Crypto and Your Will: Can Your Executor Actually Access It?
You have a will. You own Bitcoin. Is that enough?
Probably not, and it's a gap we see more often every year.
A will can say exactly who gets your crypto. That part is easy. The harder part is making sure your estate trustee can actually reach it once you're gone.
Those are two different problems. Most estate plans only solve the first one.
Why Crypto Breaks the Usual Probate Playbook
Traditional estate assets follow a familiar path. Crypto often doesn't — and that difference is what trips up executors.
For a bank account or investment portfolio, the process is predictable. Your estate trustee gets court appointment, shows the bank proof, and the bank cooperates.
Cryptocurrency doesn't always play by those rules.
In our files, the trouble almost always starts the same way: the deceased held crypto in a personal wallet, and nobody else knew where the access details were kept. The trustee has every legal right to the asset. They just can't find the key.
Think of it like this:
A court order proves you own the vault
It does not give you the combination
Only the deceased usually had that combination
The Private Key Problem
"Private key" sounds technical, but the risk behind it is simple: no key, no access, no exceptions.
A self-custodied wallet means the owner — not a bank — controls access. That access usually depends on a private key or recovery phrase. According to the Government of Canada's guidance on crypto assets, if you lose your private key, you lose access to your wallet — and if no one else knows your wallet locations and passwords, no one can recover the funds.
There's no "Forgot Password?" button for a blockchain.
Here's a scenario that plays out more than people expect:
A client holds $200,000 in crypto on a hardware wallet. They die suddenly. The will is crystal clear — everything goes to their spouse.
The estate trustee has:
The will
Confirmation from every bank they contacted
What they don't have is the recovery phrase.
The $200,000 is still sitting safely on the blockchain. But "safely sitting there" and "available to the estate" are not the same thing. That gap is where estates get stuck.
Exchanges Aren't Always the Simple Fix
Using a third-party exchange instead of a personal wallet helps — but "helps" isn't the same as "solves."
Exchanges can make access more straightforward than self-custody. It's rarely automatic, though.
The custodian sets the rules. Your estate trustee has to meet whatever documentation standard that exchange requires, and that standard varies by company.
One detail catches people off guard: Ontario doesn't currently have legislation that guarantees an estate trustee automatic access to digital assets just because they ask. So even a properly appointed trustee may need to persuade a private company — one with its own policies — to recognize their authority.
What Happens If the Company Says No
A refusal from a custodian isn't hypothetical. It has already happened, and it's already gone to court.
In Wada Estate (Re), 2026 ABKB 309, the Alberta Court of King's Bench dealt with administrators who had a valid Grant of Administration — and Apple Canada still refused access without a further court order. The court sided with the administrators, and made clear that a Grant is itself a court order technology companies must respect.
That case matters here for one reason: legal authority and practical access are not automatically the same thing. Sometimes a trustee needs a court's help to convert one into the other.
And there's a cross-border wrinkle. If the custodian operates outside Canada, a Canadian court order may not be enough on its own. The company may demand an order from its own jurisdiction — turning a routine estate matter into international litigation over a password.
Nobody budgets estate funds for that. If access disputes escalate into a full legal fight, that overlaps with the kind of conflict we help resolve in estate disputes generally.
The Fix Starts Before You Die
The good news: this is almost entirely preventable with the right paperwork done in advance.
"I leave my crypto to Jane" is not a plan. It's half of one.
The other half answers: can Jane — or your estate trustee — actually find and access it?
Here's what we recommend.
Step 1: Build a Private Inventory
Make a private, plain-language list of what you own and where.
Include:
Which cryptocurrencies you hold
Which wallets they're in
Which exchanges or custodians you use
Any hardware wallets or physical devices
Any related accounts or apps your trustee would need
You don't need to write a technical manual. You need to leave a roadmap.
Step 2: Handle Access Information Separately
Your estate trustee may need passwords, recovery phrases, private keys, or PINs. This information is sensitive — treat it that way.
Do not put it in your will. A probated will can become a public court document — and as we cover in who can see a copy of your will in Ontario, more people can access it than most clients expect. Filing your recovery phrase inside the one document designed to eventually become accessible defeats the purpose.
