#98 - Bitcoin Inheritance Masterclass 101

Which one's the best crypto asset or Bitcoin's the best crypto asset? What's the second best? There is no second best

There's no second best crypto asset. There's a crypto asset. It's called Bitcoin, right?

Welcome to the wide Bitcoin show. It's a weekly podcast on wide Bitcoin matters and how it's helping individuals from all walks of life achieve true financial and

individual sovereignty. Bitcoin embodies real financial empowerment and compared to all other investment choices, there really is no second best.

All right, welcome to the wide Bitcoin show friends.

Today I'm going to be doing something a little bit different. I had a plan as as one does and

last minute my guest decided to pull the plug. And so instead of a guest talking about this, it is going to be me free soloing once again.

This episode is all about world's estates and inheritance and of course how Bitcoin fits into the picture.

So it's just you and me and we're going to talk about something that most people including Bitcoin is

probably actively avoid thinking about and that's death.

Specifically, what happens to everything you've built, everything you've stacked, everything you've worked for

when you're no longer here to manage it. Now, of course, I know what some of you might be thinking. I'm young.

I'll get to it. I don't have to worry about it or listen to them. I've got a hardware wallet. My wife knows the pen. We are all good.

But today, I'll spend a little time dismantling those assumptions and by the end of the episode, I want you to feel two things informed but also slightly uncomfortable because that discomfort. That's the feeling of the radical personal responsibility knocking on your door. We talk about a lot in Bitcoin. Talk about self sovereignty. We talk about taking control of your financial destiny.

Not trusting third parties with your wealth about the radical personal responsibility that comes with holding your own keys. But here's the thing that I think very few people talk about.

That responsibility doesn't end when you die. If anything, it becomes even more critical. Because when you're alive, you can fix mistakes. You can update your seed phrase backups. You can move coins. You can change your mind. But when you're dead,

you can't do any of that. And if you haven't said things up properly, the people you love most are left holding the bag or potentially nothing at all because your coins are locked or inaccessible and nobody can get to it.

So today, I'm going to be doing Bitcoin inheritance planning 101. But I think what we need to really think about just is some high level thoughts around worlds, probate, executives.

Powers of attorney trusts how assets actually pass on death. And the unique challenges that Bitcoin as a digital bearer assets introduces. And then, of course, some common mistakes to avoid. So it's really like a high level introduction to all of these concepts and will sprinkle some Bitcoin relevant stuff into.

I'll give you a little bit of context if you aren't aware as to why I am reasonably qualified to talk about this. So I'm a former lawyer. I trained in qualified in South Africa.

Not a practicing lawyer in the States or in Australia or in Canada or anywhere else. So let me just be crystal clear. I'm not giving you legal advice. It's education. It's information.

And it's just what I'm sharing based on what I've learned over the last decade, writing my own walls, working as an executive for a number of people and learning from professionals to do this day and day out.

What I'm trying to offer today is more framework of foundation, a knowledge base, like a starting point. And really what you choose to do that is on you. It's your own responsibility after all.

And that's the word of the day. You could say responsibility. It's really what this whole episode is about. Now, if you're like me, you probably like to whack out podcasts at 1.3 or 1.5 speed.

But maybe with this one, go a little slower because it's legal concepts, which to the untrained eye are a little bit nebulous and unclear.

And you don't really want to zip through this stuff. I'll do my best to break it down and explain in the simplest of terms, because I understand a lot of people find this stuff uninteresting at best, but it's important.

And in the words of Christopher Hitchens, let me implore you, ladies and gentlemen, this is urgent business. It's urgent business. If you don't have a plan, the law is going to have a plan for you.

And if you're like me and other big coiners, that would be an unmitigated disaster. So if you want to understand the basics of wolves, states, and inheritance, broadly speaking, grab a coffee, get your dog, go for a walk, or get in the car, go for a drive. That's when I listen to my pods.

All right, that's enough. Let's get into it. Let's start at the very beginning, because I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding about what a state planning actually is.

