Smarter Digital Asset Estate Planning Checklist [incl. Digital Safe Custody]

What is a Digital Legacy?

The following definition of Digital Legacy has been extracted from the book * Digital Legacy Plan: A Guide to the Personal and Practical Elements of Your Digital Life …

A legacy is anything — material, emotional or digital — that leaves a lasting effect after we pass on.

Many think of this in terms of the material goods typically described in a last Will such as your house, your car, your jewelry, etc.

It's also familiar to think about the emotional legacy we leave in the people who survive us — children, friends, colleagues.

Your legacy is also reflected in your body of work, or the impact you have had on the world around you.

What will you be remembered for?

Digital Legacy is a modern extension of what we leave behind when we pass on.

Why do you need a Digital Legacy Plan?

For entrepreneurs, artists, and other professionals

🧩 Ease of business transition and succession;

🧩 Continuity of important or confidential client or corporate work;

🧩 Transfer of hard-earned social proof and follower trust;

🧩 Preservation of personal or professional reputation;

🧩 Protection of intellectual and creative property;

🧩 Strategy for online revenues or valued marketing and sales system.

For you personally

🤔 You are empowered to determine for yourself your Digital Legacy;

🦜 Leave detailed instructions for the long-term care of your Pet/s;

🧬 Think of what you want to see in your Museum of Me; and

💡 Consider whether you want to leave behind something more meaningful than material goods such as an Ethical Will / Legacy Letter?

Resources:

➲ Free curated list of related websites + resources see our Digital Legacy ➲ Smartlist.

➲ Digital Legacy Plan: A Guide to the Personal and Practical Elements of Your Digital Life before You Die by Angela Crocker and Vicki McLeod [2019].

Credits:

This FAQ was created by James D. Ford GAICD | Principal Solicitor, Blue Ocean Law Group℠.

Important Notice:

This FAQ is intended for general interest + information only.

It is not legal advice, nor should it be relied upon or used as such.

We recommend you always consult a lawyer for legal advice specifically tailored to your needs & circumstances.

Why it is time for a Smarter Digital Legacy Plan?

✅ A simple and highly secure way to manage, assign + leave your Digital Assets together with your instructions;

✅ Items such as passwords, cryptocurrency, NFT's (Non-Fungible Tokens), messages, important legal documents, your "Museum of Me" + more;

✅ Leave detailed instructions for the long-term care of your Pet/s;

✅ At every stage, we have designed the process to ensure that no data can be accidentally exposed;

✅ Intelligent permissions management: Our legal team will only see data we collaborate on together, or data you want us to see;

✅ Select who amongst your nominated Executor/s, Digital Steward + Confidants can see your Digital Assets now, and/or after you pass away;

✅ Friendly interface; and

✅ Collaborate with us on sensitive matters with ease.

How Does it Work?

No More Envelopes.
No More Spreadsheets.

Until now people have only had a few choices to safeguard + update their Digital Assets.

They could write down all their secrets and passwords on a spreadsheet or on a piece of paper, put a copy in an envelope and simply stick them in the sock draw – or pay for a safe custody lockbox at a bank, and make a trip there every few years to ensure the details are kept as current as possible.

The problem is that others could stumble upon the details, the hard drive could corrupt, the house could burn down, the key to the safe custody lockbox could be lost, and/or due to the difficulty in updating the information it is now out-of-date!

Our Digital Safe Custody Vault is safer, cheaper, more secure + easier to update anytime 24/7.

🔒 All data is triple-encrypted, meaning only you can see it - we can't see your data unless you grant permission!

✅ An easy-to-use web browser interface or downloadable local app to your desktop or laptop (Windows or Mac) means updating passwords or files is simple.

🧩 Perfect backup and Estate Planning solution for all your Digital Assets (including Cryptocurrency).

Social Engineering + Independent Verification + our Legal Team ✅ = Secure Release

Before your Digital Assets are released according to your instructions, unanimous consensus is required from all persons you nominate as your trusted Confidants + Blue Ocean Law Group℠ that you have passed away, as well as an independent analysis of your last login time, devices used and other activity data.

✅ Easy + quick administration with zero chance of important information, such as the location of your current original Will (as well as locating digital copies for added fraud prevention) being unable to be determined/found by your Executor / Digital Steward.

Create + Update your Smarter Digital Legacy Plan at your convenience

✅ We layout the tasks we recommend you complete to create / update your Smarter Digital Legacy Plan.

✅ You complete the tasks at your own pace whenever is convenient for you 24/7;

✅ You will be prompted to make sure everything gets done in a timely manner by automated reminders.

