Digital Inheritance

Your digital assets include any online or electronic accounts, content, or data that have financial or sentimental value. These might include:

• Email accounts and cloud storage services

• Crypto assets

• Online banking, investment portfolios

• Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn

• Business and website domains, client data, or hosted applications

• Gambling accounts and in-game assets

• Photos, documents, and personal digital files stored online

Understanding where and how these assets are held is essential to effective digital estate planning. It ensures that information is organised, secure, and recoverable when needed.

Digital estate planning ensures that your digital and decentralised assets are properly catalogued and secured. As more people use cloud services and online banking, these assets often hold significant value and form part of your wider estate.

Without a plan, family members or executors may struggle to access vital records due to online service provider restrictions or complex login procedures. Thoughtful estate planning, which considers each platform’s post death policies, eliminates uncertainty and ensures continuity of access while maintaining privacy and security.

We help you:

• Identify every part of your digital estate

• Create secure instructions for each account

• Prepare a process to store digital assets safely

• Ensure access aligns with legal frameworks and inheritance laws

Your social media profiles, photos, and messages are often the most personal part of your digital presence. Managing social media accounts after death requires careful consideration to protect your digital legacy.

Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn allow you to set up legacy contacts or request account memorialisation. These features ensure your online presence reflects your wishes.

Digital inheritance helps you define who can manage these accounts, what happens to shared content, and how to secure or remove private information. It preserves the memories and relationships that form part of your digital identity.

As digital currencies and decentralised technologies evolve, so too do the complexities of inheritance. Digital and decentralised assets, such as cryptocurrencies or tokenised investments, are typically controlled through private keys and seed phrases. Losing these keys means losing access permanently.

Zenzero supports clients in safeguarding these assets by creating secure documents and verified storage systems. This ensures your decentralised digital ledgers remain accessible only to those you authorise and are managed in line with current best practices and private client law.

Our process also helps you integrate these items into broader estate planning, maintaining security and compliance for tax purposes.

Digital inheritance presents new legal challenges related to data storage that traditional wills and probate processes do not always cover. Questions around access rights, data privacy, and ownership can create legal uncertainty for families and executors.

Zenzero’s experts help you navigate these complexities by:

• Reviewing online contracts and platform-specific terms

• Aligning your digital estate with UK inheritance law and contract law

• Providing practical steps for private client professionals and practitioners managing digital estates

• Creating secure, compliant plans that ensure your digital content remains properly protected

This proactive approach avoids confusion and ensures your digital estate is managed within recognised legal frameworks.

Yes, but only with proper access controls and documentation. Digital and decentralised assets rely on private keys and seed phrases that must be stored securely.

Yes. Platforms often manage them through legacy contacts or memorialisation options. Including these in your digital estate planning ensures your wishes are respected.

Without a plan, online data may be lost or inaccessible, leaving families facing legal challenges and uncertainty.

Digital assets matter because they often hold both financial and sentimental value. From online banking and investment portfolios to photos, social media accounts, and digital files, these assets form a significant part of modern life. Failing to include them in your digital estate planning can lead to loss, legal disputes, or emotional distress for loved ones. By safeguarding them now, you protect your digital identity and ensure your legacy endures.

We help identify and secure your digital estate, manage technical and security tasks, and prepare a clear plan to protect your online life and legacy.