A lot of people think it's for rich people, old people, people with complicated family situations, or multiple properties, or business empires, but it's really not.

It's for anyone who has assets, relationships, or dependents. And in 2026, if you're a big coiner, and even if you're a small stack, big coiner, you have assets that require specific and deliberate planning that a lot, if not most of the traditional state lawyers, they're just not equipped to handle quite yet.

So we'll start just by zooming out first, because the big coin side of things is just one layer of a much bigger picture that I want to paint today.

So think about what you actually own right now. You might have a bank account, a car, you might have some furniture, maybe you own a property, and some shares.

You might have what we call superannuation fund in Australia, or four on K in the US, or you might have a registered retirement savings plan if you're in Canada.

You might have life insurance, you might have a business interest, you might have some big coin. In fact, I know you have some big coin.

You might have a collection of things, watches, art, whiskey, whatever it is. Now think of the people in your life, a partner, your kids, your parents, your siblings, your friends, people you love, and these are presumably the people you want to provide for.

State planning is simply the process of making sure that when you die, the right things go to the right people in the right way, with minimal cost, delay, and conflict, because that's it, that's the whole game.

You want to make this simple, and yet the stats are quite unbelievable. Depending where you look,

somewhere between 50 and 60% of adults in Australia, the US and Canada do not have a valid up-to-date will. That's more than half.

So the majority of you listening to this, or watching this, probably don't have one, and if you've got one, maybe it's out of date.

And it may as well not exist.

I might tell you a story or two in this particular episode, and these are drawn from real scenarios, but the names are fake, obviously. I'm not going to actually use real names here.

I'm not going to dox anyone, but these are things I've seen, I've heard, I've been involved in, and let me tell you about this dude called James.

He's 38, he's been in bitcoin since 2017, he's got 2.3 bitcoin, he's done it right, self-custody, on a cold card, he's got a mortgage and a house, he's got a superannuation account, he's an Aussie, and he's got a daughter, he's six years old, he's healthy, he's busy, and the wall is just not what he is getting to at this point.

Let's put this in the later bucket, I'll get to it bucket, well, he died in a car accident, so what happened? There's no will.

He is, he dies in what lawyers would call in test state. In that scenario, the state steps in, and the default rules apply.

In most jurisdictions, if you're married or in a de facto relationship, your partner would get a significant portion, but he isn't married, he and his partner have been together for four years, they live together, but they're not married.

So depending on the jurisdiction, she may or may not be recognized as a de facto partner. If she is, she might get a share, if she isn't, or if the recognition is contested, James's estate might actually go to his parents.

But people he might not have been close to in years, and his daughter, well, she's six, so she can't inherit directly, so the court will appoint a trustee, and that trustee will manage her inheritance until she turns 18, and it might be someone that James would never have chosen.

And the Bitcoin, well, nobody knows about it. His partner knew about it, had some crypto, but didn't know what it is, where to access it, certainly didn't know that pin to the cold card, or what a seed phrase is.

And so potentially that Bitcoin is gone, and it's not an unusual story, and it's happening now, and this is impacting real people all over the world, and it's 100%, 100% preventable.

You need a plan. So let's start off with a common misconceptions.

I don't have enough assets to need a lot of bolts. It doesn't matter if you've got $500 or $5 million, a world's not just about money, it's about who gets to raise your children, it's about who gets your personal positions, it's about who has the authority to deal with your affairs.

Even if your entire estate is a second-hand car in a laptop, at least for the world you get that clarity, and it saves your family from having to navigate a legal process while they're grieving.

Awful. The other misconception is, well, my family knows what I want. Maybe, maybe they do, but knowing what you want, and having the legal authority to actually carry it out are two different things, like chalk and cheese.

Your family might know what you want to do with your Bitcoin, but if you don't have a will, they can't just hand it over. There are legal processes.

This is not NAM. There are rules, as Walter said, in the Big Lebarsky.

