Legal guidance on crypto, passwords, social media, and other digital assets in estate planning.
It feels logical: your will already spells out who gets what, so why not just write down the password to your crypto wallet or email account right there? Because of one detail most people don’t know — a will becomes a public court record during probate. What ‘public record’ actually means Once a will is … Read more
Probate in Tarrant County already takes time under normal circumstances. Add an unplanned cryptocurrency holding, and the timeline — and the risk of losing the asset entirely — both increase sharply. Why crypto specifically causes delays Discovery takes longer. Unlike a bank account that shows up on a 1099 or a mailed statement, a crypto … Read more
An estate plan is only as good as the information behind it. This checklist is a starting point for a digital asset inventory — something to work through once, then revisit yearly as accounts and platforms change. Financial Cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges used Online-only bank or brokerage accounts PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, or similar balances … Read more
Subscriptions rarely come up in estate planning conversations, but they’re one of the most common and avoidable sources of ongoing frustration for families after a death — recurring charges on a card no one’s watching, sometimes for months. Why this gets overlooked A streaming service or app subscription doesn’t feel like an “asset” worth planning … Read more
Fingerprints and face scans have made devices faster to unlock — and, without anyone quite planning for it, harder for a family to access after death. A password can be written down and passed along. A fingerprint can’t. Where this creates real problems Phones and laptops secured only by biometrics, with no backup PIN documented … Read more