How Wills and Trusts Work Together for Digital Assets #
A trust doesn’t replace your will. The two documents work together, each handling different parts of your estate plan. Most people need both, and the coordination between them matters more than either document alone.
First, clarify terminology. A living will is a medical directive telling doctors what life support measures you want if you’re incapacitated. That’s completely separate from estate planning. What you’re asking about is a last will and testament, which distributes your assets after death. People often say living will when they mean last will and testament, but these are different documents serving different purposes.
Your trust controls assets that are properly titled to the trust. If your Wyoming LLC holding cryptocurrency is owned by your revocable living trust, those digital assets pass through the trust when you die. The trust document specifies who inherits the LLC membership interest, who becomes successor trustee, and how distributions happen. None of this goes through probate because the trust owns the assets, not you personally.
Your will handles everything else. Assets titled in your personal name, assets you forgot to transfer into the trust, personal property, and anything acquired after creating the trust that never got properly retitled. The will also nominates guardians for minor children, which trusts can’t do. You’re not choosing between a will and a trust. You’re using both for different purposes.
A pour-over will is the standard companion to a trust. The will says that anything you own personally at death pours over into your trust and gets distributed according to the trust terms. This creates a safety net. If you forgot to transfer your car title into the trust or you inherited something shortly before dying, the pour-over will catches it and moves it into the trust structure.
The pour-over will still goes through probate for any assets it catches. That’s why proper trust funding matters. Transfer your LLC membership into the trust while you’re alive. The LLC owns the D’Cent cold wallet and cryptocurrency. The trust owns the LLC. When you die, your successor trustee takes over the trust, inherits control of the LLC, and accesses the digital assets. No probate court involvement at all.
If you die with the LLC still in your personal name, the pour-over will sends it to the trust, but only after probate proceedings. Your family waits months while a court processes your estate, validates your will, and approves the transfer. They might struggle to access your cryptocurrency during this time because the LLC ownership is tied up in probate.
Proper funding avoids this completely. Transfer LLC ownership to the trust now. Document the transfer with an assignment of membership interest. Update your LLC operating agreement to reflect that the trust is the member. Your personal will never touches the LLC because it’s not in your estate. The trust handles everything.
Some assets can’t go into a trust or shouldn’t for tax reasons. Qualified retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs stay in your personal name with beneficiary designations. Life insurance policies typically name beneficiaries directly rather than going through a trust unless there are specific estate tax planning reasons. Your will coordinates with these beneficiary designations to create a complete estate plan.
Bank accounts and investment accounts at traditional financial institutions transfer to your trust through retitling. You submit paperwork to the bank changing ownership from your personal name to your trust. The account becomes trust property. Some people use payable-on-death designations instead, which keep accounts in personal names during life but transfer directly to named beneficiaries at death without probate.
Digital assets create unique challenges because many platforms don’t have clear processes for trust ownership or beneficiary designations. Cryptocurrency exchanges might not accept trust-owned accounts. Some platforms prohibit account transfers entirely. This is why the LLC structure works better. The LLC opens the exchange accounts. The trust owns the LLC. The platforms deal with a business entity, not a trust directly.
Your will should reference your trust and confirm they’re designed to work together. The will might state that it’s intended to coordinate with your revocable living trust dated a specific date. This creates clear documentation that both documents are part of one comprehensive estate plan.
Update both documents when circumstances change. You have another child, get divorced, or significantly change your asset structure? Both the will and trust need amendments to reflect the new situation. Orphaned provisions in one document that contradict the other document create confusion for your family and potential litigation.
Tangible personal property often gets handled through your will rather than the trust. Jewelry, art, vehicles, household items typically pass through a will unless values are high enough to justify trust ownership. Your will might have a separate personal property memorandum listing who gets specific items. This is easier to update than formally amending your will every time you want to change who inherits your watch collection.
Digital assets with significant value belong in the trust structure through LLC ownership. Your cryptocurrency holdings, valuable digital businesses, domain portfolios, substantial NFT collections all warrant the LLC and trust structure. Small personal digital assets might stay in your personal name and transfer through your will with the understanding they’ll go through probate.
Coordination with your spouse matters too if you’re married. Some couples create joint trusts, others create separate trusts that coordinate. Your wills need to align with whatever trust structure you’ve chosen. Estate planning for married couples gets complex because you’re dealing with both spouses’ assets, potential estate tax planning, and coordinating who inherits what when the first spouse dies.
Most wealth management firms like Digital Wealth Partners focus on growing your investment portfolio and providing guidance on asset allocation. They help you make smart investment decisions. The coordination of wills, trusts, and estate planning documents requires legal expertise beyond standard wealth management services.
Digital Ascension Group coordinates your complete estate plan including drafting trusts, updating wills, ensuring proper trust funding, and creating the LLC structures that hold your digital assets. We’re making sure your will and trust work together rather than creating conflicts. We’re also the ones checking periodically that asset titling matches your estate plan so nothing accidentally stays in your personal name.
Your D’Cent cold wallet custody stays secure regardless of whether assets are in your trust or your personal name. The physical security doesn’t change. What changes is the legal pathway your family follows to inherit control. Trust ownership means immediate access through your successor trustee. Personal ownership means waiting for probate before your will can transfer assets.
The complete estate plan for digital asset holders includes a revocable living trust owning your LLC, an LLC operating agreement with clear succession provisions, a pour-over will catching anything not in the trust, beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance, and documentation proving everything is properly titled and funded. These pieces work together to protect your family from probate delays and simplify inheritance.
Contact Digital Ascension Group to learn how our family office services can coordinate your complete financial picture.
