Full Access for Original-User Trustees
This statute covers the simplest digital asset scenario in trust administration. When the trustee is the same person who originally opened the account, such as when you create your own revocable living trust and remain the trustee, online custodians must grant full access to everything in that account. That includes the content of emails, messages, files, and any other stored digital assets.
Unless otherwise ordered by the court or provided in a trust, a custodian shall disclose to a trustee that is an original user of an account any digital asset of the account held in trust, including a catalogue of electronic communications of the trustee and the content of electronic communications.
A.R.S. § 14-13111This is the broadest level of digital asset access the statute provides to any fiduciary. There are no extra documentation requirements, no request forms, and no need to prove the trust relationship separately. The trustee already has a direct relationship with the custodian as the account holder.
Why This Matters for Revocable Living Trusts
Most people who create a revocable living trust name themselves as the initial trustee. During their lifetime, this statute confirms what most account holders already assume: they can access their own accounts freely. The practical importance emerges when the trust document transfers control to a successor trustee. At that point, the successor is no longer the original user, and different rules apply under sections 14-13112 and 14-13113.
