• By: Legacy Law Centers
Real estate and asset division during divorce negotiations

In this article, you can discover…

  • What digital assets are and how to include them in estate plans.
  • Whether Virginia accepts digital wills.
  • How an attorney can help you manage your digital assets. 

What Are Digital Assets? Why Do They Matter In Estate Planning?

When people think of digital assets, they tend to think of blue chip cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, ETH, XRP, and SOL to your favorite meme coins like DOGE, BONK, and WIF. But it includes far more than that. Any online account you have, such as email, social media, and cloud storage, is also considered a digital asset. Digital assets can hold significant value—just look at the price of Bitcoin now, for example—and must be addressed in estate planning to ensure proper transfer to beneficiaries.

For cryptocurrencies, key considerations include how they are stored—whether kept by a brokerage or exchange, in your own personal hot wallet, or in cold storage. Proper planning involves creating secure access protocols and integrating these assets into the estate plan, similar to traditional assets, through beneficiary designations or trusts.

Can Digital Assets Bypass Probate In Virginia?

Digital assets can bypass probate in Virginia under certain circumstances. Most digital assets, such as cryptocurrency held in an account on Robinhood or Coinbase, allow you to designate a payable-on-death (POD) beneficiary. When this is set up, the asset transfers directly to the named beneficiary upon your death, avoiding the probate process entirely.

However, if you hold digital assets in your own wallet, how they are treated depends on how your estate plan is structured. Such assets are typically considered tangible personal property and would need to be addressed through a will or trust. Whether these assets bypass probate depends on how your estate plan designates their distribution.

Does Virginia Recognize Digital Wills?

Virginia does not recognize digital wills and, as such, requires a physical signature on a physical legal document with ink.

What Are Some Of The Biggest Challenges Clients Face In Managing Digital Assets In Their Estate Plans? How Do You Help Overcome Them?

Managing digital assets in estate plans comes with unique challenges, primarily because so many who buy and hold them do so in an attempt to avoid government oversight. This focus on security and anonymity can make it difficult to plan for their distribution after death.

One major issue is ensuring accessibility. If you have your assets stored in a secure location, like a hardware wallet, losing the device or access credentials—the private keys—can result in permanent loss. Stories about people losing access to fortunes in cryptocurrency due to misplaced hardware or forgotten credentials highlight this risk.

We’ll help you address these challenges by creating clear, secure strategies for managing and distributing digital assets:

  • For assets on platforms like Coinbase or Robinhood, we recommend designating POD beneficiaries to ensure smooth transfers.
  • For hardware wallets or external storage, we assist in documenting access information securely, such as through a trust or encrypted storage solution, ensuring that heirs or trustees can access the assets without compromising security.
  • We emphasize the importance of keeping an updated inventory of digital assets and sharing its existence with a trusted individual or within estate planning documents.

Still Have Questions? Ready To Get Started?

For more information on What Residents Of Loudoun County Need To Know About Estate Planning In The Digital Age, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (571) 260-0827 today.

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