Digital estate continuity is a young discipline operating at the intersection of rapidly evolving technology, developing law, and emerging professional practice. Many of its most important questions remain open — contested among practitioners, unresolved in courts, underdetermined by statute, and insufficiently studied by researchers. This document presents the key questions that define the frontier of the field. It is intended to guide research, inform policy, and orient professional practice toward the areas of greatest uncertainty.
The following questions address the role of Blockchain and cryptography in digital estate planning.
Q3.1 — How should courts treat the irreversibility of blockchain transactions in estate disputes?
If a blockchain transaction is executed during an estate dispute — transferring assets to a beneficiary before the dispute is resolved — the transaction cannot be reversed. Courts may have authority to compel a remedy, but the technical remedy may be impossible. How should courts adapt their remedial frameworks to the irreversibility of blockchain transactions?
Q3.2 — What is the minimum legally sufficient standard for cryptocurrency succession planning?
A seed phrase in a sealed envelope. A hardware wallet in a safe deposit box. A multi-sig structure with a law firm as one signer. None of these methods has been clearly validated as legally sufficient for cryptocurrency succession across jurisdictions. What constitutes minimum legally sufficient cryptocurrency succession planning, and how should practitioners advise clients in the absence of clear standards?
Q3.3 — How should NFT ownership in estate administration be governed when underlying IP rights differ from token ownership?
An NFT may represent a token of ownership over a digital art file, but not the copyright to that file. An estate may transfer the NFT to a beneficiary, but the platform or creator may retain IP rights that determine what the beneficiary can do with the asset. How should this disconnect between token ownership and underlying rights be governed in estate administration?
Digital Estate Planning Institute 