The dissertation is the first in the national science of civil law by a special complex study of the inheritance of IT objects under modern civil law. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of the law and legal practice on the exercise of hereditary rights in respect of IT objects in Ukraine and foreign countries. The legal nature of IT objects is determined, the nature of virtual objects and other civil law objects is correlated, the place of IT objects among the traditional objects of inheritance law is determined. It has been proven that the nature of IT objects varies depending on the type of technology used to create, modify, maintain, or use an individual IT environment. The legal nature of virtual objects is different from the legal nature of things, due to the intangibility of such objects and the peculiarities of the exercise of civil rights against them. It is proved that substantiation of necessity of introduction of a special legal regime of inheritance of electronic objects is a promising direction of scientific research with a complex subject, which involves interaction with representatives of various sciences and technical specialists.
It has been determined that attributing digital objects to goods or services, things or information when trying to identify them narrows the potential range of such objects and does not disclose their legal nature at all.
To objectively determine the true range of digital objects, it is proposed to classify the latter by the following criteria: functional, property, axiological, objective, and legal criteria.
Depending on the form and method of objectification of digital objects, they can be divided into objects that relate to reality objects and objects that only assume a virtual existence (virtual objects).
We have defined the concepts of virtual objects that are meant to be understood as elements of virtual space that do not have the same material expression, are of aesthetic, cultural, informational, economic or other value, integrated into the corresponding virtual system, which is accessed through the technical means of using information technology.
We have also identified features that directly or indirectly affect most digital assets and affect the potential for inheritance in the event of the owner’s death: the dynamism of the existence of IT objects; anonymity and impersonation regarding the ownership and use of individual IT objects; finding individual objects beyond the influence of state and national legislation; unconventional ways to monetize individual IT assets; uncertainty about the real and potential value of individual assets.
It has been proven that unlawful ethical considerations that cannot be avoided in a person’s legal privacy are an obstacle to the typical legal regulation of the inheritance of all IT objects. Unlike copyrighted objects, IT entities that provide personal access to the user may store private, confidential information of others (such as correspondence on performance of duties), disclose personal information, which the deceased person would not wish to disseminate (information about habits, actions, personal contacts) or information about other persons that might have become known as a result of the deceased person’s activity on the Internet.
Based on the analysis of the current legislation and legal practice, it is concluded that information technologies are already widely used in the exercise of hereditary rights. The implementation of the Electronic Testament Institute and the extension of the Secret Testament regime are promising areas of scientific and legislative work in this field.
The content of the concept of electronic will under which it is proposed to understand this is a unilateral transaction concerning the disposal of rights to virtual property in the event of the death of the owner. At the same time, it is agreed that electronic covenants should be distinguished from electronic covenants, which are foreseen in some foreign countries.
It is noted that current trends in the development of Internet resources allow us to speak about a new way of making a secret testament, namely, placing a text variant of the will or a video of a testamentary disposition on the Website or the website of the testator.
It is determined that virtual objects are such elements of virtual space that do not have the same material expression, represent aesthetic, cultural, informational, economic or other value, integrated into the corresponding virtual system, which is accessed by means of information technology.