Credits:

This FAQ was created by James D. Ford GAICD | Principal Solicitor, Blue Ocean Law Group℠.

Important Notice:

This FAQ is intended for general interest + information only.

It is not legal advice, nor should it be relied upon or used as such.

We recommend you always consult a lawyer for legal advice specifically tailored to your needs & circumstances.

Our Digital Asset Safe Custody Vault is Built like Fort Knox!

In a word it is "Bullet-Proof", or in another word "Unhackable"!

Our platform provider The Prepared Company uses end-to-end military-grade encryption, enforces two-factor authentication, and uses social engineering + legal proof prior to triggering release of your Digital Assets.

Our Digital Asset Safe Custody Vault was built by experts who are using it themselves to protect + safeguard their own Digital Assets.

3-levels of encryption to store + read your data

1️⃣ Encryption of all your Digital Assets using your own unique key

Each client has their own unique key created when they sign up – this encryption key is used to encrypt their Digital Assets.

Only your unique encryption key can read or write data for you.

2️⃣ Encryption of your Digital Assets again with an application level key

Once the data enters your account, it is then encrypted again with our Blue Ocean Law Group℠ encryption key.

This means one would now need both your unique user key and our application key to read your data.

3️⃣ Encryption of the stored Digital Assets again with a database key

Once your encrypted data is stored, we encrypt it a third time using a database key.

This effectively puts the key to the Digital Safe Custody Vault – inside the vault.

Mandatory two-factor authentication

Helping You Protect Yourself

At a certain point, cyber security boils down to individuals also embracing safe practices.

While a lot of businesses make these optional – we do not.

✅ We enforce Two-Factor Authentication (which means merely having your username and password is not enough to gain access to your account); and

✅ Routinely check your data against historic 3rd party data breaches and hacks.

✅ We don’t force you to change your password every 6 months, but we do ask you to verify each time a new device is used to log in to your account.

An additional layer of security ➲ Hybrid Storage™ / Hardware Wallet

If your Digital Assets are extremely valuable or sensitive, it is possible to add an additional layer of security by adopting the practice of Hybrid Storage™.

Hybrid Storage™

Hybrid Storage™ involves storing part of a Cryptocurrency / NFT (Non-Fungible Token) Encryption Key or Password digitally, and other parts physically (or vice-versa).

Best practice would suggest that the Encryption Key or Password be divided into at least 4 parts for maximum protection.

The advantage gained by using Hybrid Storage™ is that if either the Physical or Digital Asset Safe Custody Vault are breached by criminals ➲ there is not enough information to take control of / or deal with your Digital Asset.

Additionally, when the concept of Hybrid Storage™ is adopted, it is possible for multiple physical backup copies of the partial Encryption Key or Password to be physically stored (even outside of the Physical Safe Custody Vault) without substantially increasing risk.

Each partial Encryption Key or Password by itself is no good without the other parts of the Encryption Key or Password which would be safely stored in other Physical Safe Custody Vault locations as well as in the Digital Asset Safe Custody Vault.

Hardware Wallet

A less effective, but also much more convenient + simpler solution would be to use a Hardware Wallet and store the location of the Hardware Wallet and its access key within the Digital Asset Safe Custody Vault.

For further information please read our FAQ: How is a Hardware Wallet used to Store Cryptocurrency?

The most appropriate additional security solution will depend on your need for convenience / level of risk tolerance.

Credits:

This FAQ was created by James D. Ford GAICD | Principal Solicitor, Blue Ocean Law Group℠.

Important Notice:

This FAQ is intended for general interest + information only.

It is not legal advice, nor should it be relied upon or used as such.

We recommend you always consult a lawyer for legal advice specifically tailored to your needs & circumstances.

An additional layer of security ➲ Hybrid Storage™ / Hardware Wallet

If your Digital Assets are extremely valuable or sensitive, it is possible to add an additional layer of security by adopting the practice of Hybrid Storage™.

Hybrid Storage™

Hybrid Storage™ involves storing part of a Cryptocurrency / NFT (Non-Fungible Token) Encryption Key or Password digitally, and other parts physically (or vice-versa).

Best practice would suggest that the Encryption Key or Password be divided into at least 4 parts for maximum protection.

The advantage gained by using Hybrid Storage™ is that if either the Physical or Digital Safe Custody Vault are breached by criminals ➲ there is not enough information to take control of / or deal with your Digital Asset.

Additionally, when the concept of Hybrid Storage™ is adopted, it is possible for multiple physical backup copies of the partial Encryption Key or Password to be physically stored (even outside of the Physical Safe Custody Vault) without substantially increasing risk.

