Does your estate plan include your Bitcoin fortune?

Even if you didn’t get in early on emerging currencies and investments like Bitcoin, there are enough people who are now dabbling in these new assets to mean that they need to be considered as part of modern estate planning.

However, unlike a house or a car, the nature of digital assets means you need to do a bit more to make sure they can be passed onto your loved ones in the event of your death.

For traditional assets, an executor would often trawl through the deceased’s filing cabinet or shoe box of documents to find what investments there were and proof of ownership.  These days many financial affairs are controlled electronically. It is important that your Executor can access the required information.

When you make your Will with OFRM we take time to understand your assets and make sure that not only does your Will cover all your assets, including digital assets, but that you have arrangements in place to ensure that the relevant information will be available for your Executor regarding your digital assets.  This could include that along with storing your original Will with OFRM, there is also information placed with us securely regarding your digital assets.

The nature of digital assets means that even once you make your Will, you should not consider your Estate planning finished, but rather an ongoing process. It is always my recommendation to my clients that they schedule a time at least annually to review their Will and make sure that it is still appropriate for their current circumstances and assets.  This is even more vital when your asset pool includes digital assets which tend to be more susceptible to change.

If you have even one password associated with managing an asset, now is the time that you should be thinking not only about your Will but making sure there are appropriate arrangements in place to enable your Executor to manage those assets when the time comes.  If you think this is something you need a hand with then you should give me a call on 03 5445 1063 to discuss the next steps to get these things sorted for you.