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

Florida probate for digital and financial accounts is the court-supervised process of identifying, accessing, valuing, and distributing a deceased person’s bank accounts, brokerage holdings, cryptocurrency, and online assets when those accounts pass through the estate rather than by beneficiary designation or survivorship. In Florida, a personal representative gains lawful authority over digital assets under the Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (Chapter 740, Florida Statutes), while financial accounts are administered under the Florida Probate Code (Chapters 731–735). Many smaller estates never need full administration at all — they qualify for summary administration or disposition without administration, which can resolve a modest bank balance in weeks instead of months.

I practice probate in Boca Raton, and a large share of the files that cross my desk now involve at least one account no one can find the password to. The law has caught up faster than most families expect, but the practical mechanics — which institution releases what, and when a court order is actually required — still trip people up. Below is how Florida treats these assets, where the shortcuts live, and the traps that quietly cost families time and money.

What Counts as a Digital or Financial Account in a Florida Estate

It helps to separate two categories that often get lumped together, because Florida treats them differently.

Financial accounts are the traditional ones: checking and savings, certificates of deposit, brokerage and investment accounts, money market funds, and retirement accounts like IRAs and 401(k)s. The dollars are governed by ordinary probate and contract law. Whether they pass through probate depends almost entirely on how the account is titled.

Digital assets, defined in section 740.002, Florida Statutes, are electronic records in which a person has a right or interest. That sweeps in a wide range of property and data:

• Online bank, brokerage, and payment platform logins (the access, distinct from the funds)
• Cryptocurrency held on exchanges like Coinbase, or in self-custody wallets
• Email accounts, cloud storage, and the documents inside them
• Social media, photo libraries, and domain names
• Loyalty points, airline miles, and online marketplace seller accounts
• Revenue-producing digital property — a monetized channel, an e-commerce store, a portfolio of websites

The distinction matters because the money in a brokerage account is a financial asset the personal representative can usually claim with letters of administration, while the data in an email account is a digital asset whose disclosure is controlled by Chapter 740 and by the provider’s own terms-of-service and online tools.

The First Question: Does the Account Even Go Through Probate?

Before anyone files anything, determine how each account is titled. Probate only governs assets owned by the decedent alone with no operative beneficiary designation. Several common structures bypass probate entirely.

Accounts that skip probate

• Payable-on-death (POD) and transfer-on-death (TOD) accounts. Authorized under Florida’s version of the Uniform TOD Security Registration Act (Chapter 711) and standard banking practice, these pass directly to the named beneficiary on presentation of a death certificate.
• Joint accounts with right of survivorship. The surviving owner generally takes the balance outside probate, though the form of the account controls — a convenience account is not the same as true joint ownership.
• Retirement accounts and life insurance with a living beneficiary. These pass by contract. They only fall into probate when the beneficiary is “the estate,” or when every named beneficiary has predeceased.

When a financial account carries a valid beneficiary designation, the family often does not need a probate at all for that asset. The recurring mistake I see is assuming a will overrides a beneficiary form. It does not. The designation on file with the bank or brokerage wins, even when the will says something different.

Accounts that fall into the probate estate

An individually titled account with no POD/TOD beneficiary, or a beneficiary form left blank, becomes a probate asset. So does a digital asset with real value and no built-in transfer mechanism — most cryptocurrency, for example, has no beneficiary field. That is precisely where a Boca Raton family needs either a small-estate procedure or a formal administration to get a court’s authority to act.

Small Estates: Summary Administration and Disposition Without Administration

This is the heart of what we focus on, because a surprising number of digital-and-financial-account estates qualify for a streamlined path under Chapter 735, Florida Statutes.

Summary administration

Under section 735.201, an estate qualifies for summary administration when either (1) the value of the probate estate subject to administration — excluding exempt property — does not exceed $75,000, or (2) the decedent has been dead for more than two years. There is no personal representative appointed. Instead, the court enters an Order of Summary Administration that directs distribution of specific assets to specific people.

For a modest estate whose only meaningful asset is, say, a $40,000 brokerage account with no beneficiary, this is often the right tool. The order itself becomes the instrument the family presents to the institution. Done correctly, it can resolve in a matter of weeks rather than the many months a formal administration requires.

Disposition without administration

Section 735.301 allows an even lighter procedure when the decedent left no real property and the only assets are exempt from creditors or do not exceed the amount of final illness and funeral expenses (capped at $6,000). It is narrow, but for a small leftover bank balance after a final hospital bill, it can avoid a formal case entirely.

The catch with summary administration and digital assets: because no personal representative is appointed, no one holds letters that compel an online provider to disclose account contents under Chapter 740. If a digital asset needs to be accessed rather than simply distributed — locating a self-custody crypto wallet, retrieving documents from a cloud account, recovering a seed phrase — formal administration with an appointed fiduciary is often the more practical route, even when the numbers technically qualify for summary administration. We weigh this asset by asset before recommending a path.

How a Florida Personal Representative Accesses Digital Assets

Chapter 740, Florida’s Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, sets a clear priority order for who controls disclosure. Understanding this hierarchy saves families from chasing the wrong remedy.

