Planning for online accounts and digital assets in your will

A digital-assets authority clause in the will gives the executor explicit power to identify, secure, preserve, transfer, archive, or close any online account, digital record, domain, or intellectual-property right the testator controlled. Without such a clause, platforms increasingly refuse executor requests on privacy and terms-of-service grounds, even when the executor holds a full grant of probate.

Keep credentials out of the will itself — the will becomes a public court record on probate, making passwords in the document a security breach. Instead, maintain a separate, secured credential record (password manager, sealed letter, trusted digital-estate service) and reference its location in a non-testamentary side memo stored with the will.

Cryptocurrency and self-custodied digital assets deserve special attention: without the private key or seed phrase, the asset is mathematically unrecoverable. Executors should be told where the key is stored, how recovery works, and which exchanges hold custodial balances. Canadian courts have no power to compel a blockchain to transfer coins whose key has been lost.