Lawmakers advanced a bill April 4 that would determine who has access to a person\u2019s digital assets after death.<\/p>\n
Introduced by Omaha Sen. Burke Harr, LB829 would authorize four types of fiduciaries\u2014executors of estates, conservators of estates, agents appointed under power of attorney and trustees\u2014to access a person\u2019s digital assets after they die or otherwise lose the ability to manage their own assets.<\/p>\n
The bill would create a tiered system of priorities for handling digital assets. If the custodian\u2014the company that stores a person\u2019s assets on its servers\u2014provides an online tool allowing the user to authorize another person to have access to the assets, those instructions would take priority.<\/p>\n
If no such tool is available or the user chooses not to use it, a will, trust, power of attorney or other written record would be enforced. The custodian\u2019s terms of service would determine access if neither an online tool nor a legal document applies. If none of those situations apply, the bill provides default terms that would govern access. <\/p>\n
A Judiciary Committee amendment, adopted 27-0, clarified that a person could use an online tool to give digital access privileges to a recipient who is not a fiduciary.<\/p>\n
Harr said the bill would give people the power to authorize fiduciaries to manage digital assets, such as photos stored online or the data on a social media profile, in the same way they could authorize them to manage tangible property.<\/p>\n
Senators voted 29-0 to advance the bill to select file.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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