Digital Assets in Estate Administration: Concerns and Considerations

As the world becomes more connected over electronic media, estate assets are changing in ways that reflect electronically managed and transacted lives. Digital assets are increasingly commonplace in estates, and estate fiduciaries are now faced with valuation and access questions for a new category of assets that exhibit characteristics not traditionally encountered.

Lauren Barron and Samantha Heaton, lawyers in Faegre Baker Daniels' wealth management group, discuss the changes with digital asset in "Digital Assets in Estate Administration: Concerns and Considerations for Fiduciaries" in the Autumn 2014 issue of Willamette Management Associates Insights.

In the article, Barron and Heaton explain what digital assets are, how to approach the valuation of these assets, how to gain access to these assets, why fiduciaries should exercise caution before obtaining access, and the preventative measures that may be implemented during the taxpayer's life in order to ensure the smooth administration of such assets at the time of death.