Dominic Lawrance comments in MoneyWeek on digital and crypto asset inheritance planning

The growing popularity of cryptocurrency is creating new challenges for estate planning, particularly where valuable digital assets can be lost if their existence, ownership or access arrangements are not properly documented. Unlike traditional assets, crypto holdings can be difficult for executors to identify and recover, creating significant risks for beneficiaries.

Comprehensive record-keeping and intentional succession planning are becoming increasingly important as more individuals hold digital assets as part of their personal wealth. Decisions about how crypto should be managed after death require careful consideration, including who should administer the estate and what information should be preserved to enable access while maintaining security during the owner's lifetime.

Uncertainty also remains around the tax treatment of cryptocurrency in some circumstances. While crypto assets are generally treated in line with other property for inheritance tax purposes, questions continue to arise in relation to decentralised finance and other emerging digital asset structures. This can create difficulties when assessing liabilities and planning effectively across an estate.

Dominic Lawrance, Partner in our Private Client team, comments in MoneyWeek:

There is no case law on this. Where the situs of cryptoassets is concerned, HMRC are kind of making the law up as they go along. There could be a big case on this at some point.

Read the full article in MoneyWeek here.