1. The legal duties imposed on a fiduciary charged with managing tangible property apply to the management of digital assets, including all of the following:
- a. The duty of care.
- b. The duty of loyalty.
- c. The duty of confidentiality.
2. All of the following apply to a fiduciary’s or a designated recipient’s authority with respect to a digital asset of a user:
- a. Except as otherwise provided in section 638.4, the fiduciary’s or designated recipient’s authority is subject to the applicable terms of service.
- b. The fiduciary’s or designated recipient’s authority is subject to other applicable law, including copyright law.
- c. In the case of a fiduciary, the fiduciary’s authority is limited by the scope of the fiduciary’s duties.
- d. The fiduciary’s or designated recipient’s authority shall not be used to impersonate the user.
- 3. A fiduciary with authority over the property of a decedent, protected person, principal, or settlor has the right to access any digital asset in which the decedent, protected person, principal, or settlor had a right or interest and that is not held by a custodian or subject to a terms-of-service agreement.
- 4. A fiduciary acting within the scope of the fiduciary’s duties is an authorized user of the property of the decedent, protected person, principal, or settlor for the purpose of applicable computer-fraud and unauthorized-computer-access laws, including section 716.6B.
5. A fiduciary with authority over the tangible, personal property of a decedent, protected person, principal, or settlor possesses all of the following authority:
- a. Has the right to access the property and any digital asset stored in the property.
- b. Is an authorized user for the purpose of computer-fraud and unauthorized-computer-access laws, including section 716.6B.
- 6. A custodian may disclose information in an account to a fiduciary of the user when the information is required to terminate an account used to access digital assets licensed to the user.
7. A fiduciary of a user may request a custodian to terminate the user’s account. A request for termination must be in writing, in either physical or electronic form, and accompanied by all of the following:
- a. If the user is deceased, a certified copy of the death certificate of the user.
- b. A certified copy of the letters of appointment of the personal representative, an original affidavit made pursuant to section 633.356, a file-stamped copy of the court order authorizing the personal representative to administer the user’s estate, power of attorney, or trust, including a certification of trust, giving the fiduciary authority over the account.
c. If requested by the custodian, any of the following:
- (1) A number, username, address, or other unique subscriber or account identifier assigned by the custodian to identify the user’s account.
- (2) Evidence linking the account to the user.
- (3) A finding by the court that the user had a specific account with the custodian, identifiable by the information specified in subparagraph (1).
2017 Acts, ch 79, §18; 2024 Acts, ch 1009, §95
Referred to in §638.16