Step 3: Keep a Secure, Separate Record
Instead, keep a separate memorandum with the access details, stored securely and apart from your will.
That record should cover:
What you own and where it's held
How to locate the relevant wallets or accounts
What access information is required
Where physical devices are stored
What your trustee should do once they have access
Your estate trustee also needs to know this record exists, and where to find it. Great instructions locked in a drawer nobody knows about help no one.
Step 4: Update It Every Time Something Changes
Crypto details change more often than most estate assets. New wallet, new password, new hardware device, new exchange account — any of these can break the chain.
Ask yourself regularly: if I died tomorrow, could my trustee still access this?
If the answer is no, update the record. An outdated recovery phrase is about as useful as an outdated house key.
What If You Leave a Specific Coin to Someone?
Leaving "5 Bitcoin to my daughter" sounds simple. Legally, it raises a question with no clear answer yet.
If the estate trustee can't access those Bitcoin because the private key is missing, what happens to that gift?
This touches on ademption — the principle that can cancel a specific gift when the property is no longer available at death.
Crypto complicates that. The Bitcoin hasn't disappeared; it still exists on the blockchain. But if nobody can access, transfer, or control it, is it effectively unavailable for the purpose of the gift?
There's no definitive Canadian court decision on this exact question yet. That's not a reason to ignore it — it's a reason to get specific legal advice before making a specific crypto bequest.
Quick Comparison: Self-Custody vs. Exchange vs. No Plan
| Self-custody wallet | Exchange/custodian | No digital asset plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who controls access | You alone | The company, per their policy | Nobody knows |
| Risk if key/info is lost | Asset is likely unrecoverable | Lower, but custodian rules still apply | High — trustee may never locate it |
| Court order usually enough? | N/A — no company to compel | Often, but not guaranteed | N/A |
| Best next step | Secure, separate written record | Confirm custodian's estate documentation requirements | Start an inventory today |
Your Estate Trustee Needs a Practical Plan, Not Just a Will
If you own meaningful crypto, your estate plan has to cover both who gets it and how they'll actually get it.
At minimum:
Know what you own. Keep the inventory current.
Know where it lives. Wallets, exchanges, custodians — all of it.
Know who holds the keys. Self-custody and exchange custody carry different risks.
Write real access instructions. "I own crypto" is not enough for a trustee to act on.
Keep credentials out of the will. Assume it may eventually be public.
Tell your trustee where the record is. Instructions nobody can find are useless.
Review it regularly. Update it every time something changes.
Think through specific gifts carefully. Know what happens if that exact asset can't be accessed.
Get legal advice for larger holdings. The bigger the value, the smaller the acceptable margin for error.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an estate trustee access cryptocurrency without the private key?
Generally, no. If the crypto is self-custodied and the private key or recovery phrase is lost, the asset is typically unrecoverable — a court order can't restore a lost key.
Should I put my crypto passwords in my will?
No. A probated will can become a public court document. Keep access information in a separate, secure record instead, and let your estate trustee know it exists.
Does Ontario law guarantee an estate trustee access to digital assets?
Not automatically. Ontario doesn't currently have legislation guaranteeing access on request, so a custodian's own policies and documentation requirements still apply.
What happens if I leave specific crypto to someone and it becomes inaccessible?
This raises the legal question of ademption — whether an inaccessible (but not destroyed) asset can still pass under the gift. Canadian courts haven't settled this definitively, so get legal advice before making a specific crypto bequest.
The Bottom Line
You can have a valid will, a properly appointed estate trustee, and a clearly named beneficiary — and your trustee can still be locked out.
That's the paradox crypto has introduced into estate planning. Adding the words "cryptocurrency and digital assets" to a will doesn't solve it.
The real question is whether your trustee can find, access, and transfer those assets when the time comes — not just whether the will says who gets them.
The best time to sort this out is now, while you still remember your own passwords. If you're not sure your current will holds up without one, or you want a second set of eyes on your digital asset instructions, book a free consultation with our team.