And so there might be other potential claimants. There are tax implications. Yes, tax. I said tax, absolutely.

Relive in the real world. Tax and death. Those are unavoidable.

Friends, how many of you know people who absolutely love real estate, but completely miss the mark when it comes to Bitcoin's value proposition?

Or perhaps you're a Bitcoin in yourself and you still hold investment properties for diversification?

Well, I think I've got the answer for you. Drawing on my decade of real estate experience, I've written a book called No Tenants, No Troubles.

A clear-eyed analysis of both Bitcoin and real estate and why I think Bitcoin is a much better bit.

The link is in the show notes, and if you happen to be based in Australia, you'll be pleased to know you can also buy it directly from me with Bitcoin.

Why not? Now, back to the show.

And so your good intentions are not really a substitute for legal documentation.

The third misconception is what I'm too young to worry about this.

And this one, you know, people get it. I get it like it's, you know, it's emotional to think about dying at the age of 30 or 35.

But you'd be shocked at what the stats are on unexpected death, accidents, sudden illness, medical events.

And the younger you are, the more likely are to have young children in need, God in ship, and the more likely that you have assets that are growing in value.

So ironically, the best time to actually put a wall together is when you don't need one quite yet.

The last misconception is that my partner will automatically get everything.

No, this is a very dangerous misconception. It varies by jurisdiction.

But in some places, a surviving spouse will de facto partner does not inherit automatically.

And others, they do, they only get apportioned.

So if you're not married and not legally recognized as a de facto partner, your long term partner might get nothing.

Next, as they say in South Africa, nada.

So that could lead to your estranged relatives inheriting everything.

Not great.

So like with that out the way, I want to now dive into some of the actual mechanics.

And I'm going to go a little bit deeper, but stick with me because it's important.

I know it's not necessarily lion-taming stuff, but you do need to understand that.

So let's actually dive into what a wall is and really what it does.

So a wall is sometimes called a last-world testament, a legal document that expresses your wishes about what should happen to your stuff and your dependence after you die.

But let's be super precise.

And what it actually does legally, legally, is important because there's some nuances.

Okay, so the first is that it appoints an executor.

Now, that's the broad umbrella term we're using on Australia.

Could be a legal representative or personal representative or an estate trustee.

Basically, this is the person or people who will be legally responsible for administering your estate once you are no longer with us.

We'll spend a bit of time on the executives later, but it's a very important decision to make.

The second is it identifies your beneficiaries and what they receive, like specific gifts.

You have specific gifts saying, for example, I give my 1965 Mustang to my brother, David.

And then what you have, what's called the Residuri estate or the residue of the estate, which is basically everything left over after you've awarded the specific gifts and your debts are paid.

The third thing a wall does, it appoints a guardian for minor children.

This is so important and critical for any parent.

And I'll come back to that later.

Fourth, it can establish trusts.

Now, you can create in a wall what's called a testamentary trust.

It's a trust that basically comes into existence only when you die.

And then it will manage assets for the benefit of the beneficiaries who are minors.

It's also used for tax and asset protection purposes.

I'll jump into that a bit later.

And then lastly, your will can express your wishes about funeral arrangements, like you can say, what you want to do with your body.

Do you want to be cremated? Do you want to be buried?

Now, your executive is not legally bound by these wishes, but it tends to follow them because it's what you want, right?

Alright, so that's what a wall does. What does a wall not do?

Well, it does not automatically transfer assets.

It just creates the legal framework for transfer.

So it's very different.

The actual transfer happens through a process called probate, which we'll cover just now.

Or shortly for those who aren't South African.

A wall does not override beneficiary designations.

If you've got a superannuation fund in Australia or life insurance policy or 401k in the US,

and you've got a nominated beneficiary with that institution, that nomination overrides your wall.

Doesn't matter what your wall says.

That's just how it works.

The asset goes straight to the nominated beneficiary regardless of what your wall says.

And then lastly, a wall does not override joint tenancy.

