Beyond Tangibles: Bridging The Gap In Family Law With Digital Inheritance Legislation
- IJLLR Journal
- Feb 14
- 1 min read
Pratyush Pandey, B.A. LL.B. (Hons.), National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
ABSTRACT
The development of property in the digital realm has led to a change in the tradition of successive rules regarding property and inheritance. This papers aims to understand where the state should intervene in regulating the inheritance of digital assets. It will attempt to fill the gaps that exist in the traditional shared family status to examine the evolution of assets, from material assets replaced by territorial assets, and will focus on the economic, emotional and private aspects surrounding digital inheritance in the form of cryptocurrencies, social media accounts and data stored in the cloud. The lack of a comprehensive legal framework creates ambiguities and conditions the power of distribution as defined by platform policies or contracts. The inadequacy of traditional inheritance law in terms of accounts is another critical aspect: once the person dies, access to social media accounts, emails and cryptocurrencies becomes the primary claim of the heirs. It also examines the escort of insider assets to determine whether the state has certain rights over personal digital assets and whether it can claim its right to data protection under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. The paper stresses that the place for a well-functioning legal framework that balances inheritance rights, data protection concerns and the protection of digital assets is here and now. In this regard, it proposes that digital ownership should be recognised in law, which implies designing clarity, accessibility and an egalitarian succession mechanism for the time of digital consolidation.
Keywords: google, privacy, sentimental value, cryptocurrency, succession, will, assets, legislation
