Florida Probate for Digital and Financial Accounts: A Boca Raton Estate Guide

Florida probate for digital and financial accounts is the court-supervised process of identifying, valuing, and legally transferring a deceased person’s bank accounts, brokerage holdings, cryptocurrency, and online assets to heirs or beneficiaries. When an account has no surviving joint owner, no payable-on-death designation, and no trust holding it, it generally must pass through probate in the county where the decedent lived. Florida law gives a court-appointed personal representative the authority to collect those assets, while a separate statute, the Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, controls who may access the decedent’s electronic communications and online accounts.

I practice probate here in Boca Raton, and I’ll be honest about what most families don’t expect: the hard part of a modern estate is rarely the house anymore. Real property is visible and recorded. The accounts are the problem. A retired couple may have a checking account at one bank, a brokerage account at Schwab, an old 401(k) rolled into an IRA, a Coinbase wallet nobody mentioned, and a dozen logins protected by two-factor authentication tied to a phone that’s now disconnected. Sorting that out is where probate gets slow, and where mistakes get expensive.

What counts as a “digital” versus a “financial” account in probate

The distinction matters more than it sounds, because Florida treats the two categories differently.

A financial account holds money or securities: a bank account, a credit union account, a brokerage or mutual fund account, a money-market account, savings bonds, or a retirement account. These are tangible economic assets. The personal representative collects them, reports their date-of-death value, and distributes them under the will or under Florida’s intestacy rules in Chapter 732.

A digital asset, by contrast, is defined under Florida Statutes Chapter 740 as an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. That sweeps in email, cloud storage, social media accounts, domain names, loyalty points, photos stored online, and the content of electronic communications. Some digital assets carry real financial value, such as cryptocurrency or a monetized YouTube channel. Others have only sentimental or practical value, like a Gmail account that happens to hold the only record of where the decedent banked.

Cryptocurrency sits awkwardly between the two. It is a financial asset in substance, but accessing it depends entirely on digital credentials, namely private keys or exchange logins. Lose the keys and the asset is gone, court order or not. That technical reality drives much of how we plan around it.

Which accounts actually go through Florida probate

Not every account does. Before a personal representative spends a year administering an estate, the first job is to separate probate assets from non-probate assets. The dividing line is whether the asset has a built-in transfer mechanism that survives death.

• Pass automatically, outside probate: accounts with a valid payable-on-death (POD) or transfer-on-death (TOD) beneficiary; accounts held jointly with rights of survivorship; retirement accounts and life insurance with a living named beneficiary; and accounts already titled in a revocable living trust.
• Must go through probate: a solely owned checking or brokerage account with no beneficiary listed; an IRA whose named beneficiary predeceased the owner with no contingent named; a crypto wallet held only in the decedent’s individual name; and any account where the beneficiary form was never completed or was left blank.

This is why a quick beneficiary review during life is the cheapest estate planning a person can do. A POD designation added at the teller window in five minutes can keep a six-figure account out of court entirely. Conversely, the most common reason a “simple” estate ends up in formal administration is a blank beneficiary line on an account the owner assumed was handled.

The two main paths: summary versus formal administration

Florida offers two probate tracks. Summary administration is available under Florida Statutes § 735.201 when the probate estate is worth $75,000 or less, or when the decedent has been dead for more than two years. It is faster and cheaper and works well for a single modest bank account. Formal administration is the standard process for larger estates and is required when a personal representative needs ongoing legal authority, for example to liquidate a brokerage portfolio, deal with an uncooperative crypto exchange, or sell real property and reconcile the proceeds.

In our Boca Raton practice, where estates frequently combine a condo or homestead with substantial investment accounts, formal administration is the norm. The personal representative receives Letters of Administration, and those letters are the key that unlocks the financial institutions.

How a personal representative gains access to financial accounts

Once the court issues Letters of Administration, the personal representative presents them, along with a certified death certificate, to each financial institution. Banks and brokerages have dedicated estate departments, and most will freeze a solely owned account the moment they learn of the death, then release funds only to the appointed representative.

A few practical points that trip families up:

1. The bank will not talk to you before you are appointed. Grief and urgency don’t change this. Even a spouse who paid every bill from that account has no legal authority over a solely titled account until letters issue. Plan for a gap of several weeks.
2. Date-of-death values must be documented. The representative requests a statement showing the balance as of the date of death, which fixes the value for accounting and any tax reporting. Brokerage accounts also need a cost-basis step-up analysis under federal law, because heirs generally inherit assets at their date-of-death value.
3. Retirement accounts have their own rules. An IRA or 401(k) payable to the estate (because no individual beneficiary survived) lands in probate and is then subject to less favorable distribution timelines than one inherited directly. This is a planning failure worth preventing.

Digital assets and the Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act

Accessing the decedent’s online life is governed not by the general probate code but by Florida’s version of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, codified in Chapter 740 (often shortened to RUFADAA). Florida adopted it to resolve a genuine conflict: federal privacy and anti-hacking laws, plus the terms-of-service contracts every user clicks through, can make it a crime to log into someone else’s account, even a deceased relative’s.

Chapter 740 sets up a tiered priority for who controls digital assets after death:

• First, the online tool. If the provider offers an “online tool” that lets the user name who can access the account after death, that choice controls. Google’s Inactive Account Manager and Facebook’s Legacy Contact are the leading examples.
• Second, the estate plan. If no online tool was used, a direction in the decedent’s will, trust, or power of attorney governs access, and a well-drafted will should grant the personal representative explicit authority over digital assets and the content of communications.
• Third, the terms of service. If neither of the above speaks, the provider’s own contract decides, and many default to no disclosure of communication content.

