Digital Assets in Estate Administration - Practical Issues for Private Client Lawyers

Introduction

The growing popularity and value of Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies and NFTs are creating increasingly complex issues for private client lawyers advising on estate administration. The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 has confirmed that digital assets can form part of a person’s estate, making it increasingly important for practitioners to understand how these assets can be identified, accessed, valued and dealt with.

Digital assets can present particular challenges where executors have limited information about what the deceased owned, cannot access crypto wallets or are unfamiliar with the technology involved. Private client lawyers need to be able to identify the potential issues, advise on the appropriate steps and help executors navigate the legal, practical and tax considerations involved.

This practical webinar will provide private client lawyers with guidance on dealing with cryptoassets and NFTs as part of an estate. It will consider the practical challenges involved in identifying and accessing digital assets, establishing their value, addressing the relevant tax issues and transferring or selling assets, alongside consideration of other digital assets that may hold value for an estate.

What You Will Learn

The webinar will cover the following:

• How blockchain technology underpins cryptocurrencies and NFTs and what private client lawyers need to understand when advising on these assets
• How to identify and locate crypto wallets and advise executors where wallets or other cryptoassets cannot be accessed
• The key risks and pitfalls for private client lawyers to consider when administering estates containing cryptoassets
• How to establish reliable valuations of cryptoassets for probate, tax reporting and estate accounting purposes
• The tax implications of cryptoassets forming part of an estate and the issues advisers need to consider
• The practical and legal considerations when transferring or selling cryptoassets during estate administration
• Other digital assets that may form part of an estate and the practical issues private client lawyers need to consider when advising executors and beneficiaries