TJSP recognizes the right to the inheritance of digital heritage

In a recent decision, the 3rd Chamber of Private Law of the Court of Justice of São Paulo recognized the right of a mother to the digital assets of her deceased daughter. According to the records of the process, after the death of the daughter, the mother appealed to the company responsible for the telephone service, requesting the unlocking of the phone. She argued to be the only heiress and be entitled to the assets left by her daughter, including digital content stored on the device (ID Apple).

The rapporteur of the case stressed that, although there is no specific legal regulation about the inheritance of digital goods, it is valid that the digital assets of the deceased person can integrate the estate and thus be the subject of succession. In his decision, he mentions statement 687 of the Federal Justice Council, which determines that digital assets can integrate the estate of goods in the legitimate succession of the deceased holder.

“There is no justification to prevent the right of the only heiress to have access to the memories of the deceased daughter, not being glimpsed, in the context of the case, violation of the eventual right of the personality of the cujus, notably due to the absence of specific disposal contrary to access your digital data by the family. [...] ”, stated in the decision made.

In this sense, in order to avoid similar situations, Apple began to make the “legacy contact” available to its users, allowing beneficiaries designated by the Apple ID holders to access data from their ICLOUD after their death. The chosen contact needs a death certificate and other checks to get a username, password and access key, which can be inserted via alphanumeric code or QR.