If you own a property as joint tenancy with another person,

and if you're not sure that is stop, have a look at what joint tenancy means.

Perhaps it applies in your jurisdiction.

Perhaps it doesn't.

It certainly applies here in Australia for assets that are held under joint tenancy.

The property passes automatically to the surviving joint tenancy.

And your wall has absolutely no say in the matter.

And often that's the primary residence here in Australia for that matter.

So you don't actually get the ability to decide what happens with their property.

It goes straight to the person who survives.

Critically, the wall does not by itself give anyone access to a Bitcoin.

Obviously, you'll exactly as the legal authority to deal with your state.

But if they don't have the practical means to actually access your Bitcoin,

the seed phrase, the pin to the cold card, the pass phrase,

a key within the multi-sig core, whatever it might be,

that legal authority is absolutely worthless.

All right, so that's what a wall doesn't do.

What are the formalities of a wall?

A lot of people think, I need to go and speak to a lawyer to get a wall.

No, you can get your own wall put together.

You just need to make sure it's validly binding.

And to be valid, it's quite simple.

And this is in Australia, the US, Canada, UK.

It has to meet surgeon requirements, and they vary slightly.

But the principles tend to be kind of consistent, right?

The wall must be in writing.

Are real walls like telling someone what you want to do in your deathbed?

Ain't going to work in most jurisdictions.

And they are only limited in extremely limited circumstances.

Sticking in writing is the clearest way for you to express.

This is what I want to happen.

The documents or the wall must be signed by you.

You're called the test data, the person making the wall.

And you need to sign that at the end.

And the wall must be witnessed.

Other people need to see you actually signing the wall.

Now, in most jurisdictions, you need two witnesses who are present at the same time when you sign.

And here's a critical point.

Your witnesses can't be beneficiaries under the wall.

It sort of defeats the point, in a sense.

If your beneficiary actually witnesses your wall, in some places,

their gift to that beneficiary becomes void.

So, do yourself favor.

If you're going to do a wall, make sure that people are actually independent.

They're going to skin in the game.

The test data must have testamentary capacity.

That's another requirement.

And it's just another way of saying, you must be of sound mind when you make the wall.

You must understand the nature of making a wall, the extent of your assets,

and the claims of those who might expect to benefit.

You need to make your wall when you're healthy and clear-headed, not when you're ill,

not when you're mentally compromised.

You need to have an understanding of what the consequences are of what you're doing.

And that's just one of the requirements.

And then, finally, you should not be under undue influence.

If someone's pressuring you into making a wall, then there will be the assumption

that it doesn't reflect your true wishes, and the wall can be challenged.

So, you need to be able to have a valid wall.

You'll need to ensure that you're doing so voluntarily.

There's no undue influence.

Now, I will say there are some jurisdictions in the US that recognize, so-called,

holographic walls.

They are entirely handwritten, signed by the test data without witnesses.

Some say it's allowed to use others.

Don't take the risk, okay?

They're always susceptible to challenge, and I would never recommend or rely on one.

That's just high level.

All right, so those are the elements of a valid wall.

Let's talk now about specific gifts versus the residuary estate.

Now, I'll spend a moment just on how you leave things to people

because this is actually quite important.

It matters more than what a lot of people think.

So, when you make a wall, you can leave specific gifts like

I leave my 1983 Bordeaux blend to my nephew, Tom.

Or you can leave things as part of the residuary estate.

Everything else I own, after debts and specific gifts,

goes to my partner, Dorothy, for example.

The residuary estate is a catch-all.

It is everything that isn't specifically gifted.

And it's important because it's where a lot of your wealth might end up.

And here's just an example that I've heard of.

Don't know the individual's concerned.

Let's say you wrote this wall in 2020,

made a specific gift and you like,

I give my brother or my Bitcoin.

And at the time, it's like $10,000.

By the time you die, and it says, 2040,

that's Bitcoin could be worth $10 million.

Meanwhile, your residuary estate,

which goes to your partner, could be worth like a tenth of that.

