§ 3552. Definitions
As used in this chapter:
(1) “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.
(2) “Agent” means an attorney-in-fact granted authority under a durable or nondurable
power of attorney.
(3) “Carries” means engages in the transmission of an electronic communication.
(4) “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.
(5) “Content of an electronic communication” means information concerning the substance
or meaning of a communication that:
(A) has been sent or received by a user;
(B) 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
(C) is not readily accessible to the public.
(6) “Court” means the Probate Division of the Superior Court of Vermont.
(7) “Custodian” means a person who carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores
a digital asset of a user.
(8) “Designated recipient” means a person chosen by a user using an online tool to administer
digital assets of the user.
(9) “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.
(10) “Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless,
optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
(11) “Electronic communication” has the same meaning as in 18 U.S.C. § 2510(12).
(12) “Electronic-communication service” means a custodian who provides to a user the ability
to send or receive an electronic communication.
(13) “Fiduciary” means an original, additional, or successor personal representative, guardian,
agent, or trustee.
(14) “Guardian” means a person appointed by a court to manage the estate of a living individual.
The term includes a limited guardian.
(15) “Information” means data, text, images, videos, sounds, codes, computer programs,
software, databases, or the like.
(16) “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.
(17) “Person” means an individual, estate, business or nonprofit entity, public corporation,
government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or other legal
entity.
(18) “Person under guardianship” means an individual for whom a guardian has been appointed.
The term includes an individual for whom an application for the appointment of a guardian
is pending.
(19) “Personal representative” means an executor, administrator, or special administrator,
or a person who performs substantially the same function as an executor, administrator,
or special administrator under law of this State other than this chapter.
(20) “Power of attorney” means a record that grants an agent authority to act in the place
of a principal.
(21) “Principal” means an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney.
(22) “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.
(23) “Remote-computing service” means a custodian who provides a user with 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).
(24) “Terms-of-service agreement” means an agreement that controls the relationship between
a user and a custodian.
(25) “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.
(26) “User” means a person who has an account with a custodian.
(27) “Will” includes a codicil, testamentary instrument that only appoints an executor,
and an instrument that revokes or revises a testamentary instrument. (Added 2017, No. 13, § 1.)