1. An online tool offered by the provider. If the provider lets a user name a successor and the decedent used it (Google’s Inactive Account Manager or Facebook’s Legacy Contact, for example), that direction controls and overrides the will.
2. The decedent’s will, trust, or other written record. If no online tool was used, an express authorization in the estate plan governs disclosure.
3. The provider’s terms-of-service agreement. Absent both of the above, the contract the decedent clicked through applies — and many default to no disclosure.

Under sections 740.005 and 740.006, a personal representative who wants the content of electronic communications (the body of emails, not just a log) generally must show that the decedent consented to disclosure or obtain a court order. For a catalogue of communications — who emailed whom and when, without the content — the standard is lighter. This is why a well-drafted will today should include an explicit digital-assets authorization. A short paragraph granting your fiduciary access to your electronic communications and digital assets, with consent to disclosure of content, can spare your family a separate court motion.

Cryptocurrency deserves its own warning. Funds on a custodial exchange can usually be claimed by a personal representative who provides letters of administration and a death certificate through the platform’s estate process. Self-custodied crypto is different: if the private key or seed phrase dies with the owner, no court order in any state can recover it. The legal authority to claim the asset is meaningless without the cryptographic key. Estate planning, not probate, is the only fix for that.

The Practical Workflow for a Boca Raton Estate

Here is the sequence I walk families through once we know an account is a probate asset.

1. Inventory and triage. List every account, then mark each as POD/TOD, joint, beneficiary-designated, or probate. Pull recent statements and any password manager the decedent kept.
2. Secure the digital perimeter. Freeze fraud exposure early — flag accounts, watch for auto-renewing subscriptions and recurring transfers, and avoid logging into accounts in ways that violate provider terms before you have authority.
3. Choose the procedure. Confirm whether the probate estate fits under the $75,000 summary-administration threshold or the two-year rule, and whether any digital asset requires an appointed fiduciary.
4. Obtain authority. File for summary administration or for letters of administration. Order certified copies — institutions almost always want originals.
5. Present, collect, distribute. Submit the court order or letters to each institution, redeem the assets, satisfy any creditor and tax obligations, and distribute per the will or Florida intestacy law.

Florida is comparatively efficient for small estates, but the institutions are not uniform — each bank and brokerage has its own death-claim packet, and crypto exchanges add a wholly separate process layered on the same court order.

When Disputes Arise

Digital and financial accounts generate their own flavor of conflict: a sibling who had the online banking login and moved money in the final weeks, a TOD designation changed shortly before death, or a will that no one can square with the beneficiary forms on file. These disputes turn on undue influence, capacity, and the integrity of the account records. The principles overlap heavily with traditional estate litigation; the analysis our colleagues use in maps closely onto Florida’s framework for challenging suspect transfers and designations. For the broader picture of how an estate moves from filing to distribution, this overview of is a useful companion read.

If you would rather speak with attorneys handling these matters here in Florida, the firm’s covers both formal and summary administration statewide. You can also review our local resources on Florida probate procedure and on drafting a will that includes digital-asset authority, or simply reach out to our Boca Raton office for a case-specific answer.

Bottom Line

Most digital and financial accounts in a Florida estate fall into one of three buckets: they pass automatically by beneficiary or survivorship, they resolve through a fast small-estate procedure under Chapter 735, or they require formal administration so a fiduciary can compel access under Chapter 740. The earlier a family sorts each account into the right bucket, the cheaper and faster the whole process becomes — and the less likely a valuable account quietly slips away because no one held the key or the court order at the right moment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a $75,000 bank account always require full probate in Florida?

Not necessarily. If the probate estate subject to administration is $75,000 or less, or the decedent has been dead more than two years, the estate may qualify for summary administration under section 735.201, Florida Statutes. That is faster and cheaper than formal administration. The threshold excludes exempt property and assets that pass by beneficiary designation or survivorship, so the relevant figure is often lower than the family first assumes.

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

Yes, but the path is set by Chapter 740, Florida’s Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. A provider’s online tool (like Google Inactive Account Manager) controls first, then the decedent’s will or written authorization, then the terms of service. To obtain the content of electronic communications, the fiduciary usually needs the decedent’s consent or a court order, which is one reason a digital-assets clause in your will is so valuable.

What happens to cryptocurrency if no one has the password?

It depends on custody. Crypto held on an exchange like Coinbase can typically be claimed by a personal representative through the platform’s estate process with letters of administration and a death certificate. Self-custodied crypto is different: if the private key or seed phrase is lost, no court order can recover it. For self-custody, only advance estate planning that records the key for a trusted fiduciary protects the asset.

Do payable-on-death accounts go through probate?

No. A valid payable-on-death (POD) or transfer-on-death (TOD) account passes directly to the named beneficiary on presentation of a death certificate, outside probate. Importantly, the beneficiary form controls even if the will says something different. Probate only reaches a financial account when it is individually titled with no operative beneficiary, or when the named beneficiary has died and no contingent beneficiary remains.

Is summary administration a good fit for digital assets?

Sometimes, but not always. Summary administration distributes specific assets by court order without appointing a personal representative. That works well for distributing a known account balance. It works poorly when a digital asset must be accessed rather than simply handed over, because no appointed fiduciary exists to compel disclosure under Chapter 740. In those cases, formal administration is often the better route even when the dollar amounts qualify for the summary process.