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.
These questions address cross border jurisdictional issues.
Q4.1 — Which jurisdiction’s law governs the succession of a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet?
A non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet has no domicile. Its owner may live in one jurisdiction, hold citizenship in another, and die in a third. The nodes that validate the blockchain may be distributed globally. There is no clear answer to which jurisdiction’s succession law governs. This question becomes material in every cross-border estate involving cryptocurrency, and it is currently unresolved.
Q4.2 — How should cross-border estates handle conflicting post-mortem data protection requirements?
An executor in a jurisdiction with limited post-mortem data rights seeks to access communications stored by a platform in a jurisdiction with strong post-mortem data protections. The local executor has legal authority; the data storage jurisdiction prohibits access. How should this conflict be resolved, and what governance frameworks can reduce its frequency?
Digital Estate Planning Institute 