European Law Institute publishes model rules on succession and access to digital remains in Vienna; EU funding backs digital succession rules

European Law Institute publishes model rules on succession and access to digital remains in Vienna; EU funding backs digital succession rules

Model Rules on Succession and Access to Digital Remains European Law Institute

The European Law Institute The European Law Institute (ELI) is an independent non-profit organisation established to initiate, conduct and facilitate research, make recommendations and provide practical guidance in the field of European legal development. Building on the wealth of diverse legal traditions, its mission is the quest for better law-making in Europe and the enhancement of European legal integration. By its endeavours, ELI seeks to contribute to the formation of a more vigorous European legal community, integrating the achievements of the various legal cultures, endorsing the value of comparative knowledge, and taking a genuinely pan-European perspective. As such, its work covers all branches of the law: substantive and procedural; private and public. ELI is committed to the principles of comprehensiveness and collaborative working, thus striving to bridge the oft-perceived gap between the different legal cultures, between public and private law, as well as between scholarship and practice. To further that commitment, it seeks to involve a diverse range of personalities, reflecting the richness of the legal traditions, legal disciplines and vocational frameworks found throughout Europe. ELI is also open to the use of different methodological approaches and to canvassing insights and perspectives from as wide an audience as possible of those who share its vision. President: Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras Ballell First Vice-President: Sir Geoffrey Vos Second Vice-President: Pietro Sirena Treasurer: Anne Birgitte Gammeljord Speaker of the Senate: Reinhard Zimmermann Secretary-General: Vanessa Wilcox Scientific Director: Christiane Wendehorst European Law Institute Schottenring 16/ 175 1010 Vienna Austria Tel: + 43 1 4277 22101 E-mail: secretariat@europeanlawinstitute.eu Website: www.europeanlawinstitute.eu Approved by the ELI Council on 24 June 2026 and by the ELI Membership on 16 July 2026. Published on 28 August 2026. ISBN: 978-3-9505990-5-3 © European Law Institute 2026 This publication was co-funded by the European Union’s Justice Programme. Acknowledgement is also due to the University of Vienna, which has generously hosted the ELI Secretariat under successive Framework Cooperation Agreements since 2011. Views and opinions expressed are those of ELI ’s only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, the University of Vienna or others. Neither the European Union nor others can be held responsible for them. This project is co-funded by the European Union

Table of Contents Acknowledgements 6 Executive Summary 9 Introduction 11 Black Letter Rules 15 Chapter 1 Scope and Definitions 15 Chapter 2 Digital Succession 16 Chapter 3 Deletion of, and Access to, Personal Digital Remains 16 Chapter 4 Third-party Rights and Interests 18 Chapter 5 Applicable Law and Jurisdiction 19 Commentary 20 Chapter 1 Scope and Definitions 20 Chapter 2 Digital Succession 25 Chapter 3 Deletion of, and Access to, Personal Digital Remains 28 Chapter 4 Third-party Rights and Interests 33 Chapter 5 Applicable Law and Jurisdiction 35

