Category: Wills & Trusts
You may have spent years building a digital life without thinking of it as part of your estate.
You might hold cryptocurrency, use online banking, own shares through an investment app, store family photographs in the cloud, run a website or earn money from an online business. You may also have social media profiles, email accounts, domain names and digital subscriptions.
What happens to them when you die?
If nobody knows they exist, or your executors cannot access them, valuable assets may be missed. Sentimental photographs may disappear. Online income may stop. A domain name could expire. Your family may face lengthy legal processes while trying to establish what you owned and how it should be dealt with.
After three months, your executors may still be searching through devices, paperwork and emails to identify your accounts.
After six months, cryptocurrency, investments or online business income may be creating valuation, tax and probate complications.
After 12 months, some accounts may have been closed, deleted or lost permanently. A domain name or online business may no longer be generating income. Important family photographs and messages may be inaccessible.
This is not meant to alarm you. It is a reason to act while the information is still available.
“Everything I own” does not solve every digital problem
Many Wills include a broad clause leaving the rest of your estate to named beneficiaries. This is often called the residue: everything left after debts, expenses and specific gifts have been dealt with.
Some digital assets may fall within that residue. However, the wording alone does not tell your executors:
- What digital assets you own.
- Which provider holds them.
- How your cryptocurrency is accessed.
- Whether an account should be closed or memorialised.
- Who should receive your family photographs.
- Whether your online business should continue.
- Where your private keys, recovery phrases or security information are kept.
Your Will deals with your legal wishes. It is not an inventory, password manager or technical instruction manual.
That distinction matters.
Cryptocurrency is property, but access remains the practical challenge
Under the Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025, certain digital assets, including crypto-tokens, can be recognised as personal property under the law of England and Wales.
The Government explains that the legislation means digital assets such as cryptocurrency can be “passed down through inheritance and recovered by creditors during bankruptcy, just like traditional assets”.
That is an important development. Cryptocurrency is not simply ignored because it exists on a blockchain rather than in a bank account. It may form part of your estate and should be considered when your Will is prepared.
The difficulty is often not ownership. It is access.
Your executors may need to locate:
- A hardware wallet.
- Wallet addresses.
- Exchange accounts.
- Two-factor authentication devices.
- Private keys.
- Seed or recovery phrases.
- Records showing the value of the assets at the date of death.
If the keys or recovery information cannot be found, the cryptocurrency may be impossible to access. A grant of probate confirms an executor’s authority to deal with the estate, but it does not automatically provide the technical credentials needed to unlock a wallet or override an exchange’s security procedures.
A well-drafted Will can give your executors appropriate powers to hold, transfer, sell or otherwise deal with digital assets. It cannot replace the need for a secure access plan.
Never put passwords or private keys in your Will
This is one of the most important points.
You should not put passwords, PINs, private keys, seed phrases or security answers in the Will itself.
Once a Will has been admitted to probate, it generally becomes a public document. Including confidential access information could expose your assets to theft or misuse.
Instead, create a separate and secure digital asset inventory and access guide.
Your Will can refer to that document without reproducing its contents. The access guide might be held:
- In an encrypted password manager.
- In a sealed envelope in a secure location.
- In a safe or safety deposit box.
- With carefully considered instructions about how your executors can locate it.
- Through an appropriate solicitor’s storage arrangements.
You must keep it up to date. A password or recovery phrase that changes but is not recorded may be as unhelpful as having no information at all.
Separate financial digital assets from sentimental ones
Not everything digital has the same legal or emotional importance.
Financial digital assets
These may include:
- Cryptocurrency and NFTs.
- Online investment and share accounts.
- Digital payment accounts.
- Website or app income.
- Domain names.
- Copyright and other intellectual property.
- Monetised video, podcast or social media channels.
- Online shops and customer databases.
- Subscription income or digital products.
Some of these assets may be property that can pass under your Will. Others may be contractual rights or licences governed by the provider’s terms and conditions.
For example, an online bank account will normally be dealt with through the bank’s bereavement process. An online investment account may require specific documentation. A website may involve hosting, domain registration, intellectual property and ongoing trading obligations.
