#Wills Month: The digital assets estate plans are missing

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In South Africa, where an estimated 70% to 80% of people die without a valid will, gaps in estate planning can create delays and complications for families and executors. Now, another challenge is emerging as more wealth, records and personal information move online. Digital assets, from investment accounts and cryptocurrency to cloud storage, are adding a new dimension to estate administration, and include far more than many people realise.

They include social-media profiles on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X, digital photographs and videos, loyalty and rewards-programme memberships, and digital wallets. In some cases these assets have direct financial value. In others, their significance is deeply personal.

A collection of family photographs stored in the cloud, for example, may have little monetary worth but could hold immense sentimental value for loved ones. Similarly, access to social-media accounts may help preserve memories and connections that family members would otherwise lose. Cryptocurrency holdings, on the other hand, could represent a substantial financial asset that may be impossible to recover if the necessary information is not available.

Tracking digital wealth

The challenge with digital assets is not generally whether they form part of an estate. In most instances, they do. The greater difficulty lies in ensuring that they can be identified and accessed. Unlike a physical property title deed stored in a safe or filing cabinet, digital assets often leave no obvious trail. If nobody knows they exist, they may never form part of the estate administration process.

Fortunately, addressing this risk does not require complicated planning. One of the most effective steps is simply to maintain a record of your digital footprint. This should include details of financial accounts, social-media profiles, subscription services, online businesses and any digital wallets or cryptocurrency holdings.

Creating such a record is not about sharing sensitive information widely. In fact, estate-planning professionals generally advise against including passwords directly in a will. During the administration of an estate, a will may become accessible to various parties involved in the process. Including passwords or security credentials in the document could therefore create unnecessary risks.

Instead, individuals should ensure that access information is stored securely and that a trusted person or executor knows how to obtain it if required. The objective is to strike a balance between protecting information during one's lifetime and ensuring that authorised individuals can access it after death.

Preparing digital futures

Another often-overlooked aspect of digital estate planning is the range of options offered by online platforms themselves. Many social-media and digital service providers now allow users to nominate legacy contacts or specify how accounts should be managed after death. These settings can help provide clarity and reduce uncertainty for family members at a difficult time.

This Wills Month, leave your family answers, not arguments

Deenisha Nadesan, Capital Legacy  1 Sep 2026

As technology continues to evolve, digital assets will become an increasingly prominent feature of estate planning. Future developments may make it easier to transfer, manage and administer these assets. However, individuals cannot afford to wait for future solutions when practical measures are available today.

In an increasingly digital world, estate planning is no longer only about physical possessions and traditional financial assets. It must also account for the growing collection of digital assets accumulated throughout a lifetime, from social-media profiles and cloud-storage accounts to digital wallets and cryptocurrencies.

Preparing for the future means ensuring that these assets can be identified, accessed and managed when the time comes. Estate planning that overlooks digital assets is, increasingly, estate planning that is incomplete.

This Wills Month, the conversation should extend beyond simply having a will. South Africans should also ask whether their executor knows where the original document is stored, whether their digital assets have been identified and whether clear arrangements exist to manage them. Taking these relatively simple steps can make a significant difference to those left behind and help ensure that a person's wishes are carried out as intended.