California · Probate Code

PROB §880: (a) The legal duties imposed on a fiduciary charged with managing tangible property apply to the management of digital assets, including all of the following: (1) The duty of care.

What this law says, in plain English

A fiduciary managing digital assets must follow the same legal care duties required for managing physical property.

Read the full statutory text
(a) The legal duties imposed on a fiduciary charged with managing tangible property apply to the management of digital assets, including all of the following: (1) The duty of care. (2) The duty of loyalty. (3) The duty of confidentiality. (b) All of the following shall apply to a fiduciary’s or designated recipient’s authority with respect to a digital asset of a user: (1) Except as otherwise provided in Section 873, a fiduciary’s or designated recipient’s authority is subject to the applicable terms-of-service agreement. (2) A fiduciary’s or designated recipient’s authority is subject to other applicable law, including copyright law. (3) A fiduciary’s authority is limited by the scope of the fiduciary’s duties. (4) A fiduciary’s or designated recipient’s authority may not be used to impersonate the user. (c) (1) A fiduciary with authority over the property of a decedent or settlor has the right of access to any digital asset in which the decedent or settlor had a right or interest that is not held by a custodian or subject to a terms-of-service agreement. (2) This subdivision does not require a custodian to share passwords or decrypt protected devices. (d) A fiduciary acting within the scope of the fiduciary’s duties is an authorized user of the property of the decedent, conservatee, principal, or settlor for the purpose of applicable computer-fraud and unauthorized-computer-access laws. (e) The following shall apply to a fiduciary with authority over the tangible, personal property of a decedent, conservatee, principal, or settlor: (1) (A) The fiduciary has the right to access the property and any digital asset stored in it. (B) This subdivision does not require a custodian to share passwords or decrypt protected devices. (2) The fiduciary is an authorized user for purposes of any applicable computer-fraud and unauthorized-computer-access laws. (f) A custodian may disclose information in an account to a fiduciary of the user if the information is required to terminate an account used to access digital assets licensed to the user. (g) A fiduciary of a user, or an affiant acting under Section 13101 with respect to a deceased user, may request a custodian to terminate the user’s account. A request for termination shall be in writing, in either physical or electronic form, and accompanied by all of the following: (1) (A) If the user is deceased, a certified copy of the death certificate of the user. (B) If the user is a conservatee, a court order authorizing the conservator to request termination of the user’s account. (2) A certified copy of the letter of appointment of the representative, a small-estate affidavit under Section 13101, a court order, a power of attorney, a certified copy of the trust instrument, or a certification of the trust under Section 18100.5 giving the fiduciary authority over the account. (3) If requested by the custodian, any of the following: (A) A number, username, address, or other unique subscriber or account identifier assigned by the custodian to identify the user’s account. (B) Evidence linking the account to the user. (C) A finding by the court that the user had a specific account with the custodian, identifiable by the information specified in subparagraph (A).

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