Is that what you intended? Probably not.

But it's what your wall says.

So you need to think this stuff through.

Alternatively, imagine if you leave your Bitcoin as part of the residuary estate

and you also have significant debts,

then your executive has to pay the debts from the residuary estate.

Which is not what you really wanted.

You wanted this thing to be preserved and passed on intact.

So these are the kind of nuances that apply.

And if you've got specific requirements,

or you think that your situation is quite complex,

you might want to talk to a lawyer.

And they'll help you through these things.

Next, a wall will address guardianship.

Now, I want to spend a little time on that because parents

for the parents are there.

This is the most emotionally significant part of any wall.

If you've got minor children,

that is kids under the age of 18 here in Australia.

And you die without appointing a guardian.

A court will decide who raises them.

That court will apply a sort of best interest

of the child type of standard, which sounds reassuring.

But in practice, it means a judge

who doesn't know you, doesn't know your family,

will make a decision based on extremely limited information.

So that's not great.

This is really completely avoidable.

In your wall, you can nominate a guardian, as I've said,

and the person you want to raise your children

if both your parents are gone.

This nomination is not automatically binding on the court,

but it carries a ton of weight.

And they generally respect the wishes of a deceased parent,

unless there is a really compelling reason not to.

So think carefully about this.

It's not just about who loves your kids the most.

It's about who shares your values,

who has the capacity financially, emotionally, practically,

to take on the responsibility of another child or children,

who lives in a location that would minimize disruption

to your children's lives.

And critically, have you actually asked them,

don't just nominate someone without having a real conversation.

And for Bitcoin, just think about this.

If you want your children to inherit Bitcoin

and you appoint a guardian,

what actually happens to their inheritance?

This is why the choice of guardian and the structure of any trust

for your child's inheritance should probably be considered together.

So moving on from guardianship,

let's talk about this now.

How often should you be looking to review your will?

Well, the general rule of thumb is every three to five years,

or after any major life event.

And this would be like a marriage, divorce,

the birth or adoption of a child,

the death of a beneficiary, or executor,

or a significant change in your financial situation.

And yes, I mean, that would include your Bitcoin holdings.

Moving to a different country,

or acquiring different assets and different jurisdictions.

These are the kind of things that would necessitate a change

when it comes to your will.

So it's not a set and forget thing.

That's the most important thing.

You can do it in a document.

And if you've got a will that is out of date,

it can create just as many problems as no will at all.

Just something to bear in mind.

Next, I want to move on to something called probate.

This is what people have turned the gateway to your legacy.

Now, it's a word that strikes fear into the hearts of many families

everywhere. And honestly, I get it.

But it's not as terrifying as people make it out to be.

It is and why it exists.

So probate is a court supervised process that validates your will.

And it gives you exactly the legal authority to administer your state.

It just says it's a process that effectively confirms

what you are actually wanting to happen.

This is valid.

Yep, this is right.

This is the person who's going to administer it.

Yep, yep, yep.

That's really what the process is.

Because your assets don't automatically transfer to anyone.

They need to be like legal mechanism to confirm that.

Yes, your walls genuine.

That you had the capacity.

It has been revoked.

And that the person claiming to be executive actually has the authority.

And that's the only way we can establish it by engaging in probate.

And that's the mechanism.

Now, the process varies by jurisdiction.

But in general terms, this is hard works.

Your executive goes through a relevant court or a probate registry in Australia.

Typically, the Supreme Court of the relevant state in the US.

It's the probate courts in the county where you lived in Canada.

It's the provincial courts for the grants of probate.

And the application would involve the original will.

A death certificate confirming that you actually did now.

An inventory of the estate's assets and liabilities.

And whatever the prescribed forms and effort, David's they haven't.

It's the state.

So there will be a million different forms in effort.

It's unavoidable.

The court then looks at the application.

If everything's in order, they'll issue a grant of probate.

And they'll go, yep, this is here it is.

It's a document officially recognizing that, yep, the walls valid.

