Estate Planning with Cryptocurrency

Surely you have heard of estate planning and perhaps thought about doing it yourself. Having a plan for what is going to happen to your assets and possessions after you die is extremely important. With the rise in relevancy of cryptocurrency in recent years, you may be surprised to find out that you can plan your estate with cryptocurrency.

Including cryptocurrencies in your estate planning is a real possibility with many benefits. Having cryptocurrency in your Will and with your estate planning documents is much like leaving any other asset behind. In reality, it is very similar to including stocks in your estate planning. 

If you are unsure about how you can include cryptocurrency in your estate planning, or are unsure if you should, then you should keep reading to find out some possible answers to the questions you may have. 

Can You Leave Cryptocurrency in a Will? 

You may be wondering about whether it is even legal to leave cryptocurrency in a Last Will and Testament. Considering that cryptocurrencies aren’t a recognized currency by the U.S and many governments in the world, it is important to know if your holdings can be put in a Will before you make the move to put them there. 

The answer is yes you can. Your cryptocurrency can be put on your Will and kept with all of your estate planning documents. All you need to do is make sure that the document that specifies how you want to transfer your cryptocurrency is in a place that is easy to find along with the rest of your documents.

Why You Should Estate Plan if You Own Crypto                    

If you own any cryptocurrencies, then you should make sure to include it in your estate plan so that your beneficiaries have access to it. Leaving important information behind, such as the private key to your digital wallet, as well as your seed phrase, is extremely important. Without this information your beneficiaries will not have access to your cryptocurrencies, and the cryptocurrency will sit untouched in your wallet forever. 

Which brings us back to why you should include cryptocurrency in your estate plan, so that your beneficiaries can have access to your crypto after you pass away rather than just letting the money sit there untouched. Including your crypto in your estate plan will ensure that your digital assets aren’t lost forever after you pass away.

In addition, adding your crypto into your estate plan can help your beneficiaries avoid having to go through the probate process. Even if your beneficiaries knew about your digital assets and your passwords, without a proper estate plan, your assets could be tied up in a long and expensive legal process called a probate. 

It is for these reasons that you should make sure to add your cryptocurrency holdings to your estate plan. In doing so you will ensure that your family members or beneficiaries can have access to them, know who gets what, and avoid legal issues. 

How Do You Estate Plan with Cryptocurrency?

You may now be wondering how you can get started with estate planning with your cryptocurrency. The answer is rather simple, you should leave step by step instructions on your Will about how to access your digital assets. With that out of the way, you should consider hiring an estate attorney that is experienced in cryptocurrency. 

By doing this you are ensuring that your family or beneficiaries are fully aware of how they can access the assets you are leaving behind, and have the help of a professional on how to handle the legal side of things. 

Another aspect to keep in mind is that you should also leave detailed information about how much cryptocurrency you hold. Leaving detailed information about which cryptocurrencies you hold, and how you wish to transfer them is very important. You should be very clear about how you want to distribute your digital assets between the people named as your beneficiaries on your Will. 

Things to Consider When Estate Planning Your Crypto

When you decide to include your cryptocurrency in your estate plan, it is important for you to keep a few things in mind. First, you should take into consideration how much your relatives know about cryptocurrencies. Depending on how much they know, you should consider leaving very detailed instructions.

You should also consider where you plan on storing your private key information. You should never directly share your private key information as this can easily lead to fraud. It is for this reason that you should make sure to keep this information in a place that is safe. 

You also do not want your lawyer (if you hire one) to have access to this information, so you should consider leaving the information in a safe or other safe place in your home, and simply leaving the code to the safe with the lawyer, in a sealed envelope which can only be opened by your beneficiary in the event of your death. 

Companies That Help You Estate Plan with Cryptocurrency

Unfortunately, at the time this article was written there weren’t any mainstream companies that are designed to help you plan your estate with your cryptocurrency. However, you don’t need the help of a company to include cryptocurrency in your estate plan. You can include it in your estate planning on your own or with an attorney. 

As mentioned before, you should go about adding crypto to your estate plan similarly to any other asset you own. The main difference comes in the amount of information and instructions you may need to leave behind in order to make sure your assets are transferred successfully. 

Perhaps due to how simple leaving cryptocurrency is, or because there aren't enough people doing this right now, there just isn’t a demand for those specializing in a cryptocurrency estate plan. You should stay on the lookout for companies that focus on this in the future as cryptocurrency becomes more popular and more people begin to demand these types of services. 

 

If you have cryptocurrency holdings, then you should certainly think about including them in your estate planning. The last thing you want is to leave your digital assets behind to your family or beneficiaries, but they are unable to access them because they don’t have the necessary information. You do not want your digital assets to be lost in the case of your death just because you didn’t include them in your estate planning.