Each partial Encryption Key or Password by itself is no good without the other parts of the Encryption Key or Password which would be safely stored in other Physical Safe Custody Vault locations as well as in the Digital Safe Custody Vault.

Hardware Wallet

A less effective, but also much more convenient + simpler solution would be to use a Hardware Wallet and store the location of the Hardware Wallet and its access key within the Digital Safe Custody Vault.

For further information please read our FAQ: How is a Hardware Wallet used to physically store Cryptocurrency?

The most appropriate additional security solution will depend on your need for convenience / level of risk tolerance.

Credits:

This FAQ was created by James D. Ford GAICD | Principal Solicitor, Blue Ocean Law Group℠.

Important Notice:

This FAQ is intended for general interest + information only.

It is not legal advice, nor should it be relied upon or used as such.

We recommend you always consult a lawyer for legal advice specifically tailored to your needs & circumstances.

What is your Executor's Legal Status regarding your Digital Assets?

Non-Economic Digital Assets

Unless adequate arrangements are made in advance via Digital Asset Directions / Smarter Digital Legacy Plan, your Executor / Digital Steward may not be able to access your phone, computer, cloud storage or email accounts without the passwords… and knowledge of which two-factor authentication method is used (if applicable).

Even if they have legal permission from an Enduring Power of Attorney +/or your Will!

Economic Digital Assets

Your Executor / Digital Steward may still be able to exert legal access to/control your Digital Assets (in some cases Grant of Probate may be required) assuming they:

1️⃣ Are aware of the existence of your Digital Asset; and

2️⃣ Your Digital Asset has economic value.

Digital Assets that can be converted to fiat currency in the real world have economic value, such as the following:

💰 Online Banking;

💰 Cryptocurrency;

💰 PayPal or Square balances;

💰 Affiliate income;

💰 Website Domain/s;

💰 Trade Secrets;

💰 Influencer (Advertising Revenue Generating) Level Social Media Accounts;

💰 Creative Works - Music, Video, Digital Art, Writings, Photographs, etc.

As part of your Digital Legacy Planning we recommend you also consider whether your Digital Assets:

❓Generate a revenue stream or have the potential to do so?

❓Are valuable Intellectual Property?

❓Are required for the continuation of your business?

❓Are creative assets, or unreleased or unfinished works?

❓Are items you would like to keep private?

❓Whether your Digital Assets have an associated NFT (a.k.a. Non-Fungible Token)?

To learn more about NFT's we recommend our FAQ: What in the World is an NFT aka Non-Fungible Token and are they really traded on a platform called the OpenSea?

Credits:

This FAQ was created by James D. Ford GAICD | Principal Solicitor, Blue Ocean Law Group℠.

Important Notice:

This FAQ is intended for general interest + information only.

It is not legal advice, nor should it be relied upon or used as such.

We recommend you always consult a lawyer for legal advice specifically tailored to your needs & circumstances.

Australian Intestacy Laws have not been drafted with any consideration of what is culturally appropriate for Indigenous Australians

In cases where no Will has been made, the relevant Australian Intestacy Laws have not been drafted with any consideration of what is culturally appropriate for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Therefore, the law can operate to create disharmony and disputes.

When a Will has is drafted for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander it needs to be culturally appropriate.

Making a culturally appropriate Will can help to:

➲ Prevent burial disputes;

➲ Ensure the distribution of the estate is is accordance with the wishes of the deceased;

➲ Make sure young children are provided and looked after by a person approved of by the deceased;

➲ Protect customary law matters and help keep them secret; and

➲ Place limits on the use of the deceased's name, photograph or image after their death.

Digital Legacy Plan extremely helpful for Indigenous Australians

A Digital Legacy Plan comprised of Digital Asset Directions (used in combination with our Digital Safe Custody Vault) can be extremely helpful to the Executor of the Will of an Indigenous Australian in both protecting + keeping secret customary law matters, and placing limits on the use of the deceased's name, photograph or image after their death.

Source: “Aboriginal Wills Handbook: A practical guide to making culturally appropriate Wills for Aboriginal People” by Prue Vines, 2nd edition [2015].

Note: The author of the Aboriginal Wills Handbook has waived copyright and any part of the handbook may be reproduced provided acknowledgement is made of this source.

Credits:

This FAQ was written by James D. Ford GAICD | Principal Solicitor, Blue Ocean Law Group℠.

Important Notice:‍

This FAQ is intended for general interest + information only.

It is not legal advice, nor should it be relied upon or used as such.

We recommend you always consult a lawyer for legal advice specifically tailored to your needs & circumstances.