Crypto Assets Rewrite Estate Planning

Cryptocurrency assets are forcing financial advisors to reevaluate their clients’ digital holdings and their potential impact on estate plans. Anna Hacker, national manager at Australian Unity Trustees, has noticed the potential consequences these assets may have on an estate plan and likens cryptocurrency to “a real minefield” for estate planners. She noted that with these particular assets, it is “difficult to know about such holdings unless they are disclosed. It’s also virtually anonymous, so there is an inherent traceability nightmare because you can’t just walk into a bank and get all the details.”

A UK law firm, Royds Withy King, is currently involved in three divorce cases where a spouse is seeking disclosure of cryptocurrency holdings from the other spouse. The issue in seeking such disclosure is the incredible difficulty in proving ownership of the crypto assets. As the use and purchase of cryptocurrency becomes increasingly popular, difficult issues like these are likely to occur more frequently and financial and estate planners will need to adapt to accommodate their clients’ needs.

See Jamie Williamson, Crypto Assets Rewrite Estate Planning, Financial Standard, March 5, 2018.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.