Bitcoin Inheritance Planning for Solicitors and Advisors

If you're a solicitor, financial advisor, or fiduciary, your clients may hold Bitcoin as part of their estate and traditional estate planning tools don't adequately address digital assets. This guide explains how to help clients plan for Bitcoin inheritance without needing technical expertise yourself.

The problem you face

When a client with Bitcoin passes away, their executor often discovers that recovery is far more complex than accessing a bank account. Without clear documentation of wallet types, key locations, and recovery procedures, funds can be permanently lost. A recent study suggested that as much as 20% of all Bitcoin in circulation may already be lost, often due to deaths without adequate planning.

The UK legal context

The UK's Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025, which received Royal Assent on 2 December 2025, formally recognises digital assets as property for legal purposes. This is a significant step forward — but the practical challenge remains: even if a client legally owns Bitcoin, their heirs cannot access it without the technical means to do so.

How Evoke helps you advise Bitcoin-holding clients

Evoke provides your clients with a guided process to document their Bitcoin holdings and produce a Digital Asset Schedule — a professional document designed to sit alongside their will. You don't need to understand the technical details of Bitcoin; the schedule translates technical recovery steps into language that legal and financial professionals can follow.

What you don't need to do

As the advising solicitor or advisor, you do not need to:

Understand hardware wallets, multisig, or seed phrases
Manage any Bitcoin keys yourself
Install cryptocurrency software
Provide technical recovery assistance

All of this is handled by Evoke and the nominated technical contacts. Your role is ensuring the Digital Asset Schedule is stored properly alongside your client's estate documents.

What you should do

Ask new estate planning clients whether they hold Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency
For clients who do, recommend they create a Digital Asset Schedule via Evoke
Store the schedule alongside the client's will and estate documents
Ensure your client's will properly references their digital assets
Inform the executor that the schedule exists and how to access it