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Tales from the Crypt 8: “I too am waiting on this domain. I’ll see you in the arena in 2026!”
Most digital assets have some kind of time-limit within which they need to be recovered by a fiduciary if they are to be administered. Photos and emails will start being deleted within 12 to 18 months, loyalty point accounts will close, and domain names will expire.
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October 16, 2024
Estate Planning for Loyalty Points
Loyalty points are increasing in popularity. As of 2024, the average person in the United States has 9 active loyalty programs and 90% of companies offer some sort of loyalty program to their customers. While individual points may not be worth much, they can add up quickly and could be worth passing on.
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September 25, 2024
Tales from the Crypt 7: Estate Representative Seeks Help from Coinbase Subreddit Twice
Yet again, Coinbase’s subreddit proves to be rife with stories of family members and fiduciaries trying, and failing, to gain access to a deceased person’s cryptocurrency.
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August 27, 2024
Tales from the Crypt 6: Website and Domain Name Lost, Even With Decedent’s Password
Bequest.com is the first automated, end-to-end platform for digital account planning and administration. Having built this product, we know that passing on digital accounts is usually not as simple as leaving behind a password.
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June 19, 2024
What Is A Blockchain And Why Do People Care?
Cryptocurrencies are becoming integrated into the traditional finance space. ETFs, bull markets, integrations of custody licenses in most major financial jurisdictions, and AI authenticity verifications have all been working to remove the stigmas associated with blockchains and cryptocurrencies.
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June 11, 2024
Tales from the Crypt 5: Family Lets $600,000 Domain Name Expire
The domain name industry is worth $6.7 billion in the US alone. There are at least 365 million registered domain names worldwide, though this number is suspected to be much higher in reality.
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May 18, 2024
Digital Estate Planning: Domain Name Succession
Clients with businesses, blogs, nonprofits, art projects, and various hobbies are likely to own a domain name. Domain names are the string of text typically followed by ‘.com’, ‘.org’, or the like that grant users access to websites.
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May 15, 2024
Tales from the Crypt 4: Coinbase Hangs Up on Estate Administrator
Those inheriting cryptocurrency from Coinbase, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, are constantly faced with months of delay and inability to access the account of the recently deceased.
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May 6, 2024
You Should Use Your Client's Digital Accounts for Estate Administration
The list of tasks required to close an estate is getting more complicated as digital assets and accounts need to be dealt with."
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April 30, 2024
Tales from the Crypt 3: Complaints Filed with the BBB, Senator, and the CFPB to Get Coinbase Inheritance
A few months ago, an anonymous Reddit user took to the Coinbase subreddit, desperately seeking aid in unlocking her late son’s Coinbase account to retrieve her granddaughter’s inheritance.
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April 22, 2024
Tales from the Crypt 2: Fiduciary Denied Access to Credit Union Accounts
In January of 2024, Mr. Holland sued Signal Financial Credit Union when he, the Executor and Financial PoA of his late cousin’s estate, found himself incapable of accessing two accounts she had with the credit union.
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April 2, 2024
Tales from the Crypt 1: Apple does not bother responding to parents of 24-year-old decedent whose cause of death was ‘undetermined’.
In 2016, Ryan Coleman tragically passed away at the ripe age of 24. Today, we will discuss the hurdles his administrators faced in trying, and failing, to gain access to important data on his iPhone.
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March 27, 2024
Lawyers Fear For Inheritances Locked in Digital Accounts
The digital world makes estate inheritance for the unprepared a nightmare. Unfortunately, nearly everyone is ill prepared for password resets, digital account tracking, identity verification, and more.
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March 25, 2024
Denied Access to Deceased Spouse’s Emails
In 2017 Ricardo Serrano’s partner found themselves scrambling to get access to their late husband’s contacts and calendar information so they could inform his friends and family of his passing. Practically nobody maintains a physical address book, and neither did Mr. Serrano.
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February 27, 2024
Digital Succession for Google
One of the most painfully overlooked elements of estate planning is managing the transfer of digital data and accounts. With the loss of a loved one, pictures, messages, videos, and access to hundreds of web services are often lost as well.
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February 21, 2024
Digital Estates are a Disaster
Six years ago, my father tragically passed away in a traffic accident and I, his then 19 year old son, was appointed as the executor of a very messy estate. I found myself unable to recuperate important documents and memories.
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February 15, 2024
How Powerful is Apple's Legacy Contact?
Our phones store some of our most meaningful moments and interactions. From photos to text messages and notes, we inadvertently document our lives on our devices. This is why Apple came out with a Legacy Contact option a few years ago.
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January 25, 2024
Digital Memories: What Happens to iCloud Photos When Users Pass?
Photo albums are a quintessential family heirloom. Large binders filled with glossy film photos sit in most people’s cosets, holding valuable memories passed from one generation to the next.
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December 19, 2023
How to Make a Digital Estate Plan
The wide gap between a digital asset clause in a planning document and a fiduciary actually accessing accounts is a necessary and often overlooked piece of a good digital estate plan.
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December 14, 2023
Estate Planning for Cold Storage Crypto
Your client just told you “I have a cold storage device for my cryptocurrency”, what do you do? In the inevitable cycle of life and wealth, a recent reality has become clear: if living people own cryptocurrencies, so do the estates of deceased individuals.
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November 29, 2023
UFADAA, Revised: What Is RUFADAA?
In 2014, the Uniform Law Commission drafted UFADAA - the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. UFADAA’s goal was to aid fiduciaries in the inventory, reporting, and distribution of digital assets. Later ULC proposed a revised version of the statute, RUFADAA (Revised UFADAA.)
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November 22, 2023
Hawaii's DCIL and Estate Planning
Hawaii launched the CIL (Digital Currency Innovation Lab) program in 2020 to pre-empt digital asset regulation in the state. The program’s uncertain renewal could pose a problem for fiduciaries who aren’t aware that the end of DCIL would lead to the closure of the grantor’s accounts.
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October 26, 2023
BitLicenses, MTLs, and Trust Charters
Crypto regulation is difficult and contentious. The SEC has been wrestling with crypto entities for a long time, but other regulators have also set up hoops on centralized crypto companies in an attempt to protect consumers.
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October 4, 2023
RUFADAA's Blindspots
RUFADAA, the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, has been enacted in most states as a measure to support the passing on of digital assets as part of an estate. Digital assets are difficult to pass on for a plethora of reasons.
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September 25, 2023
Where and How are Cryptocurrencies Stored?
Cryptocurrencies are an important emerging asset class, however most legal and financial professionals don’t know enough about these assets to answer client’s questions meaningfully.
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September 19, 2023