6 Acknowledgements Project Team Reporters Edina Harbinja (Associate Professor, UK) Antoine Eigenmann (Lawyer and Professor, Switzerland) Other Members of the Project Team Philipp Ceesay (Professor, Germany) Elwira Macierzyńska-Franaszczyk (Professor, Poland) Francesco Paolo Patti (Professor, Italy) Tamás Sajben (Notary, Hungary) Project Assistant Tal Morse (Lecturer, Israel) Advisory Committee Assessors Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras Ballell (Professor, Spain) François Trémosa (Notary, France) Xandra Kramer (Professor, The Netherlands) Other Members of the Advisory Committee Sergio Cámara Lapuente (Professor, Spain) Gregor Christandl (Professor, Austria) Katell Drouet-Bassou (Lawyer, Switzerland) Ben Furlong (Managing Director, UK) Martin Hanzl (Lawyer, Austria) Vasileios Karagiannopoulos (Associate Professor, UK) Stacey Pitsillides (Associate Professor, UK) Eleonora Rosati (Professor, Sweden) Sjef van Erp (Emeritus Professor, The Netherlands) Francesco Armando Schurr (Professor, Austria) Members Consultative Committee Peter Adler (Mediator, Austria) Pınar Çağlayan Aksoy (Assistant Professor, Turkey) Pilar Álvarez Olalla (Professor, Spain) Arvind Babajee (Corporate Jurist / Chartered Management Accountant, Mauritius) Teresa Bielska-Sobkowicz (Judge, Poland) Mircea Dan Bob-Bocșan (Professor, Romania) Ádám Boóc (Professor, Hungary) Margareta Brattström (Supreme Court Justice, Sweden) Robert Bray (†) Suzanne Brown Walsh (Lawyer, USA) Rebeca Carpi (Associate Professor, Spain) Octavian Cazac (Associate Professor, Moldova) Ana María Cediel Serra (Assistant Lecturer, Spain) Tomasz Chmielewski (Lawyer, Poland) Valeria Confortini (Professor, Italy) Letizia Coppo (Associate Professor, France) Andrea Dalmartello (Associate Professor, Italy) Riccardo de Caria (Associate Professor, Italy)

7 Anabela Susana de Sousa Gonçalves (Associate Professor, Portugal) Mustafa Ebaid (Legal Researcher, Palestine) José Pau Echave (Lecturer, Spain) María Paz García Rubio (Professor, Spain) Rosa M. García-Teruel (Assistant Professor, Spain) Hristina Georgieva (Lawyer, Bulgaria) Marco Giacalone (Research Professor, Belgium) Nuria Ginés Castellet (Associate Professor, Spain) Isabel Victoria González Pacanowska (Professor, Spain) Elise Goossens (Assistant Professor, Belgium) Susanne Lilian Gössl (Professor, Germany) Mateusz Grochowski (Associate Professor, USA) Biset Sena Güneş (Senior Research Fellow, Germany) Emilia Hörnell (Lawyer, Sweden) Guillem Izquierdo Grau (Associate Professor, Spain) Monika Jagielska (University Professor, Poland) Melanija Jančić Mihić (Associate Professor, Serbia) Francisco Javier Jiménez Muñoz (Professor, Spain) Sara Johnson (Lawyer, Canada) Monika Jurčová (Professor, Slovakia) Kadir Berk Kapanci (Professor, Turkey) Aileen Keogan (Lawyer, Ireland) Alexander Keys (Lawyer, Belgium) Ben Köhler (Junior Professor, Germany) Pavel Koukal (Associate Professor, Czech Republic) Sophio Kurtauli (Lawyer, Georgia) Gökçe Kurtulan Güner (Assistant Professor, Turkey) Simon Laimer (University Professor, Austria) Ilse Marije Lambers (PhD Researcher, Netherlands) Antonio Legerén Molina (Associate Professor, Spain) John Linarelli (Professor, USA) Francesco Longobucco (Professor, Italy) José Luis Fernández Lozano (Notary, Spain) Timothy Lyons KC (Barrister, UK) Alisdair MacPherson (Senior Lecturer, UK) Geo Magri (Associate Professor, Italy) Carlos Marinho (Judge, Portugal) Claudia Elena Marinică (Lecturer, Romania) Giuseppe Marino (Associate Professor, Italy) Cristina Mariottini (Senior Lecturer, Luxembourg) Luz María Martínez Velencoso (Professor, Spain) Marco Martino (Professor, Italy) Maarten R. Meijer (Former Civil-Law Notary, Netherlands) Attila Menyhárd (Professor, Hungary) Dorota Miler (University Professor, Poland) Iain Mitchell KC (Barrister, UK) Carmen Muñoz García (Associate Professor, Spain) Daniele Muritano (Notary, Italy) Margot Musson (Lecturer, France) Kristin Nemeth (Assistant Professor, Austria) Niccolò Travia (Lawyer, Italy)

