social media, password managers, and perhaps cryptocurrency wallets. Without clear instructions, loved ones can be locked out for months, losing irreplaceable memories and, in the case of crypto, real money. Travis County courts respect digital-asset directives when they are written correctly. If you build a practical kit into your estate plan, your executor or trustee can access what you own, protect your privacy, and move quickly without violating service contracts.
Start With an Inventory You Can Actually Maintain
A digital inventory should be short and structured. Create a spreadsheet with columns for service name, purpose, account email, recovery phone, and where credentials are stored—not the credentials themselves. Include your password manager account (1Password, Bitwarden, Keeper, or similar) and the location of your emergency kit or recovery codes. Add financial apps, cloud storage (Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox), photo services, domain registrars, crypto exchanges, and any self-custody wallets. Review quarterly; digital life shifts faster than bank accounts do.
Use a Password Manager’s Emergency Access Feature
Modern password managers include emergency-access or shared-vault features. Designate your executor or trustee (or a trusted tech contact) for time-delayed access. If you become incapacitated or pass away, they request access; after your set waiting period, the system grants it unless you decline. This keeps credentials secure during life and available when needed. Print the manager’s recovery kit and store it in a sealed envelope with your estate documents so your fiduciary has a last-resort path.
Write Digital-Asset Powers Into Your Documents
Texas recognizes fiduciary access when your will, trust, and durable powers of attorney expressly grant it, consistent with provider terms. Your documents should authorize your executor or trustee to access, manage, archive, or delete digital assets; reset passwords; retrieve two-factor codes; and communicate with custodians and platforms. Name someone comfortable with technology as a co-fiduciary if your primary is not tech-forward. Clear powers make tech companies cooperate and protect your fiduciary from accusations of unauthorized access.
Crypto Requires a Different Level of Precision
If you hold crypto on exchanges, list the platforms and enable legacy settings if available. For self-custody, never put seed phrases in your will, which becomes public. Instead, store them in an encrypted USB drive in a safe or bank box, and reference a separate memorandum that your executor can open upon proof of authority. If you use multisig, specify where each key resides and who holds them. Include a rule for forks and airdrops: instruct your fiduciary to claim economically meaningful assets to avoid leaving value on the table.
Plan for Two-Factor Authentication and Hardware Keys
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is great for security and terrible for unprepared estates. Collect backup codes for major accounts and store them with your recovery kit. If you use hardware keys (YubiKey, Titan), label a primary and backup and place them where your fiduciary can lawfully retrieve them. Document how 2FA is delivered—text, email, authenticator app—so your fiduciary knows which device to secure first.
Decide What Gets Archived, What Gets Deleted, and Who Gets It
Not everything should live forever. Your directive should tell your fiduciary which email accounts to archive, which photo libraries to preserve, and which social profiles to delete or memorialize. If you maintain a newsletter, Patreon, or online shop, state whether you want those to be wound down or continued under a business manager’s supervision. For professionals, add clear rules for client files, confidentiality, and record retention.
Protect Privacy While Enabling Access
Your fiduciary needs access, but your beneficiaries deserve privacy. Consider separate “personal” and “business” vaults in your password manager and authorize different people for each. Instruct your fiduciary to export a copy of important data and then revoke active sessions to prevent account hijacking. If sensitive conversations exist you do not want read, instruct deletion after archiving essential records like receipts or contracts.
Tackle Subscriptions and Auto-Payments
Create a list of critical subscriptions—phone plan, cloud storage, web hosting, security systems—so your fiduciary keeps them alive long enough to harvest data and forward mail, then cancels what you no longer need. An overlooked auto-renew can burn hundreds of dollars. A three-column table (service, renewal date, cancel-by steps) saves time and prevents late fees.
Store the Kit Where People Will Look
Put your digital-asset memo, password-manager emergency kit, and 2FA backups in the same binder as your will, trust, and powers of attorney. Label the outside “Digital Access Instructions—Open by Executor/Trustee.” Tell at least two trusted people where the binder is. In a crisis, location beats perfection.
Update After Big Tech or Life Changes
Switching phones, changing your primary email, moving from Google Authenticator to a hardware key, or adding a new exchange account should trigger a five-minute update. If you add a new creative archive (Lightroom, Figma, GitHub), put it on the list. Digital planning fails when it is stale; small updates keep everything usable.
Give your fiduciary the keys and the map, not a scavenger hunt. To draft Travis County–ready digital-asset powers and assemble a practical access kit, call McCulloch & Miller, PLLC at (713) 936-9073 and secure your online life with a plan your loved ones can follow.