Vermont Statutes Title 14 Sec. 3565
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 14 Sec. 3565
- Account: means an arrangement under a terms-of-service agreement in which a custodian carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of the user or provides goods or services to the user. See
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Court: means the Probate Division of the Superior Court of Vermont. See
- Custodian: means a person who carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of a user. See
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Designated recipient: means a person chosen by a user using an online tool to administer digital assets of the user. See
- Digital asset: means an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. See
- Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See
- 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.
- Fiduciary: means an original, additional, or successor personal representative, guardian, agent, or trustee. See
- Information: means data, text, images, videos, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, databases, or the like. See
- Person: means an individual, estate, business or nonprofit entity, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or other legal entity. See
- Person under guardianship: means an individual for whom a guardian has been appointed. See
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Principal: means an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney. See
- Terms-of-service agreement: means an agreement that controls the relationship between a user and a custodian. See
- User: means a person who has an account with a custodian. See
§ 3565. Fiduciary duty and authority
(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) is subject to the applicable terms of service, except as otherwise provided in section 3554 of this title;
(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) shall not be used to impersonate the user.
(c) A fiduciary with authority over the property of a decedent, person under guardianship, principal, or settlor has the right to access any digital asset in which the decedent, person under guardianship, 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, person under guardianship, principal, or settlor for the purpose of applicable computer-fraud and unauthorized-computer-access laws, including 13 V.S.A. § 4102.
(e) A fiduciary with authority over the tangible, personal property of a decedent, person under guardianship, 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 13 V.S.A. § 4102.
(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 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 certificate of appointment of fiduciary, 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 subdivision (A) of this subdivision (3). (Added 2017, No. 13, § 1.)