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In A Groundbreaking Decision, The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) Created A New Role To Address The Growing Challenge Of Digital Inheritance, Balancing The Rights Of Heirs And The Protection Of The Privacy Of The Deceased.
A judge may appoint an expert to act as a “digital estate executor”. This person’s role will be to access devices, such as a deceased person’s computer, and extract only the data relevant to the probate case. This unprecedented measure at the STJ aims to preserve the personality rights of the deceased.
Understand The Groundbreaking Decision Of The 3rd Panel Of The STJ
The innovative conclusion came from the 3rd Panel of The Superior Court of Justice. The panel analyzed a special appeal from the executors of a family that died in a helicopter accident in São Paulo in 2016. The issue had never been addressed in the court’s jurisprudence.
The Concrete Case: The Struggle Of Heirs For Access To Tablets
The executors sought to access the content of three tablets belonging to the deceased. The goal was clear: to identify assets with economic or sentimental value that could be included in the probate.
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They requested the password from Apple, the manufacturer of the devices, to access the information. The company responded that this would not be possible. In light of the refusal, the request was made for the probate judge to send a new official letter to the company. However, the lower courts denied the request, arguing that the issue would require its own legal action.
The Emergence Of The Digital Estate Executor: Who Is He And What Does He Do?
The majority of the STJ ministers understood that the request could be analyzed within the probate process. The reporter of the case, Minister Nancy Andrighi, proposed the creation of the digital estate executor.
This professional acts as an expert and is not the executor defined in the Civil Code; he does not represent the estate. His role is to assist the judge by accessing the electronic device and listing the content to determine what can be passed on to the heirs without violating personal information.
The Reporter’s View And The Protection Of Personal Data
Minister Nancy Andrighi recognized a risk: allowing direct access could expose highly personal information of the deceased, which is password protected.
Therefore, the figure of the intermediary expert was created. “He only helps the judge with what we do not have: the expertise to open such a device and meticulously list everything that is inside, to then say what can or cannot be transmitted”, explained the minister.
Dissenting Vote: The Divergence In The STJ Decision
Strong>Minister Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva was the only one to dissent. For him, there is no reason to create an intermediary, as the heirs themselves have the obligation to safeguard the rights of the deceased.
Cueva argued that the measure creates a unwarranted differentiation for digital assets. “A private letter left by the deceased could be opened by the heirs, while access to electronic communication will have a different treatment”, he pointed out.
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