Legal Protection of Heirs to Digital Assets under Indonesian Civil Law

Abstract

The saisine principle in Indonesian inheritance law enables a decedent’s patrimonial rights to pass to heirs upon death, yet digital control architectures do not always permit factual access to inherited assets. This study examines the legal status of digital assets and the gap between normative succession and heirs’ factual access, while formulating an adaptive protection model. It employs doctrinal legal research using statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches through interpretative, evaluative, comparative, and prescriptive analyses. The findings demonstrate that digital assets are legally heterogeneous, encompassing patrimonial, contractual, and personal interests; therefore, inheritability depends on their legal characteristics. The study identifies the Digital Succession Access Gap, a disparity between juridical succession and factual control arising from identification, legal authorisation, and technical access gaps. Functional comparison highlights the significance of fiduciary access, universal succession, and institutional digital asset governance. The study proposes a Digital Succession Access Model integrating asset inventory, digital executors, segmented access, post-mortem transmission procedures, and post-mortem data protection, thereby shifting toward access governance-oriented regulation. This model connects inheritance rights with lawful digital access while preserving proportionality and the decedent’s privacy.