Missouri Laws 472.470 – Fiduciary, legal duties — authority over user’s digital assets and property ..
1. The legal duties imposed on a fiduciary charged with managing tangible property apply to the management of digital assets, including:
(1) The duty of care;
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 472.470
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
- Property: includes real and personal property. See Missouri Laws 1.020
(2) The duty of loyalty; and
(3) The duty of confidentiality.
2. A fiduciary’s or designated recipient’s authority with respect to a digital asset of a user:
(1) Except as otherwise provided in section 472.415, is subject to the applicable terms-of-service agreement;
(2) Is subject to other applicable law, including copyright law;
(3) In the case of a fiduciary, is limited by the scope of the fiduciary’s duties; and
(4) May not be used to impersonate the user.
3. A fiduciary with authority over the property of a decedent, protected person, principal, or settlor has the right to access any digital asset in which the decedent, protected person, principal, or settlor had a right or interest and that is not held by a custodian or subject to a terms-of-service agreement.
4. A fiduciary acting within the scope of the fiduciary’s duties is an authorized user of the property of the decedent, protected person, principal, or settlor for the purpose of applicable computer-fraud and unauthorized-computer-access laws, including Missouri law on unauthorized computer access.
5. A fiduciary with authority over the tangible, personal property of a decedent, protected person, principal, or settlor:
(1) Has the right to access the property and any digital asset stored in it; and
(2) Is an authorized user for the purpose of computer-fraud and unauthorized-computer-access laws, including Missouri law on unauthorized computer access.
6. A custodian may disclose information in an account to a fiduciary of the user when the information is required to terminate an account used to access digital assets licensed to the user.
7. A fiduciary of a user may request a custodian to terminate the user’s account. A request for termination shall be in writing, in either physical or electronic form, and accompanied by:
(1) If the user is deceased, a certified copy of the death certificate of the user;
(2) A certified copy of the letter of testamentary or letters of administration of the representative or a certified copy of the certificate of clerk in connection with a small-estate affidavit or court order, power of attorney, or trust giving the fiduciary authority over the account; and
(3) If requested by the custodian for the purpose of identifying the correct account of the correct user:
(a) A number, username, address, or other unique subscriber or account identifier assigned by the custodian to identify the user’s account;
(b) Evidence linking the account to the user; or
(c) A finding by the court that the user had a specific account with the custodian, identifiable by the information specified in paragraph (a) of this subdivision.