A decedent's digital holdings can be worth nothing — or everything. This guide covers how to locate, access, and properly account for digital assets in a modern estate.
The 2024 Chainalysis report estimated that 3.7 million Bitcoin — worth over $200 billion — may be permanently lost, largely because owners died without leaving access credentials. Meanwhile, executors routinely miss PayPal balances, online savings accounts, and domain names worth thousands. Digital assets are now a material component of many estates, and the process for handling them is still evolving.
Digital assets fall into several categories: financial accounts (online bank accounts, PayPal, Venmo, stock accounts), cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, other tokens in custodial or self-custody wallets), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), digital businesses (websites, e-commerce stores, ad revenue accounts), digital content (ebooks, music catalogs, licensed software), and valuable accounts (domain names, social media accounts with monetization).
Start with the decedent's devices: smartphone, laptop, and tablet. Look for: a password manager (1Password, LastPass, Bitwarden), browser-saved passwords, email inbox (search for "account," "wallet," "statement," "deposit"), and tax returns (crypto exchanges and online banks issue 1099s). Check the decedent's paper records for hardware wallets, seed phrase backups, and exchange account letters.
Custodial cryptocurrency (held on an exchange like Coinbase) is similar to a brokerage account — the exchange holds the private keys, and you can access the funds with the account credentials and proper death documentation. Self-custody cryptocurrency (in a hardware wallet or software wallet where the decedent held the private keys) requires the seed phrase or private key. Without it, the crypto is effectively inaccessible. Some recovery services specialize in wallet access, but success isn't guaranteed.
NFTs are stored on a blockchain and owned by whoever controls the associated wallet. If the NFT has value, it must be inventoried and valued as of the date of death. NFT valuations are notoriously volatile — document the valuation methodology carefully and consider getting a professional appraisal for high-value pieces.
Most states have adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), which gives fiduciaries the legal right to access digital assets — but only to the extent the user has authorized it, and subject to the terms of service of each platform. Many platforms have specific death and estate processes; follow them rather than attempting to access accounts using the decedent's credentials, which may violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Value all digital assets as of the date of death. For cryptocurrency, use the published price on a major exchange at the date and time of death. For NFTs and domain names, document your valuation methodology. Include all digital assets in the estate inventory and report gains or losses when they are liquidated.
Trust Accounting Pro handles the ledger so you can focus on the people.
Start Free Trial