{"data":{"id":"us-wv/w.-va.-code-44-5b-2","jurisdiction":"us-wv","citation":"W. Va. Code § 44-5B-2","heading":"Definitions.","body":"In this article:\n“Account” means an arrangement under a terms-of-service agreement in which a custodian carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of the user or provides goods or services to the user;\n“Agent” means an attorney-in-fact granted authority under a durable or nondurable power of attorney;\n“Carries” means engages in the transmission of an electronic communication;\n“Catalogue of electronic communications” means information that identifies each person with whom a user has had an electronic communication, the time and date of the communication, and the electronic address of the person;\n“Conservator” means a person appointed by a court to manage the estate and financial affairs of a protected person. The term includes a limited conservator and temporary conservator;\n“Content of an electronic communication” means information concerning the substance or meaning of the communication which:\n(1) Has been sent or received by a user;\n(2) Is in electronic storage by a custodian providing an electronic communication service to the public or is carried or maintained by a custodian providing a remote computing service to the public; and\n(3) Is not readily accessible to the public;\n“Court” means the circuit court of the county having jurisdiction over the fiduciary or designated recipient;\n“Custodian” means a person that carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of a user;\n“Designated recipient” means a person chosen by a user using an online tool to administer digital assets of the user;\n“Digital asset” means an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. The term does not include an underlying asset or liability, unless the asset or liability is itself an electronic record;\n“Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities;\n“Electronic communication” has the meaning set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 2510(12);\n“Electronic communication service” means a custodian that provides to a user the ability to send or receive an electronic communication;\n“Fiduciary” means an original, additional or successor personal representative, conservator, agent, or trustee;\n“Information” means data, text, images, videos, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, databases, or the like;\n“Online tool” means an electronic service provided by a custodian that allows the user, in an agreement distinct from the terms-of-service agreement between the custodian and user, to provide directions for disclosure or nondisclosure of digital assets to a third person;\n“Person” means an individual, estate, business or nonprofit entity, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, instrumentality, or other legal entity;\n“Personal representative” means an executor, administrator, special administrator, or person that performs substantially the same function under law of this state other than this article;\n“Power of attorney” means a record that grants an agent authority to act in the place of a principal;\n“Principal” means an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney;\n“Protected person” means an individual for whom a conservator has been appointed. The term includes an individual for whom an application for the appointment of a conservator is pending;\n“Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;\n“Remote computing service” means a custodian that provides to a user computer-processing services or the storage of digital assets by means of an electronic communications system, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2510(14);\n“Terms of service agreement” means an agreement that controls the relationship between a user and a custodian;\n“Trustee” means a fiduciary with legal title to property under an agreement or declaration that creates a beneficial interest in another. The term includes a successor trustee;\n“User” means a person that has an account with a custodian; and\n“Will” includes a codicil, testamentary instrument that only appoints an executor, and instrument that revokes or revises a testamentary instrument.","path":["CHAPTER 44. ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES AND TRUSTS.","ARTICLE 5B. WEST VIRGINIA UNIFORM FIDUCIARY ACCESS TO DIGITAL ASSETS ACT."],"source_url":"https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44-5B-2/","current_through":"as of 2026-08-03; contains at least the enactments of the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-06T00:29:33Z","sha256":"a14d0816e5ddb3a193b34b0db18da8876d5a1e0e717d67f074cf56b13aabfb87","source_id":"us-wv","stale":true,"prev":"us-wv/w.-va.-code-44-5b-1","next":"us-wv/w.-va.-code-44-5b-3"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}