Key Takeaways
- •A statement of wishes does not automatically amend a will, create a trust, transfer rights or appoint an executor.
- •Publicity rights, copyright, recordings and account access are separate. Verify actual ownership and applicable law.
- •Choose no recreation, limited private use or potential commercial use explicitly. A memorial exception should be narrow.
- •Provider legacy-contact settings, estate documents and lawful access procedures need to be reconciled.
- •Complete the review before signing the statement. The generic sample is an unsigned working draft.
Reviewed for accuracy by the document.com legal team. Educational information, not legal advice.
What Is Posthumous Digital Likeness Directive?
This document records your preferences about AI-generated recreations of your voice, appearance and other identified attributes after death. It helps family members, rights holders and estate-planning professionals understand what you want and what remains to be implemented.
The builder creates a statement of wishes. It does not itself supply a will, trust amendment, assignment, license, power of attorney, fiduciary appointment or consent for a provider to disclose private messages. A separate legally effective instrument may be necessary for each of those purposes.
A person can object to a proposed recreation without owning every right in the source material. Conversely, ownership of a photograph or recording does not necessarily confer publicity rights, copyright, account access or power to act for an estate. Identify the actual rights and agreements before making a promise or demand.
Plan for the real assets and people
Synthetic media can use a recording, photograph, model, account archive or material licensed to another person. Start with an inventory and the relevant agreements. Keep passwords, recovery codes and private messages in a secure location outside this statement.
Separate authentic preservation from new synthetic speech or conduct. Saving a family video is different from training a persistent model or publishing an interactive replica. Each use needs its own preference and authority assessment.
Legal checkpoints that affect implementation
A state selection is a fact, not an automatic legal result
Domicile, place of use, commercial value, the protected person, the particular activity, ownership and statutory exceptions can matter. Rights and terms differ across jurisdictions. The builder records the relevant assessment rather than assigning a universal postmortem right from a dropdown.
Estate documents need their own formalities
A signed statement cannot simply declare itself superior to a will or trust. Virginia’s will-execution statute, for example, specifies signing and witness requirements for the forms it addresses. That is a jurisdiction-specific example, not a national execution recipe. Identify the actual instrument and amendment process needed.
Texas registration is not a universal one-year forfeiture rule
Texas Chapter 26 distinguishes ownership, registration priority, first-year exercise and exercise after the first year. Section 26.008 generally requires an owner to register to exercise the right during the first year, with a separate route for specified court-appointed persons. Section 26.009 permits later exercise with or without registration. Separate ownership and termination provisions also matter.
New York has specific covered-person and consent rules
Civil Rights Law section 50-f addresses defined deceased personalities and performers, includes domicile and use requirements, identifies who can consent, and provides registration rules and exceptions. It retains a forty-year limit for covered post-death uses. A nominated contact does not automatically become the statutory rights holder.
Account access is not guaranteed by naming a contact
Virginia’s digital-assets statute illustrates how qualifying online-tool directions can take priority over contrary estate-document instructions. It distinguishes communications content from other records and allows specified evidence and court findings to be required. It does not give a fiduciary broader underlying rights than the user held. Check the law and procedure for each actual account.
Notarization has a limited role
California’s Secretary of State explains that an acknowledgment verifies identity rather than the truth, accuracy or validity of the document, and requires a particular certificate. Acknowledgment does not prove mental capacity or make this statement a valid estate instrument. Use a proper certificate and separate execution procedure when appropriate.
Takedown remedies have scope and authority requirements
The federal TAKE IT DOWN Act concerns defined nonconsensual intimate visual depictions and covered platforms. Its removal process requires a qualifying request; criminal provisions have additional elements and exceptions. This statement does not establish post-death standing or guarantee that every unwanted depiction qualifies for removal.
Selected legal checkpoints
These sourced examples explain different legal questions. They are not a complete state survey or a finding that a particular law applies to you.
| Jurisdiction | Rule | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | Property Code Chapter 26 | Check ownership, registration priority and first-year versus later exercise; not a universal forfeiture deadline. |
| New York | Civil Rights Law 50-f | Check covered person, domicile, actual consent holder, use, registration and exceptions. |
| Virginia | Digital-assets statute | Check provider directions, actual authority, scope, documents and any required court findings. |
Review the current law and actual facts before implementing an estate instruction, license or access request.
