Digital assets will increasingly be amongst the assets that need administering in attorneyship, guardianship, trust and estate matters, and their protection is important. Ian M. Hull and Kimberly Whaley gave a fundamental webinar with Canadian Lawyer Magazine entitled Keeping Pace With Digital Assets: Preparing For The Future. They discussed the sobering numbers – cryptocurrency assets are in the trillions, percentage of Bitcoins ‘lost’ (not accessed for over five years) are in the billions, and there are over 10,000 specific cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin.

With technology moving at a blistering pace, Mr. Hull and Ms. Whaley looked at the law’s response, also addressed in our recent blog on the issue of accessing digital accounts:

• The United States was quick to the gate. The Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act was approved in 2014, revised in 2015, and since enacted in 47 states.
• Canada is in catch-up mode. The Uniform Law Conference of Canada adopted a similar Uniform Access to Digital Assets by Fiduciaries Act (2016). It provides access of digital assets to fiduciaries if the right to access is granted pursuant to instructions in a will, letters of administration, guardianship order, power of attorney, trust, or court order. Thus far, only Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island have put the digital asset legislation into place, and New Brunswick is similarly considering whether to adopt the Uniform Act.

With ever-evolving technology, it is incumbent on estate planners to be equipped with the tools to classify digital assets and draft wills to accommodate them. It is similarly important for fiduciaries to be able to identify, access and administer these assets.  Mr. Hull and Ms. Whaley included a helpful detailed checklist in their presentation, accessible here, with the following umbrella categories and extensive particulars under each heading:

• Make a detailed list of all personal digital property, with corresponding passwords;
• Make a list detailing what you want to do with your digital assets;
• Make a detailed list of where your information is stored, with corresponding passwords;
• Formalize your information in a legal document; and
• Make use of tools for digital estate planning.

Thanks for reading and have a great day,

Natalia Angelini