VLS-002: Digital Executor Standard | Vera Legacy Standards

Section 1

Scope

This standard applies to any person designated or appointed to manage a deceased person's digital accounts and online assets — whether designated in advance by the account holder or appointed by the estate after death. The role defined by this standard is referred to throughout as the "digital executor."

This standard covers:

The definition and scope of the digital executor role
The responsibilities the role encompasses and does not encompass
Minimum knowledge and preparation requirements for adequate performance
The relationship between the digital executor and the legal estate executor
Authority limitations and professional referral requirements

This standard does not cover:

The legal appointment process for estate executors (governed by applicable probate law)
The specific procedures for administering individual platforms (platform-specific procedures should be verified using each platform's current official bereavement or account-management policies)
The digital estate inventory itself (see VLS-001)
Compensation arrangements for professional digital executors

Relationship to legal executor: In most estates, the legal executor (appointed by will or court) and the digital executor are the same person. This standard applies equally in both cases. Where they are different people, the digital executor acts under the authority and direction of the legal executor and has no independent legal authority over estate assets.

Section 2

Definitions

Digital Executor

The person designated or appointed to identify, manage, and administer a deceased person's digital accounts and online assets during estate settlement. May be the same person as the legal estate executor or a separately designated individual.

Legal Executor

The person legally appointed to administer the estate as a whole — typically named in the will or appointed by the probate court. Holds the fiduciary authority over all estate assets including digital assets within applicable law.

Digital Estate

As defined in VLS-001: the complete set of a person's online accounts, digital assets, digital subscriptions, and digital obligations that exist at the time of death.

Lawful Access

Access to an account or device that is authorized under applicable law, fiduciary appointment, platform terms, or court order. Family relationship or possession of credentials does not by itself constitute lawful access.

Platform Bereavement Process

The official procedure established by an online platform for handling account administration requests after an account holder's death. Each platform maintains its own requirements, timelines, and documentation standards.

Adequate Digital Executor Performance

Performance that meets all mandatory requirements of this standard — completing all required responsibilities, maintaining required documentation, and making appropriate referrals when situations exceed the digital executor's authority or competency.

Section 3

Core Responsibilities

A digital executor is responsible for the following activities during estate administration. These responsibilities define the role — they do not determine the legal authority to act, which is governed by applicable law and fiduciary appointment.

Discovery and Inventory

Systematically identify all digital accounts using available discovery methods
Create or complete a digital estate inventory meeting VLS-001 requirements
Identify accounts with financial value requiring formal estate claim processes
Identify subscriptions and recurring charges requiring immediate cancellation
Document discovery sources and verification status for each account

Documentation and Communication

Prepare platform bereavement request documentation for each account
Obtain required supporting documents (death certificate, Letters Testamentary)
Submit requests to platforms through their official bereavement processes
Track submission status and follow up on outstanding requests
Maintain records of all actions taken and platform responses received

Content Preservation

Identify accounts containing family memories requiring preservation before closure
Download or export available content before notifying platforms of the death
Transfer preserved content to designated family members or secure storage
Document what was preserved and where it was stored

Disposition Execution

Execute preferred dispositions from the digital estate inventory where applicable
Cancel active subscriptions and request applicable refunds
Initiate memoralization or removal of social media accounts per family direction
Coordinate financial digital asset claims with the legal executor
Confirm final account status for each item in the inventory

Section 4

What the Digital Executor Does Not Do

Clearly defining the boundaries of the digital executor role is as important as defining the responsibilities themselves. The following activities are outside the scope of adequate digital executor performance under this standard — either because they require legal authority the digital executor may not hold, or because they require professional expertise beyond the role's scope.

Activity	Why It's Outside Scope	Appropriate Referral
Providing legal advice about digital asset rights	Requires a licensed attorney. RUFADAA interpretation, executor authority disputes, and platform access conflicts are legal matters.	Estate or probate attorney
Making tax decisions about digital financial assets	Cryptocurrency gains, business revenue, and investment account distributions have tax implications requiring professional guidance.	CPA or tax advisor with estate experience
Accessing accounts without lawful authority	Guessing passwords, bypassing security, or accessing accounts based solely on family relationship may violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and platform terms.	Estate attorney for authority questions
Making unilateral decisions about sentimental account content	Decisions about deleting, memorializing, or distributing content with family sentimental value should involve relevant family members.	Family consensus process
Recovering self-custody cryptocurrency without seed phrase	No legal, technical, or administrative process exists to recover self-custody cryptocurrency without the seed phrase. Claiming otherwise would be misleading.	No referral available — document as unrecoverable
Valuing digital assets for estate tax purposes	Formal valuation of digital business assets, intellectual property, or significant cryptocurrency holdings requires professional appraisal.	Certified appraiser or CPA

Section 5

Minimum Knowledge Requirements

A person designated as digital executor should have — or acquire prior to acting — working knowledge in the following areas. These are not certification requirements. They define the knowledge base that enables adequate performance of the role.

