Alabama § 19-1A-15 - Fiduciary Duty and Authority.

§ 19-1A-15. 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 a designated recipient’s authority with respect to a digital asset of a user:

(1) except as otherwise provided in Section 19-1A-4, 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, 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.

(d) 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 this state’s law on unauthorized computer access.

(e) 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 Article 5A of Chapter 8, Title 13A, 18 U.S.C. Section 2701 et seq., and 47 U.S.C. Section 222.

(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, 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).