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The Florida Statutes

The 2024 Florida Statutes

Title XLII
ESTATES AND TRUSTS
Chapter 740
FIDUCIARY ACCESS TO DIGITAL ASSETS
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F.S. 740.002
740.002 Definitions.As used in this chapter, the term:
(1) “Account” means an arrangement under a terms-of-service agreement in which the custodian carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of the user or provides goods or services to the user.
(2) “Agent” means a person that is granted authority to act for a principal under a durable or nondurable power of attorney, whether denominated an agent, an attorney in fact, or otherwise. The term includes an original agent, a co-agent, and a successor agent.
(3) “Carries” means to engage in the transmission of electronic communications.
(4) “Catalog of electronic communications” means information that identifies each person with which a user has had an electronic communication, the time and date of the communication, and the electronic address of the person.
(5) “Content of an electronic communication” means information concerning the substance or meaning of the communication which:
(a) Has been sent or received by a user;
(b) Is in electronic storage by a custodian providing an electronic communication service to the public or is carried or maintained by a custodian providing a remote computing service to the public; and
(c) Is not readily accessible to the public.
(6) “Court” means a circuit court of this state.
(7) “Custodian” means a person that carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of a user.
(8) “Designated recipient” means a person chosen by a user through an online tool to administer digital assets of the user.
(9) “Digital asset” means an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. The term does not include an underlying asset or liability unless the asset or liability is itself an electronic record.
(10) “Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
(11) “Electronic communication” has the same meaning as provided in 18 U.S.C. s. 2510(12).
(12) “Electronic communication service” means a custodian that provides to a user the ability to send or receive an electronic communication.
(13) “Fiduciary” means an original, additional, or successor personal representative, guardian, agent, or trustee.
(14) “Guardian” means a person who is appointed by the court as guardian of the property of a minor or an incapacitated individual. The term includes an original guardian, a coguardian, and a successor guardian, as well as a person appointed by the court as an emergency temporary guardian of the property.
(15) “Information” means data, text, images, videos, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, databases, or the like.
(16) “Online tool” means an electronic service provided by a custodian which allows the user, in an agreement distinct from the terms-of-service agreement between the custodian and user, to provide directions for disclosure or nondisclosure of digital assets to a third person.
(17) “Person” means an individual, estate, trust, business or nonprofit entity, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or other legal entity.
(18) “Personal representative” means the fiduciary appointed by the court to administer the estate of a deceased individual pursuant to letters of administration or an order appointing a curator or administrator ad litem for the estate. The term includes an original personal representative, a copersonal representative, and a successor personal representative, as well as a person who is entitled to receive and collect a deceased individual’s property pursuant to an order of summary administration issued pursuant to chapter 735.
(19) “Power of attorney” means a record that grants an agent authority to act in the place of a principal pursuant to chapter 709.
(20) “Principal” means an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney.
(21) “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
(22) “Remote computing service” means a custodian that provides to a user computer processing services or the storage of digital assets by means of an electronic communications system as defined in 18 U.S.C. s. 2510(14).
(23) “Terms-of-service agreement” means an agreement that controls the relationship between a user and a custodian.
(24) “Trustee” means a fiduciary that holds legal title to property under an agreement, declaration, or trust instrument that creates a beneficial interest in the settlor or other persons. The term includes an original trustee, a cotrustee, and a successor trustee.
(25) “User” means a person that has an account with a custodian.
(26) “Ward” means an individual for whom a guardian has been appointed.
(27) “Will” means an instrument admitted to probate, including a codicil, executed by an individual in the manner prescribed by the Florida Probate Code, which disposes of the individual’s property on or after his or her death. The term includes an instrument that merely appoints a personal representative or revokes or revises another will.
History.s. 3, ch. 2016-46.