Record wishes without inventing authority
Identify yourself, current domicile and other connected jurisdictions. Describe the actual covered attributes, source materials, ownership, licenses and transfers. Record the legal assessment and any unresolved issues.
Choose the headline preference deliberately. If you want no new AI recreation, decide whether a specific private memorial exception is acceptable. Identify its audience, duration and distribution limits; do not let a default answer silently create permission.
For limited private or potential commercial use, specify purpose, audience, territory, medium and duration. Set personal prohibitions and resolve any conflict with proposed permissions. State whether training or persistent models fit the intended use.
For commercial possibilities, record preferred license terms, named platforms, sublicensing limits and distribution controls. A future license must be executed separately by the person entitled to grant it. This statement grants no license.
Name a preferred contact and backup, then distinguish a recommendation from a role established by a separate instrument or appointment. Record the exact source and limits of any existing authority. Do not assume a lifetime agency continues after death.
Identify the existing or planned will, trust and related instruments. Specify the steps needed to reconcile ownership, fiduciary roles, instructions and formalities. Merely attaching a statement does not accomplish every required amendment.
Document provider legacy-contact settings and access preferences. Separate account catalogs, communications content and particular recordings. Complete the required consent or access instrument separately; avoid putting credentials into a document that may circulate.
Record any existing or proposed funding arrangement with limits and an authorized controller. A proposed maintenance budget does not create an estate expense or trust obligation. Revenue preferences need separate implementation and must respect ownership, taxes and other duties.
Set a realistic monitoring and response process. Verify rights, standing, exceptions, registration and evidence before sending notices. Unwanted content is not automatically unlawful. Identify who can take action and how costs will be approved.
Review on relocation, changed ownership, new accounts or changed wishes. Update the appropriate instruments and provider settings through their own procedures, and give the relevant people the current version.
When this planning statement helps
You want family and estate advisers to understand whether AI recreations are acceptable to you.
You own or license recordings, performances or identity rights and need to document how those arrangements connect to estate planning.
You want a narrow memorial preference without accidentally authorizing a reusable commercial model.
You need an organized record of digital-asset, funding and authority questions to resolve with the relevant professionals and providers.
How to Fill Out Posthumous Digital Likeness Directive
1. Inventory rights and records
Identify assets, owners, existing agreements, domicile and connected jurisdictions.
2. Choose coherent preferences
Set the headline rule, any memorial exception, permitted uses, prohibitions and model restrictions.
3. Identify implementation steps
Reconcile estate authority, instruments, provider access, funding and lawful response procedures.
4. Review and record the statement
Resolve the visible choices and review gates. Sign only as a statement of wishes; complete any separate legal instrument with its own formalities.
Key Terms Defined
- Statement of wishes
- A record of preferences and planning information, distinct from a dispositive instrument or a license.
- Publicity right
- A legally defined right concerning specified uses of identity; scope and post-death treatment depend on applicable law.
- Preferred contact
- A person suggested to coordinate wishes; nomination alone does not establish fiduciary authority.
- Online tool
- A provider mechanism for directing disclosure or nondisclosure of digital assets, which may have statutory priority if the relevant conditions are met.
Related Documents
Will or trust
Can establish dispositions and roles when legally effective. This statement identifies wishes to coordinate with those instruments.
Likeness license
Authorizes defined uses by agreement with the person entitled to grant rights. This statement does not grant that permission.
Digital-asset access direction
Addresses disclosure and access under actual law and provider requirements. A planning preference does not bypass that process.
Existing performer or recording agreement
May already allocate relevant rights and obligations. Review its terms before assuming the estate can change them.
Legal Authorities & Sources
This page is grounded in primary law. The statutes and official resources below are the authorities behind the guidance above. Verify the current text of any statute before relying on it.
- Texas Property Code Chapter 26: ownership, registration and enforcement
- New York Civil Rights Law 50-f: current postmortem publicity and digital replicas
- Virginia Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
- California Secretary of State: acknowledgment limits and required certificate
- TAKE IT DOWN Act, Public Law 119-12
- Virginia Code 64.2-403: will execution requirements
Frequently Asked Questions
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