New Jersey Statutes 3B:14-61.15. Fiduciary and designated recipient duty and authority
Terms Used In New Jersey Statutes 3B:14-61.15
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- Fiduciary: includes executors, general administrators of an intestate estate, administrators with the will annexed, substituted administrators, substituted administrators with the will annexed, guardians, substituted guardians, trustees, substituted trustees and, unless restricted by the subject or context, temporary administrators, administrators pendente lite, administrators ad prosequendum, administrators ad litem and other limited fiduciaries. See New Jersey Statutes 3B:1-1
- person: includes corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships and joint stock companies as well as individuals, unless restricted by the context to an individual as distinguished from a corporate entity or specifically restricted to one or some of the above enumerated synonyms and, when used to designate the owner of property which may be the subject of an offense, includes this State, the United States, any other State of the United States as defined infra and any foreign country or government lawfully owning or possessing property within this State. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
- 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
a. 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;
(2) the duty of loyalty; and
(3) the duty of confidentiality.
b. A fiduciary‘s or designated recipient’s authority with respect to a digital asset of a user:
(1) except as otherwise provided in section 4 of this act, is subject to the applicable terms of service;
(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.
c. A fiduciary with authority over the property of a decedent, incapacitated person, principal, or settlor has the right to access any digital asset in which the decedent, incapacitated 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.
d. A fiduciary acting within the scope of the fiduciary’s duties is an authorized user of the property of the decedent, incapacitated person, principal, or settlor for the purpose of applicable computer-fraud and unauthorized-computer-access laws, including but not limited to the provisions of P.L.1984, c.184 (C. 2C:20-23 et seq.) and N.J.S. 2C:20-2
e. A fiduciary with authority over the tangible, personal property of a decedent, incapacitated 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 but not limited to the provisions of P.L.1984, c.184 (C. 2C:20-23 et seq.) and N.J.S. 2C:20-2
f. 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.
g. A fiduciary of a user may request a custodian to terminate the user’s account. A request for termination must be in writing, in either physical or electronic form, and accompanied by:
(1) if the user is deceased, a copy of the death certificate of the user;
(2) a copy of the letters testamentary or letters of administration, court order, power of attorney, or trust giving the fiduciary authority over the account; and
(3) if requested by the custodian:
(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 subparagraph (a) of this paragraph.
L.2017, c.237, s.15.