Digital estate planning has been a slowly evolving area of law and practice. Five years ago, accessing a deceased person’s email account was a contested legal matter with no clear answer in most jurisdictions. The 2026 picture is more developed but still uneven.

What’s changed

Several things have improved:

Major platforms have legacy and inactive account features. Google’s Inactive Account Manager, Apple’s Digital Legacy, Facebook’s Legacy Contact, and similar features at most major platforms allow users to designate what happens to their accounts after death. These work reasonably well when set up in advance.

Estate planning has caught up legally. Most Australian states have updated their estate planning frameworks to address digital assets. Wills routinely address digital accounts. The legal status of digital assets within an estate is clearer than it was.

Password managers integrate with estate planning. 1Password, Bitwarden, and other major password managers now have features for sharing access with designated executors. The mechanism is no longer ad-hoc.

Cryptocurrency and digital wallet inheritance has been addressed. Several services now offer dead man’s switch and inheritance features for crypto holdings. The asset class is no longer the black hole it was.

What still doesn’t work

Several areas remain problematic:

Accounts without designated successors. If a deceased person didn’t set up a legacy contact at major platforms, accessing the accounts requires either court order or service-specific procedure that varies wildly. Some services are responsive. Others are nearly impossible.

Bespoke services without inheritance procedures. The hundreds of small services people use (online subscriptions, niche communities, payment platforms) often have no procedure for handling deceased account holders. The accounts persist indefinitely with no resolution path.

Two-factor authentication. When the deceased’s phone number is the second factor, accessing accounts requires either advance preparation or significant effort. This is a major friction point that catches most families unprepared.

Cross-jurisdictional issues. Digital assets stored on services with international registration create jurisdictional complexity. Australian wills sometimes don’t have authority over US-based service contracts. Resolution is slow.

What people should do

The practical advice for digital estate planning in 2026:

Designate legacy contacts at all major platforms. Apple, Google, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and any other platform you use heavily. The setup takes minutes per platform. The benefit is enormous.

Use a password manager with emergency access. 1Password’s Emergency Kit, Bitwarden’s emergency access, or similar features. The executor can access necessary accounts without you having to disclose passwords during life.

Maintain a written digital asset inventory. A document (kept securely) listing significant digital assets, accounts, and how to access them. Updated annually. This is the single most useful document for executors handling digital assets.

Address two-factor authentication explicitly. Either give your executor access to authenticator apps or designate backup methods that don’t depend on your specific phone or device.

Address cryptocurrency holdings clearly. If you hold cryptocurrency, your executor needs to know how to access it. Without explicit instructions, the assets are usually lost.

Review subscription services. A list of recurring subscriptions, who they’re with, and how to cancel them. Without this, the estate often pays months of unused subscriptions before family members find them all.

What estate planning lawyers are saying

Estate planning lawyers in 2026 routinely address digital assets in standard estate work. The standardized approach has emerged:

• A digital asset clause in the will granting executor authority
• A separately maintained list of digital assets (not in the will itself, for privacy)
• Designation of legacy contacts at major platforms
• Provisions for access to authenticator devices
• Handling of cryptocurrency through structured procedures

This isn’t fully standardized across jurisdictions but the patterns are converging.

What hasn’t been solved

Several issues are unlikely to be fully solved in the near term:

Privacy after death. Some users want their accounts accessible to family. Others want their privacy respected even after death. The platforms can’t read minds. Setting clear directives is the only way to ensure your preference is honored.

Long-term digital asset preservation. Photos, documents, and content stored on services that may shut down. There’s no comprehensive solution. Backup of important content to long-term storage is the practical answer.

Subscription account zombification. Accounts that persist indefinitely with active subscriptions because no one has the authority or knowledge to close them. This drains estate value over time.

International account handling. Accounts on services in jurisdictions where the deceased had no legal representation. Resolution often requires giving up.

The bigger picture

Digital estate planning is now a normal part of estate planning for anyone with meaningful digital presence. It’s not optional. It’s part of responsible adult life management.

The good news is that the tools and procedures have matured to the point where reasonable preparation produces reasonable outcomes. The bad news is that most people still don’t do the preparation, and their families face the friction.

If you take one action after reading this: spend 30 minutes setting up legacy contacts at the major platforms you use. That single action handles 70% of the digital estate problem for most users. The other 30% takes more work but the foundation makes the rest manageable.

The platforms have built reasonable tools. The legal framework has updated. What’s missing is mostly user action. That’s an easier problem to solve than the technical and legal problems that came before.