For many people, estate planning once meant considering a relatively familiar collection of assets. A home, savings, investments, possessions and perhaps an interest in a business.

Today, part of a person’s wealth may exist entirely online.

Cryptocurrency, digital tokens and other electronically held assets can have considerable financial value. However, they may be difficult for executors to identify, access and pass on after their owner dies. A recent change in the law has provided greater clarity over how some of these assets can be treated, but it has also brought the importance of digital estate planning into sharper focus.

A change in the law for digital assets

The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 received Royal Assent and came into force on 2 December 2025.

Traditionally, personal property under the law of England and Wales has been divided into two broad categories.

The first is a “thing in possession”, meaning a physical object that can be possessed, such as a car, piece of jewellery or painting.

The second is a “thing in action”, which is a right that can be claimed or enforced through legal action, such as a debt or a contractual right.

Certain digital assets do not fit comfortably into either category. They cannot be physically held in the conventional sense, but nor do they necessarily represent a legal right against another person.

The 2025 Act addresses this difficulty by confirming that something is not prevented from being the object of personal property rights simply because it is neither a thing in possession nor a thing in action.

Although the wording is brief, it is an important clarification. It means that assets with digital or electronic characteristics, including certain crypto-tokens, can be recognised and protected as personal property.

Does the Act make every digital item property?

The Act does not provide a list of digital assets that will qualify as property. Nor does it declare that everything stored electronically is automatically owned in the same way as money, a house or a physical possession.

Instead, it gives the courts flexibility to consider the nature of an asset and decide whether property rights can attach to it.

Factors that may be relevant include whether the asset can be clearly defined, identified by others, transferred and placed under someone’s exclusive control. Its permanence, stability and separability from other assets may also be considered.

This distinction matters in estate planning. Cryptocurrency and certain digital tokens may have the characteristics needed to attract property rights, but other parts of a person’s digital life may be governed by contracts or the terms imposed by an online platform.

An individual may, for example, own a digital asset held through a particular service without necessarily owning the account through which it is accessed. Similarly, purchasing digital content does not always give the purchaser the same ownership rights they would receive when buying a physical item.

Each asset and the terms governing it may therefore need to be considered separately.

Why digital assets matter when administering an estate

Where a digital asset is recognised as property, it may form part of its owner’s estate when they die.

That creates practical responsibilities for executors and administrators. They may need to:

• establish which digital assets the deceased owned;
• determine their value at the date of death;
• secure the assets against loss, theft or unauthorised access;
• consider any tax consequences;
• follow the terms of the will or intestacy rules; and
• transfer or dispose of the assets appropriately.

The legal recognition of an asset does not, however, guarantee that an executor will be able to find or access it.

A cryptocurrency wallet may be protected by a private key, password or recovery phrase. If that information is lost, there may be no organisation with the ability to reset the account or restore access. An executor could know that an asset exists and may be legally entitled to deal with it, but still be unable to retrieve it.

Digital assets can also be held through overseas platforms or arrangements involving several jurisdictions, creating further legal and practical complications.

What should you include in your digital estate plan?

An effective digital estate plan should help the people administering your estate understand what you own and where it can be found.

A useful starting point is to prepare an inventory of potentially valuable digital assets. Depending on your circumstances, this might include:

• cryptocurrencies and digital wallets;
• crypto-tokens and non-fungible tokens;
• accounts held with digital asset exchanges;
• online investment or trading accounts;
• domain names and websites;
• income-generating online content; and
• other digital interests with financial or commercial value.

The inventory should explain what exists and where it is held without creating an unnecessary security risk.

It is generally unwise to place passwords, private keys or recovery phrases directly in a will. Once a grant of probate has been issued, a will usually becomes a public document. Login details may also change regularly, meaning information written into the will can quickly become outdated.

Instead, arrangements can be made for sensitive information to be stored securely and for the appropriate person to know how to locate it when required. Specialist storage solutions may be appropriate for particularly valuable or technically complex assets.

Does your will deal with your digital assets?

The legislation does not remove the need for careful drafting.

A will should be reviewed to determine whether its definition of personal possessions and other assets is broad enough to cover the digital property you own. It should also make clear who is intended to benefit from those assets.

This can be particularly important where digital assets have substantial value or where the person intended to receive them may not have the knowledge or technical ability to manage them.

The choice of executor may need to be considered as well. Administering a digital estate can involve technical processes, fluctuating valuations and unfamiliar platforms. In some circumstances, it may be sensible to appoint a professional executor or ensure that the executors can obtain specialist assistance.

A separate letter of wishes or secure record can provide useful practical guidance, although it must be prepared carefully and kept under review.

Digital accounts with sentimental value

Not every important digital item has a measurable financial value.

Photographs, videos, emails, social media profiles and cloud-based records may have enormous sentimental importance to family members. However, the ability to access, preserve or close these accounts will often depend on the service provider’s terms and any legacy settings selected by the account holder.

Some providers allow users to nominate a legacy contact or state what should happen to an account following their death. Others place significant restrictions on access, even where the person requesting it is an executor or close relative.

It is therefore worth reviewing the arrangements offered by the platforms you use rather than assuming your family will automatically be able to access your accounts.

Keeping your arrangements up to date

Digital holdings can change quickly. A person may open a new wallet, move assets between platforms, sell an investment or stop using a particular service.

Any digital asset inventory should consequently be reviewed regularly. It may also be sensible to revisit your will following a substantial acquisition, a major increase in the value of an asset or a significant change in your personal circumstances.

The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 provides welcome clarity by confirming that an asset does not have to fall within the traditional categories of personal property before property rights can attach to it. However, recognition under the law is only one part of protecting a digital legacy.

Without an accurate record, secure access arrangements and an appropriately drafted will, valuable assets may remain hidden or inaccessible after their owner’s death.

The Private Client team at stevensdrake can advise you on reviewing your will and estate-planning arrangements to ensure that they reflect both your conventional and digital assets. We can also support executors and administrators dealing with digital assets as part of an estate.