How to Structure Crypto Estate Planning to Ensure Seamless Wealth Transfer

The Legal Framework: RUFADAA and Why Your Will Probably Isn’t Enough #

The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) governs how executors and trustees access digital property after death or incapacitation. It’s been adopted in over 45 states, but most people don’t understand what it actually grants access to.

Catalogue vs. Content #

RUFADAA creates a critical distinction that trips up most estate plans:

Catalogue refers to metadata only: who you communicated with, when, and at what electronic addresses. Think of it as the outside of an envelope.

Content refers to the actual substance of communications and accounts, including private keys, seed phrases, and Wallet access credentials.

Here’s the problem: Under RUFADAA’s default rules, fiduciaries can only access the Catalogue. They cannot access Content unless the deceased person provided explicit “lawful consent” through one of three mechanisms:

1. Online tools first: Platform-specific settings like Google’s Inactive Account Manager or Facebook’s Legacy Contact take priority over everything else, including your will.
2. Estate Planning documents second: If you’ve explicitly authorized fiduciary access to content in your will, trust, or power of attorney, that instruction controls.
3. Terms of Service third: If you haven’t done either of the above, the platform’s Terms of Service governs. Many platforms terminate accounts upon death and prohibit access transfers entirely. Yahoo, for example, deletes accounts upon learning of user death.

What This Means for Crypto #

Cryptocurrency presents a unique challenge because the “content” that matters isn’t an email or social media post. It’s a Private Key. Without explicit authorization language, your executor may only receive Confirmation that you had a Coinbase account (Catalogue), but lack legal authority to access the assets inside (Content).

Standard will language does not grant Content access. You need specific Digital Asset provisions that reference the distinction between Catalogue and Content and explicitly grant authority to both.

Digital Ascension Group coordinates with Estate Planning attorneys who specialize in Digital Asset provisions. The language requirements vary by state based on each jurisdiction’s version of RUFADAA, and some states have carved out specific exclusions. Your attorney needs to check whether your state excludes conservators, modifies the priority hierarchy, or adds additional requirements.

Technical Execution: How to Transfer Keys Without Creating Vulnerabilities #

The inheritance problem for self-custodied crypto is simple to state and difficult to solve: How do you give your heirs access to keys after you die without giving them access while you’re alive?

Three mechanisms address this challenge. Each has tradeoffs.

1. Multi-Signature Custody #

Multi-signature (multisig) wallets require multiple private keys to authorize a transaction. A common configuration is 2-of-3, meaning any two of three keyholders must sign to move funds.

For inheritance purposes, you might distribute keys among:

• Yourself (active control while living)
• A trusted family member or successor trustee
• An independent Custodian or institutional fiduciary

Upon your death, the remaining two keyholders can access funds without needing your key. The third key serves as redundancy, not as a gate you control from beyond the grave.

For holdings under $5M: A 2-of-3 configuration often balances security and convenience.

For holdings over $20M: Consider 3-of-5 with at least one professional Custodian and geographic distribution of signing devices.

The Platform’s Custody coordination features allow you to track multisig configurations, document keyholder identities, and set up notification protocols for the succession event.

2. Shamir’s Secret Sharing #

Shamir’s Secret Sharing (SSS) is a cryptographic method that splits a single secret (like a Seed Phrase) into multiple “shares.” You define a threshold: for example, any 3 of 5 shares can reconstruct the original secret, but 2 shares reveal nothing.

This differs from multisig in an important way: with SSS, the original Seed Phrase must be reconstructed to sign transactions. The shares converge to recreate a single secret rather than providing independent authorization.

Common configurations:

• 3-of-5 for personal holdings with trusted family distribution
• 4-of-7 for larger estates requiring broader consensus

Where to store shares:

• Bank safe deposit boxes in different jurisdictions
• Fire-rated safes at separate physical locations
• Professional custodians that accept split-key storage (some trust companies now offer this)
• Metal plate backups (more durable than paper)

What can go wrong: SSS requires reconstruction, which creates a moment of vulnerability. When shares combine, the full secret exists in one place, even if only briefly. This is a point of attack that multisig avoids entirely.

Several hardware wallets now support SLIP-0039, the standard for Shamir backups. Trezor and Coldcard offer built-in functionality. If you’re using SSS, use a Wallet that supports the standard rather than implementing it yourself.

3. Dead Man’s Switches (Use with Caution) #

A dead man’s switch is an automated system that triggers an action (like releasing private keys) if you fail to check in within a specified period. Miss your monthly button press, and your heir receives the Seed Phrase.

This sounds elegant. In practice, it has serious problems:

• Accidental triggers: You forget to check in because you’re traveling, hospitalized, or simply busy. Now your keys are exposed while you’re still alive.
• Asset immobility: For certain implementations, your crypto must remain at a specific address for the pre-signed transaction to work. You can’t trade, stake, or adjust your Portfolio without resetting the entire mechanism.
• Conflict with estate plan: If the switch triggers and distributes assets directly to a named heir, it may bypass your trust entirely, undermining equal distribution provisions and creating tax complications.
• Technical immaturity: Smart Contract implementations rely on platforms (typically Ethereum) that are still evolving. A platform upgrade, Fork, or Protocol change could invalidate your inheritance mechanism.

Some platforms like Inheriti offer dead man’s switch functionality with additional safeguards. But most Estate Planning attorneys who specialize in digital assets recommend against relying on switches as the primary inheritance mechanism. They work better as a backup notification system that alerts heirs to the existence of assets rather than as the transfer mechanism itself.

Trust Funding: How to Actually Get Crypto Into a Trust #

Creating a trust that mentions Cryptocurrency is not the same as funding a trust with Cryptocurrency. The funding step requires specific actions depending on how you hold your assets.

Exchange-Held Assets #

If your crypto sits on an Exchange like Coinbase, Uphold or Kraken:

1. Check whether the Exchange allows trust accounts. Some do. Coinbase, for example, permits institutional accounts that can be titled in a trust’s name.
2. If yes: Open a new account in the trust’s name and transfer your holdings from your personal account. The transfer itself is not a taxable event (it’s a change in registration, not a sale), but document it carefully for your records.
3. If no: The Exchange doesn’t support trust registration. You have two Options:
   • Create a General Assignment document that assigns your interest in the Exchange account to the trust, while maintaining personal-name registration for operational purposes.
   • Transfer assets to a self-custodied Wallet and fund the trust through that Wallet.

Self-Custodied Assets (Hardware Wallets) #

Hardware wallets like D’Cent or Ellipal don’t have titles or deeds. You can’t “re-register” a device the way you’d re-title a brokerage account. Instead, you execute a General Assignment.

Sample assignment language (coordinate with your attorney for state-specific requirements):

“I hereby assign, transfer, and convey to [Trust Name], as Trustee, all my right, title, and interest in the following digital assets: all Cryptocurrency, tokens, and digital coins held in or accessible through my hardware wallets, software wallets, and paper wallets, including but not limited to the devices and seed phrases identified in Schedule A attached hereto.”

Schedule A lists the specific wallets (by device serial number or Wallet address) and approximate holdings. Keep Schedule A updated, but store