When most people think about making a Will, they think about their home, savings, investments and personal possessions. Increasingly, however, there is another part of an estate that should not be overlooked – digital assets.
For some people, those assets can have considerable financial value. Cryptocurrency and other cryptoassets are the obvious examples, but digital assets can extend much further than this and may include assets connected with an online business, digital investments or other forms of value held electronically.
The law in this area has also moved on. The Property (Digital Assets etc.) Act 2025 came into force in December 2025 and provides greater legal certainty around the recognition of digital assets as personal property. This has important implications for Wills, estate planning and the administration of estates.
From a Private Client perspective, however, recognising that a digital asset can form part of an estate is only part of the issue. There is a much more practical question: will your executors know that it exists and, if they do, will they be able to deal with it?
That is something we increasingly need to consider when discussing estate planning with clients.
Take cryptocurrency as an example. A holding may be worth a significant amount of money, but unlike a traditional bank account there may be no paper statement arriving at the deceased’s address and no obvious institution for an executor to contact. If nobody knows that the asset exists, or important information needed to locate it has not been preserved, an executor may face considerable difficulty in recovering it for the estate.
Access can create its own problems. Digital assets and online accounts may be protected by passwords, private keys, recovery phrases or other security measures. An executor knowing that an asset exists does not necessarily mean that they can immediately access it or that using the deceased’s login details will be the appropriate way to do so.
This is why planning for digital assets needs to involve more than simply adding a reference to them in a Will.
It is sensible to consider what digital assets you actually own, where they are held and what information your executors would need to identify them after your death. Keeping an up-to-date inventory of your digital assets can be particularly useful where you hold cryptocurrency or other assets which may not otherwise be obvious from your financial records.
There is an important distinction, however, between making sure your executors can locate the information they need and putting confidential security information directly into your Will.
Once a Grant of Probate has been issued, the Will becomes a public record. Passwords, private keys and recovery phrases should therefore not be written into the Will itself. Simply leaving login details is not necessarily the answer either, as access to an account may be governed by the particular provider’s terms. Sensitive information should be stored securely, with thought given to how your executors will be able to identify the asset and obtain appropriate access when the time comes.
Not everything we think of as part of our “digital life” will necessarily be an asset that can simply be passed to a beneficiary. Email accounts, social media profiles, photographs stored online and other digital material may have enormous sentimental importance, but the rights attached to them can depend upon the particular account and the terms of the service provider.
This can matter just as much to a family as financial value. Years of family photographs may now exist only in cloud storage rather than in albums at home. Some technology providers allow users to make arrangements for another person to access certain information after their death. Considering those arrangements during your lifetime can make matters considerably easier for your family later.
For executors, digital assets can add another layer to the administration of an estate. Assets may need to be located, valued and ultimately transferred or realised, but identifying and obtaining appropriate access to a digital asset can be more complicated than dealing with a conventional bank or investment account.
The change in the law is therefore a useful reminder that estate planning needs to keep pace with the way we now hold and manage our wealth. A Will made several years ago may still be legally valid, but it may have been prepared at a time when digital assets were simply not something you needed to consider.
When reviewing a Will, it is worth looking beyond the traditional assets and asking a simple question: if something happened to me tomorrow, would my executors know what I own and where to find it?
Our Private Client team advises on Wills, estate planning, probate and the administration of estates. If you hold digital assets or would like to review your existing Will to make sure it still reflects your circumstances, please contact our Private Client team on 01708 446781 or by email on mail@mosco.co.uk
