What RUFADAA Covers
Digital life is not something most people think about when planning their estate. But consider how much now exists online. This includes social media, cloud storage, crypto wallets, photos, and online banking.
When someone passes away or becomes unable to act, someone needs legal authority to access those accounts. A fiduciary acting under a will, trust, or power of attorney may need to handle email, photos, and financial records.
This chapter may be cited as the revised uniform fiduciary access to digital assets act.
A.R.S. § 14-13101Before RUFADAA, families were often locked out of a loved one's digital accounts. Service providers like Google, Apple, and Facebook had their own policies. But no consistent legal standard existed.
RUFADAA changed that by creating a clear, uniform framework. It balances a person's privacy with the real needs of estate work after death.
Why This Matters for Estate Planning
RUFADAA works with your other estate planning documents. If you have a trust, a will, or a power of attorney, those can include digital asset instructions. RUFADAA gives the people named in those documents the legal right to act with online providers.
Without RUFADAA, even a properly named personal rep or trustee could be denied access to an account. This includes email, financial records, or files stored in the cloud.
The statute also covers physical items that store digital content, such as computers and phones. Many families now find that planning for digital assets is just as important as planning for real estate or bank accounts.