(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).