Digital legacy planning is the work you do so that passwords, crypto, and online accounts can actually be found and dealt with after you die. A clause in a will…
Digital legacy planning is the work you do so that passwords, crypto, and online accounts can actually be found and dealt with after you die. A clause in a will that says "I leave my digital assets to my children" is not enough if nobody can open the wallet, the email, or the cloud account. For families in England and Wales, the legal title and the practical keys are two different problems.
Since 2 December 2025, the Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 has confirmed that certain digital assets, including crypto-tokens, can be objects of personal property. That helps executors and beneficiaries in principle. It does not override a platform's terms, and it does not recover a seed phrase that died with you.
What digital legacy planning actually covers
Digital legacy planning is wider than a list of websites. It covers:
- Financial value: crypto, NFTs, online investment platforms, payment wallets, domain names, and online businesses.
- Access: password managers, two-factor authentication, hardware keys, and recovery codes.
- Content: email, photos, cloud drives, and social media.
- Instructions: who may act, what should be deleted, and what should be kept.
A will can gift the property. A separate, private record is what lets a digital executor reach it. Do not put passwords, PINs, or seed phrases in the will. A proved will becomes a public document.
If you want the will-drafting detail on how to describe online property, we have already covered digital assets in your will. This article is about access, crypto keys, and what families can realistically do after a death.
Passwords, two-factor authentication, and "how to access a deceased person's email"
"How to access a deceased person's email account UK" is one of the searches families make in the first weeks. The honest answer is: it depends on the provider, and it is often slow.
Google offers Inactive Account Manager, which lets you decide who is notified, and what happens to data, if the account is unused for a chosen period. Apple offers a Digital Legacy Contact for certain data on Apple ID accounts. Other providers still require a grant of probate, a death certificate, and a formal request, and some will only close the account rather than hand over the inbox.
Two-factor authentication makes this harder. If the second factor is a phone that has been wiped, or an authenticator app that nobody else can open, a password list on paper will not be enough. A password manager with an emergency-access feature, plus a note of where the hardware key is kept, is more useful than a spreadsheet of logins in a desk drawer.
Executors should not impersonate the deceased by logging in "as them" unless the provider's terms and the estate's legal advice allow it. Using someone else's account can breach terms of service and, in some cases, computer-misuse rules. Ask the platform for its deceased-user process first.
Crypto, wallets, and why keys are the estate
Crypto is property. HMRC already treats cryptoassets as relevant for inheritance tax. The 2025 Act supports the idea that tokens can be owned, recovered, and left by will. None of that helps if the private key is lost.
There is a practical split:
- Exchange accounts (where a company holds the coins for you) are closer to a bank or platform claim. The executor deals with the firm's deceased-customer team, usually with a grant of probate.
- Self-custody wallets (hardware wallet, seed phrase, or self-hosted wallet) are controlled by whoever has the key. If the seed phrase cannot be found, the asset is usually gone. There is no customer-services reset.
Never write the seed phrase into the will. Keep it in a sealed instruction, a solicitor's strong room, or another arrangement your executor can follow without publishing the key. Name, in the will or a letter of wishes, that crypto exists, which exchanges or wallet types you use, and who is authorised to deal with it. Valuation for inheritance tax is a separate exercise; use HMRC's cryptoassets guidance rather than a screenshot of last week's price.
A "digital executor" is not a special office created by statute. You can appoint an executor who is comfortable with the technology, or you can ask a professional executor to take instructions from someone who is. The grant of probate still sits with the legal personal representatives.
A letter of wishes can sit beside the will and tell the executor where the sealed key packet is, which password manager you use, and which accounts are sentimental rather than financial. It is not binding in the way a will is, but it is the right place for operational detail the public grant file should never contain. Review it when you change phone, manager, or exchange. An out-of-date letter is how families spend months on a platform that closed last year.
If you already have a lasting power of attorney, remember it dies with you. Attorneys cannot finish digital legacy planning after death. The executor takes over. If the concern is loss of capacity while you are alive, that is an LPA problem, not a will problem, and the two documents should not contradict each other on who may access accounts.
Online accounts that are not "yours" to give away
Many accounts are licences, not property. A music library, a film subscription, or a game account often dies with the subscriber. Loyalty points and some air-miles programmes have their own rules. Social media profiles may be memorialised, deleted, or frozen. Digital legacy planning should say what you want to happen, then check whether the platform will actually do it.
Email is often the key to everything else, because password resets go there. That is why an Inactive Account Manager (Google) or equivalent, plus a current recovery address that someone else can use lawfully, matters more than a clause about "all my online accounts".
Business accounts need extra care. If the deceased ran a company from a personal Gmail address, the estate, the company, and the platform's rules can pull in three directions. Record which accounts are personal and which are the company's, and keep the company ones under a company domain where you can.
What families and executors should do after a death
1. Secure devices. Do not factory-reset a phone until you know whether it holds authenticator apps or wallet software. 2. Find the paper trail: password manager emergency contact, hardware wallet, solicitor's letter, or a sealed envelope. 3. Notify banks and regulated platforms in the usual way. For crypto exchanges, use their published deceased-estate process. 4. Do not guess seed phrases or share them in an email chain. 5. Value what you can find for the inheritance tax account. If you cannot access an asset, say so; hiding it is worse than recording a problem.
If there is no will, intestacy still passes property, including digital property that can be identified. It does not create access. Unmarried partners remain unprotected by intestacy, which is another reason to put both the gift and the access plan in writing.
FAQs
Can I pass digital assets through my will?
Yes, in the same way you pass other personal property, and the 2025 Act has made that analysis cleaner for crypto-tokens. You still need a way for someone to take control.
Should I appoint a digital executor?
You can. Give them a clear role and make sure at least one proving executor can obtain the grant. A tech-confident friend with no legal standing cannot usually collect an estate on their own.
What if we cannot get into the email?
Use the provider's deceased-user process and the grant of probate. There is no general right to a backdoor. That is why planning while the account holder is alive is the only reliable method.
What to do next
Make the will gift, then make the access plan. Update both when you change password managers, move coins off an exchange, or close an email account. If you want the will, the letter of wishes, and the executor instructions to say the same thing, speak to Blackstone about wills and estate planning before the keys exist only in one person's head.
Disclaimer: This article provides general information only and does not constitute legal advice on any individual circumstances.
