Digital Inheritance Rights Legislation Wave Sweeps the Globe: Who Inherits Your AI Avatar and Virtual Assets

Digital Inheritance Rights Legislation Wave Sweeps the Globe

On October 3, 2028, California's governor signed the Digital Inheritance Act, incorporating social media accounts, AI personal assistant training data, virtual reality assets, and cryptocurrency into inheritance scope. Following the EU Digital Services Act amendment and Japan's Digital Inheritance Management Act, California becomes the third major jurisdiction globally to establish a digital inheritance legal framework.

The bill's core innovation introduces a digital executor system. Citizens can designate someone during their lifetime as their digital estate executor, responsible for managing, transferring, or deleting digital assets after death. Executors have authority to access the deceased's social media accounts, email, cloud storage, and AI assistant conversation records.

Stanford Law School professor Mark Lemley notes that approximately 60 million people die globally each year, each leaving digital assets worth roughly $50,000 on average (including subscription services, virtual currencies, digital collectibles). Without legal frameworks, ownership of these assets often falls into legal gray areas.

The bill also protects the deceased's digital privacy — executors can access accounts but must not publish content the deceased didn't authorize for release. Social media platforms are required to cooperate with executors in account transfer or deletion within 30 days of receiving a death certificate.