Opinion
Who inherits your cloud? Preparing for digital legacy in the age of data
"For many, the concept of a 'digital estate' is still abstract. But the reality is anything but. Today, photos, documents, personal letters, financial information, cryptocurrencies, and even entire businesses are stored online. When someone passes away, that digital presence doesn’t just disappear. More often, it remains locked, inaccessible to grieving families and legal heirs," writes Shmulik Shuster, a Partner of Shuster Law Firm.
In the digital era, where the most intimate and valuable parts of our lives are stored not in physical safes but in the cloud, a fundamental question looms large: What happens to all this data when we’re gone?
This isn’t a futuristic concern. As of July 2025, Israel is enacting a new legislation: The Law on Access to Digital Content After Death, a legal framework designed to clarify and regulate the fate of our digital lives once we’re no longer around to manage them.
For many, the concept of a "digital estate" is still abstract. But the reality is anything but. Today, photos, documents, personal letters, financial information, cryptocurrencies, and even entire businesses are stored online — across countless platforms, cloud services, and accounts. When someone passes away, that digital presence doesn’t just disappear. More often, it remains locked, inaccessible to grieving families and legal heirs.
Israel’s new law takes a step toward solving this issue. It requires digital content providers — think Google, Apple, Facebook, Dropbox, and similar services — to publish clear policies about how and when they will grant access to a deceased user’s data. It also empowers heirs to submit requests for access, provided these are aligned with instructions left by the deceased or with legal authorizations such as a will.
Beyond Tech: A Legal and Emotional Minefield
While major tech companies have introduced tools like “legacy contacts” or “inactive account managers,” these solutions are fragmented and often poorly understood. Many users have no idea they exist. In practice, families are frequently left to navigate a digital labyrinth in the middle of an emotional crisis — trying to recover cherished photos, unlock important documents, or access financial records, only to be met with privacy restrictions and automated responses.
That’s because privacy laws and terms of service are typically written to protect the rights of living users — not to anticipate what happens after they die. This makes the new Israeli law not just a technical update, but a deeply human one. It’s a recognition that our digital lives have real-world implications — and that our loved ones deserve better tools to preserve them.
Traditionally, a person’s last will and testament covered tangible property: a home, a car, a few bank accounts. But in 2025, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Today, many individuals own:
- Digital wallets and cryptocurrencies, often stored behind two-factor authentication
- Cloud-stored data: photos, journal entries, family documents, creative works
- Online businesses or monetized platforms (e.g. YouTube channels, online stores)
- Accounts on global investment platforms, some of which don’t operate in the user’s home country
- NFTs and other blockchain-based assets
- Social media profiles — which, for some, carry significant personal and even commercial value
Without explicit instructions, these assets can remain permanently inaccessible. Worse still, some may eventually be deleted due to inactivity, resulting in the irreversible loss of memories, records, or wealth.
What Does the New Law Not Cover?
Importantly, Israel’s law excludes interpersonal communication platforms — such as WhatsApp, Messenger, or iMessage — from automatic access provisions. These remain protected due to their highly personal nature. Even so, proactive users can still leave instructions regarding these accounts in their wills or use tools offered by these platforms to designate trusted contacts or establish automatic deletion policies.
What Can You Do Right Now?
While the law offers a legal route for heirs, the best approach remains preparation. Here’s how to take control of your digital legacy today:
- Update your will to explicitly address digital assets: Include usernames, platforms, and your wishes regarding each account or asset.
- Organize your digital keys: Store passwords, two-factor authentication backup codes, and encryption keys in a secure password manager that your heirs can access (e.g. via a trusted contact or shared vault).
- Use available platform tools: Services like Google’s Inactive Account Manager or Apple’s Digital Legacy feature let you pre-approve trusted contacts who can access your data.
As our lives become increasingly digitized, the concept of legacy itself must evolve. Your digital presence is part of who you are — your memories, your voice, your work, even your wealth. And just like a house or a savings account, it deserves to be protected, passed on, and honored.
Israel’s new law is a promising start, but the responsibility to plan remains with each of us. The tools exist. The need is real.
Shmulik Shuster is a Partner of Shuster Law Firm, a boutique law firm specializing in Commercial Transactions and intergenerational wealth transfer.