Your executors need enough information to identify each part of the asset and decide what should happen next.
Sentimental digital assets
These may include:
- Family photographs.
- Videos.
- Personal emails.
- Messages.
- Social media content.
- Digital artwork.
- Cloud documents.
- Personal blogs and journals.
You may want some accounts memorialised, some content shared with family and other accounts permanently closed.
A platform may not allow an account to be transferred to another person, even if you want that person to look after it. Providers such as Apple, Google and Facebook have different legacy, inactivity and memorialisation procedures. Your executors may need to follow those procedures rather than simply using your login details.
Name suitable executors and consider a “digital executor”
There is no universal formal legal office called a “digital executor”. However, you can appoint executors who are comfortable dealing with technology, or ask a trusted person to assist them with the digital aspects of your estate.
Your executors should know:
- That a digital asset inventory exists.
- Where it is stored.
- Who can help them access it.
- Which assets are financially valuable.
- Which files or accounts have sentimental importance.
- What should be retained, transferred, memorialised or deleted.
You may also leave a separate letter of wishes. This is generally not a substitute for the Will and is usually not binding, but it can provide practical guidance that is easier to update.
For example, you could explain:
- Which social media profile should be memorialised.
- Which cloud photo library should be shared with specific family members.
- Whether your online business should be sold or continued.
- Whether cryptocurrency should be retained or sold.
- Which email accounts should be closed.
- Whether a personal blog should remain online.
Do not forget domains, intellectual property and online businesses
A domain name may have real value. It may support your business, generate advertising income or protect your brand.
If the renewal date passes, the domain could expire. Your executors may then have to deal with a registrar, hosting company, business partner or purchaser to recover or transfer it.
The same applies to:
- Copyright in photographs, writing, music or software.
- Online courses and digital products.
- YouTube, podcast or affiliate income.
- Customer databases and mailing lists.
- Website advertising revenue.
- Social media accounts with commercial value.
- Digital designs and stock libraries.
Your Will should be drafted with your actual circumstances in mind. A simple Will may be appropriate for one person, while another may need more detailed provisions because their digital life includes cryptocurrency, intellectual property or a trading business.
What should you do now?
You do not need to solve everything in one afternoon. Start with a list.
Record:
- The digital assets and accounts you have.
- Whether each item is financial, sentimental or both.
- The provider or platform involved.
- Where the relevant access information is securely stored.
- Whether the account should be transferred, closed, deleted or memorialised.
- Which assets may require valuation or tax advice.
- Who should help your executors with technical matters.
Then speak to professional will writers or a private client solicitor who will ask the right questions.
At Tyto Law Solicitors, we can help you consider digital assets as part of your wider estate plan. We can discuss your Will, executors, letters of wishes and the practical information your family may need. We also advise on Lasting Powers of Attorney, which can be important if you lose capacity while you are alive and someone needs to manage your online banking, investments or digital business affairs.
Our team works with clients in Lincoln and Crowle, North Lincolnshire, as well as surrounding areas. Appointments can take place at home, at work or online, including during evenings and weekends where suitable.
The value is not just a document. It is the greater likelihood that your family can find, understand and deal with what you leave behind without unnecessary distress, disputes or expense.
Our standard initial consultation is charged at a fixed fee of £175. This fee does not apply to Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney or Probate matters.
You have built a digital life. Make sure your Will and your practical instructions protect it.
Contact Tyto Law Solicitors about making or updating your Will.
Sources and further reading
- UK Government: UK among first countries to recognise cryptocurrency as personal property
- UK Government: Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill factsheet
- Law Commission: Digital assets
- Tyto Law Solicitors: Wills and Trusts
- Tyto Law Solicitors: Locations in Lincoln and Crowle
About the author
Oliver Saxon, Principal Solicitor
Oliver Saxon is the Principal Solicitor at Tyto Law Solicitors. He provides clear, practical legal advice to individuals and families on Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney, Probate, dispute resolution and other personal legal matters. Oliver and the team support clients from their offices in Lincoln and Crowle, North Lincolnshire, with flexible appointments designed around the client’s circumstances.