And yep, the executive has the legal authority act.

Boom.

Then the executive uses that grant to deal with the estate's assets.

Close bank accounts, sell or transfer property, pay debts.

And then distributing the state to the beneficiaries.

Now, probate can be a complete penny in the US.

Or it can be a slight penny in the US.

It really depends where you live.

In straightforward cases, it can be granted in a few weeks to a few months.

It's complex.

You've got a contested will.

Complex asset structures, international assets, missing beneficiaries.

It can just absolutely take years.

And during their time, the executive generally cannot distribute the estate.

Our assets are frozen, beneficiaries are waiting.

And if the estate includes Bitcoin, that needs to be managed.

You know, move to secure wallets.

Or it could even be used to sort to pay debts.

Which is not ideal.

So when do you not need it?

There are a couple situations.

Some jurisdictions have a threshold where there's a simplified process.

And it's not needed at all.

If you've got its tiniest state, hopefully as a bit corner,

you won't have a tiniest state, at least in the future.

For assets that are held in joint tenancy, as I mentioned earlier,

these go direct to the surviving joint tenants without probate.

So a lot of people who want to avoid the whole process of probate

have everything owned in joint tenancy, just to make things simple.

Assets with direct beneficiary designations,

things like superannuation or life insurance or retirement accounts.

These pass outside of the estate and don't require probate.

And then assets held in a trust.

These are owned by the trust, but not by you.

So they don't form part of your state and don't go through probate.

There's a nuance there.

There's a lot of details.

You might have a company that is acting as trustee for the trust.

Or you might have individuals.

This is where things get a little bit tricky.

This is where getting some specific advice

is certainly recommended.

By the way, if you live in the US,

I know that a lot of people like to have these reverkable living trust

to avoid probate entirely because in places like California and New York,

it's an absolute nightmare.

And it's one of the reasons why folks in the US use it so extensively.

But that's really kind of when probate is not required.

Next, I want to dive on to the question of an executive.

As I mentioned, your personal representative, your state trustee,

your executive.

It's a very important appointment.

And it's probably one of the most important decisions you can make in your wall.

More so than necessarily if you get what?

Because they're going to make it all happen.

Or they're not.

I am aware of situations where the executives in capacity

can't make it happen.

Then we need to.

And there's no provision in the wall for an alternate executive.

All avoidable.

So what do they actually do?

They administer a state.

It's that simple.

It sounds simple.

But it's often pretty painful.

So they've got to go to locations to care assets.

They've got to go find everything you own, bank accounts, investment accounts,

property, vehicles, personal possessions.

And yes, Bitcoin.

So they've got to go and contact all these institutions.

It's a lot of detective work.

They obtain probate, as we say, said earlier.

So like the executive applies for a grant of probate.

You've got to get all the legal docs together dealing with the court.

Maybe you have to work with the lawyer if your executive is not a lawyer.

And then the executive has to notify banks and government agencies and super funds

and insurance companies and emails to knows about the death.

Who needs to know about the death?

And then you've got to pay all the debts and my buddies before any money goes

to the beneficiaries.

The executive has to take stock of what the deceased had.

And they have to pay all the debts, mortgages, credit cards, personal loans, tax liabilities.

Definitely tax liabilities, funeral expenses.

The executive is generally personally responsible for ensuring that this is done properly.

And if they distribute the estate to the beneficiaries and then discover some sort of unpaid debt,

they could be personally liable.

So select wisely.

They are also responsible for managing the assets during administration, which can be months or years.

And so if there's a property, they need to maintain it.

If there's investments, they need to manage them.

And if there's Bitcoin, they need to make sure that it's secure.

And then they also have to deal with tax.

So your executive has to file the deceased final tax return.

And in some places, separate estate tax return.

This can be pretty complex, particularly the state involves assets that have appreciated significantly,

aka Bitcoin.

And then of course, they could distribute the estate.

Now, after all the debts are paid and all the legal requirements are made to the executive,

then distributes the estate to the beneficiaries according to the wall.

