New Rights For Fiduciaries Makes It Easier To Plan For The Future And Control Your Digital Assets

New Brunswick's new Fiduciaries Access to Digital Assets Act received Royal Assent on December 16, 2022. The new Act is the first of its kind in New Brunswick and makes the Province one of the few Canadian jurisdictions to have such a piece of legislation. The purpose of the Act is to provide a framework for individuals to plan what will happen to their digital assets upon death or incapacity.

This article is intended as an overview into this new Act and how it might impact residents of New Brunswick.

Introduction

Most people are probably unaware of the extent to which they hold digital assets and have given no consideration to what might or should happen to those digital assets upon their death or incapacity. Likewise, these individuals are probably unaware that they can plan for the disposition of these digital assets as part of their estate plan.