8 Yuko Nishitani (Professor, Japan) Bahar Öcal Apaydın (Associate Professor, Turkey) Ioana Olaru (Notary, Romania) Konrad Osajda (Professor, Poland) Marlena Pecyna (University Professor, Poland) Luca Ettore Perriello (Associate Professor, Italy) Thomas Pfeiffer (Professor, Germany) Alain Pilette (EU Official, Belgium) Katarzyna Południak-Gierz (Assistant Professor, Poland) Rui Miguel Prista Patrício Cascão (Associate Professor, Portugal) Karin Raková (Assistant Professor, Slovakia) Caroline Rapatz (Professor, Germany) Frederick Rieländer (Professor, Germany) Sara Rodríguez Marín (Lawyer, Spain) Albert Ruda (Associate Professor, Spain) Carlo Rusconi (Researcher, Italy) Leigh Sagar (Barrister, UK) Pablo Salvador-Coderch (Emeritus Professor, Spain) Alina Raluca Sarchisian (Lawyer, Romania) Vyara Savova (Lawyer, Bulgaria) Christian Schall (Notary, Germany) Jan Peter Schmidt (Senior Research Fellow, Germany) Stacie Strong (Professor, USA) Emir Sudžuka (Notary, Bosnia and Herzegovina) Ferenc Szilágyi (Associate Professor, Hungary) Paula Távora Vítor (Assistant Professor, Portugal) Rute Teixeira Pedro (Associate Professor, Portugal) Eric Tjong Tjin Tai (Professor, Netherlands) Camelia Toader (Professor, Romania) Stefano Troiano (Professor, Italy) Colin Tyre (Judge, UK) Antoni Vaquer Aloy (Professor, Spain) Gabriela Varia (Lecturer, Romania) Vanessa Villanueva Collao (Senior Research Fellow, Australia) Asim Vokshi (Judge, Albania) Denise Wiedemann (Professor, Germany) Eleni Zervogianni (Associate Professor, Greece) Irina Zlătescu (Professor, Romania) Observers European Commission (represented by Maria Vilar Badia) Digital Legacy Association (represented by James Norris) Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) (represented by Jack Burroughs) Uniform Law Commission (ULC) (represented by Suzanne Brown Walsh) Uniform Law Conference of Canada (ULCC) (represented by Donna L Molzan, KC) Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE) (represented by Marianne Sevindik and Philip Bender) ELI Project Officer Tomasz Dudek (Senior Project Officer, Austria)

9 Executive Summary These Model Rules set out a framework for succession to digital assets and access to personal digital remains after death. They address the growing practical and legal difficulties that arise when a person dies leaving online accounts, digital assets, cloud-stored materials, personal data, communications, and digital or AI- generated representations. The Model Rules aim to provide legal certainty while respecting the privacy and dignity of the deceased, the rights and interests of heirs and other beneficiaries, the rights of living third parties, and the obligations of service providers. The Model Rules are built around the concept of ‘digital remains’. This umbrella concept includes both digital assets and personal digital remains. A digital asset is a digital remain capable of control, enjoyment or use, and capable of transfer, irrespective of whether the relevant right is characterised as proprietary, contractual or otherwise. Personal digital remains are digital remains that, by their nature or function, reflect, express or are intrinsically linked to the deceased’s personality, identity or private life. They include the deceased’s personal data and digital representations capable of evoking, simulating, re-performing or reconstructing aspects of the deceased’s personality, likeness, voice, presence or behaviour, including through automated or generative systems. A central feature of the Model Rules is the distinction between succession and access. Digital assets are governed by succession law. Personal digital remains are governed by a separate access regime. Where a single digital remain contains both a digital asset and personal digital remains, the access regime applies first to the personal elements before the asset is dealt with under succession law, unless the personal element is merely ancillary to the asset. This approach prevents personality-linked material from being treated as ordinary property while preserving the transferability of economic digital assets. The Model Rules provide that digital succession is governed by the rules applicable to succession to movable property, with such modifications as are necessary to reflect the nature of digital assets. Service providers must enable the orderly transfer of digital assets by providing appropriate mechanisms, clear and accessible tools or platform rules, and adequate notice before discontinuing services so that estate representatives can export digital assets. Terms and conditions that prevent or hinder the transfer of digital assets are invalid unless individually negotiated with the deceased,