From Crypto to Cloud Photos: Why Your Digital Legacy Matters Under B.C. Law

Estate planning isn’t just about houses, bank accounts, and stocks any more. In 2025, your digital life, including cryptocurrency, online subscriptions, cloud-storage, social media, and domain names, can play a critical role in what you leave behind, how it’s managed, and whether disputes arise.

For clients, executors and beneficiaries alike, overlooking the digital dimension can mean lost assets, locked accounts, or unexpected litigation.

What is a Digital Asset?

“Digital asset” is a broad term, and not all of it falls neatly into traditional estate frameworks. Here’s how to think about it:

Included:

Cryptocurrency holdings (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) that you hold directly or via wallets or exchanges
Digital business-data or online business rights (domain names, e-commerce storefronts, etc.) with transferrable value
Cloud‐storage files/media
Online subscription assets, rewards points, licences, digital devices (if they hold legacy value or contain credentials)
Domain names, NFTs, websites, online banking/payment accounts (e.g., PayPal, Stripe)

Usually not included or risky:

Social‐media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) or email accounts
Accounts where you have only a licence and not ownership

If you own, control or can access a digital asset that is transferrable, it should be considered in your estate plan. If you just have access or a licence, you may have no legal right to give it away.

B.C. Legal Context

Under the Wills, Estates and Succession Act (“WESA”), the executor has broad authority over the deceased’s “property”.

While a digital asset may be property, the law is not yet fully settled in all cases about how they should be treated.

A key threshold is whether a digital asset is recognized as “property” under B.C. law. For example, in Copytrack Pte Ltd v Wall, 2018 BCSC 1709, the B.C. Supreme Court on summary judgment ordered tracing/recovery of “Ether tokens” (cryptocurrency) sent in error, and held them as property that could be traced.

While the law is still evolving, the trend in B.C. is toward recognizing digital assets as estate property when properly planned for and identified.

To mitigate the digital asset risks, Designate a “digital executor” or include a clause in your will giving your executor express authority to manage digital assets. While B.C. law does not yet formally recognize a separate “digital executor” role, you can specify one in your will or trust documents.