Nearly a year after the shocking death of celebrity manager Sophia Hutchins, both her estate and former client Caitlyn Jenner are fighting for access to her locked Apple account. The 29-year-old manager died in an ATV accident in July 2025 near Jenner’s Malibu home, leaving behind a digital vault that neither her family nor her most famous client can open.
The estate, led by Hutchins’ mother Amy, filed legal documents Friday requesting a judge order Apple to grant access to the account. Without it, the estate says it cannot pay income taxes, complete an inventory of assets, or meet its financial obligations. When the family approached Apple after Hutchins’ death, the tech giant responded by demanding a court order.
Jenner has separately requested access to the same account, claiming Hutchins stored critical “work-related information” on her computer and in iCloud. The former Olympic gold medalist says her business ventures will suffer without that data.
The request comes amid a broader financial dispute between Jenner and the estate. Court documents show Jenner filed a creditor’s claim for more than $430,000, which she says Hutchins owed her at the time of her death. The debt reportedly includes credit card charges, cash advances, shopping expenses, and shared legal fees. One of the largest single purchases listed was nearly $250,000 spent on the luxury home goods website 1stdibs.com.
Hutchins met Jenner in late 2015 through a mutual hairstylist, shortly after Jenner came out as a transgender woman. What began as a friendship soon became a professional partnership. Hutchins served as Jenner’s manager, CEO of the Caitlyn Jenner Foundation, and a constant presence in Jenner’s life, even living in her Malibu home for a period of time.
Despite tabloid speculation, both women consistently denied any romantic relationship. Hutchins described their bond as a deep friendship and trusted business partnership. Beyond her work with Jenner, Hutchins founded the sunscreen brand Lumasol and graduated from Pepperdine University with a degree in economics and finance.
On the morning of July 2, 2025, Hutchins was riding an ATV along the street near Jenner’s Malibu property when she struck the bumper of a moving car. The impact launched the vehicle off the road, sending it plunging approximately 350 feet down into a ravine. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The medical examiner’s report later confirmed she had no alcohol or drugs in her system at the time of the crash, ruling out impairment as a factor. The manner of death was officially listed as an accident. Jenner publicly mourned her friend weeks later, telling Fox News that dealing with the loss had been “so difficult” and that the tragedy “really hit me hard”.
Apple’s privacy protocols block anyone from accessing a deceased person’s account without proper legal documentation. The company requires a death certificate and, in most cases, a court order specifically naming the requestor as the rightful inheritor of the account’s contents.
Hutchins did not designate a Legacy Contact before her death, leaving her family with no alternative but to pursue legal action. The estate’s filing argues that the account holds financial records, tax documents, and correspondence essential for settling Hutchins’ affairs.
A judge will now decide whether to grant the order. If approved, both the estate and Jenner could gain access to Hutchins’ digital records, potentially resolving the financial deadlock and revealing what work-related information Jenner believes is so critical to her business future.
For a woman who spent her career managing one of the most famous names in entertainment, the inability to control her own digital legacy has become an ironic and painful footnote to a life cut short at 29.