The statute also draws a sharp line between the catalogue of communications (the metadata: who emailed whom and when) and the content of those communications (what the messages actually say). A fiduciary can more readily obtain the catalogue; obtaining content requires either the decedent’s explicit consent or a court order. For a personal representative trying to find out which institutions hold the decedent’s money, the catalogue is often enough.

What this means in practice for a Boca Raton estate

When a client dies without naming a legacy contact and without a digital-assets clause in the will, the personal representative frequently has to petition the probate court for an order directing a provider to disclose account information. That is doable, but it costs time and fees. The lesson, repeated in every consultation I have, is that the will should contain modern language authorizing the representative to access digital assets under Chapter 740. A 1998 will does not, and that gap shows up as months of delay.

Cryptocurrency: the asset that probate can’t reach without the keys

Crypto deserves its own warning because it breaks the usual assumption that a court order can compel access. With a bank, the institution holds the money and a judge can order it released. With self-custodied cryptocurrency held in a hardware or software wallet, there is no institution. Whoever controls the private key or seed phrase controls the coins, full stop. No probate judge can recreate a lost key.

Two scenarios recur:

• Exchange-held crypto (Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini): these behave more like financial institutions. The personal representative submits letters and a death certificate to the exchange’s estate process and can recover the assets. Slow, but workable.
• Self-custodied crypto in a private wallet: recoverable only if the family can locate the seed phrase. If the decedent kept it solely in their head or in an unfindable place, the value is permanently lost, and it still has to be reported if its existence is known.

The planning answer is not to write the seed phrase into the will, because a will becomes a public record once filed. Instead, the will or trust references the existence of crypto and points to a separate, secure mechanism for the keys. Done right, the asset transfers; done wrong, it evaporates.

Common and costly mistakes

After years of administering these estates, the same avoidable errors keep appearing:

1. Assuming a joint account or POD was set up when it wasn’t. Verify designations in writing. Memory and intention are not legal title.
2. Closing or moving money before appointment. Using the decedent’s debit card or transferring funds after death, even to “keep things running,” creates personal liability and can look like misappropriation.
3. Ignoring small recurring accounts. Auto-paying subscriptions, PayPal balances, and rewards points drain or expire while the estate sits open. Inventory everything early.
4. Old wills with no digital-asset authority. If the will predates 2016, assume it needs updating to function under Chapter 740.
5. Disputes left to fester. When heirs disagree over who should control accounts or suspect a beneficiary change was procured improperly, the matter can escalate into litigation. Understanding how unfold helps families decide early whether to settle or fight.

How real-property estates complicate the account picture

Most of the estates we handle in Boca Raton are real-property heavy. A homestead condo or a waterfront home anchors the estate, and the accounts orbit around it. That combination creates friction the accounts alone wouldn’t. Property taxes, HOA dues, insurance premiums, and maintenance keep coming due while the estate is open, and those bills are paid from the very accounts the personal representative is trying to collect and preserve. If the largest liquid account is stuck in probate while a $900-a-month HOA bill marches on, cash flow becomes a real management problem.

This is also why coordinating the homestead analysis with the account administration matters. Florida homestead property passes under special constitutional rules that can keep it out of the general probate estate, while the bank account funding its upkeep is squarely in probate. A personal representative who treats them as one undifferentiated pile gets the accounting wrong. For families weighing how their probate will be structured, it helps to understand that depending on the estate’s size and complexity, a principle that holds in Florida as well.

When to bring in a probate attorney

Florida requires representation by counsel in most formal administrations, so the question is usually when, not whether. Call before you contact the banks, not after. Early counsel prevents the unauthorized-transfer mistakes, gets the petition for letters moving so the institutions will engage, and frames the digital-asset access strategy before a provider has refused you and forced a court motion.

Our office handles probate for estates across Palm Beach County, and we coordinate with on complex matters. If you’ve recently lost a loved one and are staring at a stack of unfamiliar account statements and logins, start with our Florida probate overview, review your own will and beneficiary designations while you’re thinking about it, and then reach out for a consultation. The earlier the accounts are mapped, the smoother and cheaper the administration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do all bank and investment accounts have to go through probate in Florida?

No. Accounts with a valid payable-on-death or transfer-on-death beneficiary, accounts held jointly with rights of survivorship, retirement accounts and life insurance with a living named beneficiary, and accounts titled in a revocable trust pass outside probate. Only solely owned accounts with no surviving beneficiary designation must go through Florida probate.

Can a personal representative access the decedent's email and online accounts?

It depends on Florida’s Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (Chapter 740). If the decedent used an online tool like Google’s Inactive Account Manager or named the representative in the will, access is straightforward. Otherwise, obtaining the content of electronic communications usually requires the decedent’s prior consent or a probate court order.

What happens to cryptocurrency in a Florida estate if no one has the password?

Crypto held on an exchange like Coinbase can be recovered by submitting Letters of Administration and a death certificate. Self-custodied crypto in a private wallet can only be recovered if the family finds the seed phrase or private key. If the keys are lost, no court order can recover the asset, and the value is permanently gone.

How long does it take to access a deceased person's bank account in Florida?

Plan for several weeks at minimum. A bank will typically freeze a solely owned account upon notice of death and release funds only to a court-appointed personal representative. Summary administration for small estates is faster, while formal administration for larger or real-property-heavy estates commonly takes several months.

Should I list my account passwords or crypto keys in my will?

No. A will becomes a public court record once filed, so passwords and seed phrases should never appear in it. Instead, the will or trust should grant your representative authority over digital assets under Chapter 740 and reference a separate, secure method for storing access credentials.