Abstract –
The rapid growth of digital technology has transformed the nature of personal and economic assets, giving rise to a new category of property “digital assets”. These include email accounts, social media accounts, cloud storage, NFTs, cryptocurrency, and various online subscriptions that hold both sentimental and financial value. Indian succession law does not recognise digital assets as inheritable property. Existing statutes, including the Indian Succession Act, 1925, the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Digital Data Protection Act, 2023, offer no clear procedure for the inheritance, access, transfer, or management of such assets. This legal vacuum creates uncertainty for heirs, potential criminal liability for accessing accounts, and complete dependence on platform-specific terms of service.
This paper analyses the statutory gaps in India and examines comparative international models such as RUFADAA and GDPR-based digital asset inheritance and privacy rights after the death of a person. It concludes with suggestions and highlights India’s urgent requirement for a dedicated framework for digital assets to enable digital wills and provide lawful access mechanisms for heirs to ensure continuity of a person’s digital legacy.
Keywords – Digital assets, Digital inheritance, digital wills, Succession law, DPDP Act, India, comparative analysis.
Introduction –
In today’s digital era, every individual is connected to some form of online platform and continuously accumulates data in various forms. A world driven by digital interaction has led to the emergence and growth of digital or virtual estates—such as cryptocurrency wallets, NFTs, email archives, cloud storage accounts, social-media profiles, and various other virtual assets that have become an extension of a person’s identity. These digital assets hold significant value in a person’s life, often carrying sentimental, financial, personal, or evidentiary importance.
The question of digital legacy arises when an individual dies leaving behind these digital assets. After a person’s death, people generally focus on physical property such as land, jewellery, and other tangible assets, while overlooking invisible digital assets including social-media accounts, subscriptions, cryptocurrency wallets, and similar online holdings.
The Indian legal system traditionally focuses on tangible and intangible property under the Indian Succession Act, 1925[1], but the statute does not recognise digital assets as inheritable property. Neither the Hindu Succession Act, 1956[2] nor any other legislation specifically provides for the inheritance or management of digital assets. These unanswered questions highlight an urgent need for legislative clarity.
Many jurisdictions, such as the United States and the European Union, have already taken steps to recognise digital inheritance. The U.S. has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA)[3], while the EU ensures strong rights over personal digital data through the GDPR[4]. Even technology companies have introduced features like Google’s Inactive Account Manager[5]and Apple’s Digital Legacy tool[6], which allow users to designate trusted contacts who may access certain data after death. However, India currently lacks any statutory mechanism to address similar issues.
The increasing digitalisation of everyday life, combined with the absence of a legal framework, poses risks to succession, privacy, estate management, and even criminal investigations. This paper examines the current legal landscape in India, identifies the regulatory gaps, analyses international approaches, and proposes reforms for recognising and regulating digital wills as well as post-mortem control over online assets. The objective is to highlight the urgent need for a dedicated digital-inheritance law in India.
[1]The Indian Succession Act, No. 39 of 1925 (India)
[2] The Hindu Succession act, No. 30 of 1956 (india)
[3] Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADDA) (2015) (U.S.); see also 2015_RUFADAA_Final Act_2016mar8.pdf
[4] Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( general Data Protection Regulation ); see also Legal framework of EU data protection – European Commission
[5] Google Suport,About Inactive Account manager, https://support.google.ccom/accounts/answers/3036546
[6]Apple Support, How to Request Acess to a Deceased Family Member’s Account, How to request access to a deceased family member’s Apple Account – Apple Support