Estate planning for cryptocurrency.

By Tresp, Day & Associates · October 20, 2021

Digital assets have become a meaningful part of many estates, and they don’t behave like traditional ones. There’s no institution holding your Bitcoin that your executor can contact. Whoever controls the keys controls the coins, which makes planning both essential and delicate.

The access problem

If you pass away and no one knows how to access your wallets, the private keys, seed phrases, and where they’re stored, the assets are effectively lost forever. Your plan needs a secure way to convey that information to a trusted person or fiduciary at the right time, without writing it into a document that could be stolen or that becomes public in probate.

The protection and tax side

Crypto can be titled into trusts and entities like other assets, giving it the same creditor protection and allowing it to pass outside probate. It also raises tax questions your plan should address. Bringing digital assets explicitly into your estate documents, rather than leaving them as an afterthought, is key.

Plan it deliberately

The right approach balances accessibility for your heirs against security against theft. Tresp, Day & Associates helps clients incorporate cryptocurrency and other digital assets into estate and protection plans that actually work when needed.