Estate Planning in the Crypto Era

When I was young my parents had a ‘bank book’ in which they kept their money. It was actually a building society named The Permanent Building Society to whom the property was ‘bonded’. Life was rather uncomplicated. One bank account, one property, one funeral policy and perhaps if you had a little spare cash each month…. A life policy.

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So estate planning was a breeze. One pager stating who gets what from the bank account, house and policies and whether you wished to be buried or barbecued.

Fast forward to the online age….. and beyond!! Consider how one needs to prepare for one’s demise, that one thing that is guaranteed in life.

So ask yourself some questions here about what happens when you suddenly depart this mortal coil.
How do I want to be remembered? Think Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Steemit, WeChat, Watsapp etc. etc. Will these hang around forever or do we ensure that we leave passwords and relevant login details for someone to clean up?
Me personally, I want that stuff taken care of (except Steemit of course) … so I need to ensure that all the gory details are recorded somewhere..and maintained.

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Let’s look at the more important things like your actual estate. The average adult family man / woman has
one or more bank accounts
one or more cell phone contracts
a mortgage
shares and stock options on a securities exchange
Life Insurance
various short term debts such as clothing accounts

and now CRYPTOCURRENCIES

What got me thinking about this was having to get on an aeroplane this morning ( I hate flying ) and thinking ‘ Who knows where my hardware wallet is and what to do with it?

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What about my holdings on exchanges? What does one do with handling all these passwords and URL’s? I know that many will say use a password vault online and that is indeed an option, not one that I like as it is like a beautiful naked woman on the beach..attracts a lot of attention....... not the desirable kind though.

While thinking about this and googling ideas I came across an article on bravenewcoin which attempts to deal with the crypto side of things, and I imagine one could expand that to include all online access control.

From the article:-

Dear {friends, family, estate},
Today’s date is {insert date}. This letter is to inform you that I own digital assets that aren’t held or controlled by third parties. I want to be sure that you can access them in case someday I can’t. Please read through this letter completely before you take any action and contact Third Key Solutions (thirdkey.solutions) before you start moving funds. I created my technical plan with them and they can help you learn how to handle these assets securely. In case they’re not available, you can also contact ___________________ or _______________________. Do not access them unless {death, mentally injured, _______________________}.
Remember, these assets aren’t held by a bank and mistakes can’t be fixed;

Visit the site and read the ‘Letter to a Loved One’, there are some good ideas there and certainly a starting block

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I look forward to enjoying everybody else’s ideas on how to handle this new challenge when planning an estate . Thanks for reading