After a person passes away, a decedent’s survivors oftentimes attempt to access the decedent’s electronic communications. Whether motivated by mere curiosity or a desire to better understand the circumstances that led to a decedent’s death, decedents’ survivors have not had much success in accessing the content of decedents’ electronic communications since New York enacted digital assets legislation in 2016. Recently, however, two Surrogate’s Courts have granted applications for access to the content of decedents’ electronic communications.
