What it means
Section 740.05 wires digital assets into ordinary fiduciary law. The duties that govern tangible property — care, loyalty, and confidentiality — apply to managing digital assets. A fiduciary's authority stays subject to the terms of service (except as §740.003 provides), to other law including copyright, and to the scope of the fiduciary's duties — and it may not be used to impersonate the user.
A fiduciary with authority over tangible personal property has the right to access the property and any digital asset stored in it, and is an authorized user for computer-fraud and unauthorized-access laws, including chapter 815. A fiduciary may also ask the custodian in writing to terminate the user's account, with the supporting documents.
- The duties of care, loyalty, and confidentiality apply to digital assets exactly as to tangible property (§740.05(1)).
- Authority is subject to the terms of service and other law, including copyright, and may not be used to impersonate the user (§740.05(2)).
- Authority over tangible personal property carries the right to access any digital asset stored in it (§740.05(5)).
- A fiduciary acting within scope is an authorized user under computer-fraud laws, including chapter 815 (§740.05(4)–(5)).
- A custodian may disclose what is needed to terminate an account, and a fiduciary may request termination in writing with a death certificate and letters or equivalent authority (§740.05(6)–(7)).
How it plays out
This section is why a personal representative can open the decedent's laptop without worrying about §815.06. We pair it with §733.607: the letters give possession of the hardware, and §740.05(5) makes reading the drives lawful, as an authorized user. The impersonation clause is the counterweight we caution families about — knowing the password is not authority to log in as the person, and posting or replying from the account is exactly what this section forbids.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 740.05 does real work:
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