Online accounts, cryptocurrency and digital records forming part of an estate.
In Islamic law
Anything of value is part of the estate and subject to the shares. An asset that cannot be accessed cannot be distributed, so recording access is part of discharging the trust.
In Canadian law
Access is governed by platform terms as much as by law, and executors are frequently locked out. Cryptocurrency with no recorded key is simply lost — an increasingly common and total failure.
We have not yet researched whether the four Sunni schools differ on this term, so we are not going to tell you either way. Where a specific case turns on it, ask a qualified scholar rather than relying on a general summary.
Canadian legal detail
Treadstone Law, an Ontario firm with a wills and estates practice, covers the Canadian side of this in more depth:
- Cryptocurrency digital assets estate administration tax ontario
- Cryptocurrency ontario will executor access
- Minority shareholder access to records ontario
This is legal information only. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a lawyer.
Citations & sources
Every factual claim on this page traces to a source below. Details change — check the original source before relying on any figure, fee or legal position. Anything under “further reading” is related material, not a source for what is stated here.
- Cryptocurrency digital assets estate administration tax ontario — Treadstone Law
- Cryptocurrency ontario will executor access — Treadstone Law
- Minority shareholder access to records ontario — Treadstone Law
- What happens to digital assets intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law