Required Knowledge Areas

Platform bereavement procedures: Understanding that each platform has its own documentation requirements and process. Knowing how to locate and follow official platform bereavement procedures rather than general support channels.
Required documentation: Understanding what a death certificate is, what Letters Testamentary are, when each is required, and how to obtain them.
Account discovery methods: Ability to conduct email inbox searches, financial statement reviews, and device reviews as described in VLS-001 Section 6 — with appropriate lawful access.
Content preservation sequence: Understanding that content must be exported before platforms are notified of the death, and knowing how to use standard export tools (Google Takeout, Facebook Download Your Information, etc.).
Financial account estate claims: Understanding the difference between accounts with beneficiary designations (which bypass probate) and accounts without (which require executor authority), and knowing how to initiate formal estate claims with financial institutions.
RUFADAA basics: Awareness that fiduciary authority over digital accounts exists under law in most US states and that this authority can be invoked when platforms resist legitimate estate requests.
Scope limits: Clear understanding of the activities listed in Section 4 that are outside the digital executor role and require professional referral.

Knowledge acquisition: A person with no prior experience in digital estate administration can acquire adequate working knowledge through Vera Legacy's published resources — the Vera Legacy Digital Estate Checklist, RUFADAA State Guide, and this standard series. Platform-specific bereavement procedures should be verified using each platform's current official policies. Professional assistance is available when the complexity of an estate exceeds the digital executor's individual capacity.

Section 6

Designating a Digital Executor

Designating a digital executor before death — rather than leaving the appointment to be made by surviving family under stress — significantly improves estate administration outcomes. This section defines what adequate pre-death designation looks like.

Designation Requirements

Element	Requirement	Notes
Named individual	Mandatory	A specific named person, not a role title. "My eldest child" is not an adequate designation; "Jane Smith" is.
Alternate designee	Recommended	A named backup in case the primary designee is unable or unwilling to serve.
Written documentation	Mandatory	The designation must be written. Oral designations are not adequate for this standard, as they cannot be verified after death.
Scope of authority	Recommended	A brief statement of what the digital executor is and is not authorized to do — particularly relevant if the digital executor is different from the legal executor.
Notified during lifetime	Recommended	The designated digital executor should be informed of their designation before the account holder's death and should confirm willingness to serve.
Location documented	Mandatory	The designation document's location must be known to at least one trusted person or the estate attorney. A designation that cannot be found is effectively no designation.

Will integration: The most effective designation is one explicitly included in the will or trust document with specific language granting digital asset authority under RUFADAA. This elevates the designation from a personal preference to Tier 2 legal authority under RUFADAA's three-tier priority system. Estate attorneys should be consulted for appropriate language in their jurisdiction.

Section 7

Documentation Standards

A digital executor meeting the requirements of this standard maintains a record of their administration activities. This documentation protects the digital executor from later disputes, provides an audit trail for the estate, and enables handoff if the digital executor is unable to complete the work.

Required Documentation

Completed digital estate inventory meeting VLS-001 requirements
Log of platform contacts — date contacted, method, documentation submitted, response received, and current status
Content preservation log — what was downloaded, when, and where it was stored
Professional referrals made — what was referred to an attorney, CPA, or other professional and why
Final account status summary — for each account: action taken, date completed, and outcome

Status and Limitations

Vera Legacy Standards are independent, voluntary practice frameworks developed by Vera Legacy for practical use in digital estate planning and administration. They are not laws, regulations, legal advice, or government-recognized standards.

Use and citation: Free to reference, cite, link to, and use internally with attribution to Vera Legacy. Contact hello@veralegacy.com for permissions.

How to cite this standard

Vera Legacy. (2026). VLS-002: Digital Executor Standard. Version 1.0, First Edition. https://veralegacy.com/standards/vls-002/

Version History

July 10, 2026

Version 1.0 — First Edition published.