So in a straightforward estate, it could be three, six, 12 months in a complex state,

multiple jurisdictions, contested walls, tax issues, two, five, even 10, 12 years.

I mean, South Africa is particularly inefficient, but we've got two family members who took 10 and 12 years,

respectively, for their estates to be finalized, partially due to their own failings,

but also partially due to the bureaucracy.

And during that time, the executive is fully responsible for their estate.

People often wonder, does the executive get paid?

In most places, yes, they're entitled to reasonable remuneration.

Sometimes it's a fixed fee, sometimes it's a percentage of the estate.

That's what a lot of lawyers like to do and charge that.

Family members don't tend to charge, but they should know that in complex estates, they probably should,

but that's entirely up to you.

It's worth providing for in your will whether or not you want your executive to be paid

and how that actually should be paid fixed or percentage-based, whatever you're comfortable with,

you also don't want to get into a fight where the perception is that you as the executive

are exploiting your position and your benefits are going to hold on.

Those fees are exorbitant and you go, no, no, no, they've been agreed.

So there are some risks and liabilities attached to being an executive.

They can be personally liable if they distribute their estate before paying all debts, as I said earlier,

if they make bad investment decisions that result in losses to their estates,

if they don't file tax returns, if they do things in a way to benefit themselves

at the expense of the beneficiaries, those are all problems.

And I'll tell you about a quick story, a side note.

The names have been changed, obviously, but an overt individual who died leaving a moderately complex estate,

his brother was the executive, a good guy, one intentioner, but no financial legal background.

He didn't know that he had to actually advertise for creditors before distributing the estate,

which is the standard step in most jurisdictions.

He just distributed the estate to the beneficiaries six months later,

credits came knocking and said, hey, you know, I mean, like 40 grand,

the beneficiaries had already spent their money, and so the executive was liable for 40 grand.

It's a real risk.

So make sure when you're picking your executive, that they actually understand what they're doing,

because it's incredibly important.

So what do you want from an executive integrity?

Obviously, that's non-negotiable organization.

It's very paperwork, heavy, detailed, orientated.

You want to avoid someone who just is very anti-admin.

Availability at obviously takes time, and they need the time and the capacity to be able to actually do the work.

Emotional resilience, so they might need to be able to separate their grief from actionable administrative responsibilities.

So you may or may not want to appoint somebody who has more skin in the game than a disinterested third party, let's say.

If you've got a family member who's your executive, it might be really hard for them to juggle being an executive and somebody who's just trying to get over the grief.

You obviously want someone who's financially and legally literate, not necessarily loyal accountant, but someone who can deal with that stuff.

And then, and this is the Bitcoin piece.

You need someone who's technologically literate or technically literate.

They need to understand at the very basic level, like, well, that you got Bitcoin, what it is, what they need to protect, etc.

Because you cannot appoint someone who's completely disinterested or clueless about the asset class.

But if you have got someone who's completely clueless or disinterested, there is another way.

You can compel them to engage with a Bitcoin specialist so that they can lean on those individuals to execute the technical aspects of your estate plan.

So that is a way you can get around it.

If you're the sole Bitcoin in your family, you don't have a million people you want to trust, and you don't want to outsource this responsibility to some sort of lawyer or third party who doesn't have skin in the game.

What you might want to do is say, okay, I'm going to appoint somebody who could be for lack of a better term, my digital, digital asset advisor.

And that person can actually go ahead and assist my executive with anything that's technical.

Bitcoin is a digital bare asset, meaning if you live in an exchange, it's not yours. It's just an idea of you.

And what's the point of that?

And self-carsity Bitcoin is a superpower, but with great power comes great responsibility.

And that's where Bitcoin mental comes in.

Whether you wanted to move coins off an exchange, set up a multi-sig, or you just want to improve your privacy.

Our team has the skills and experience to get it done right.

If you're interested, book a free no-obligation discovery session with me to explore how we can support your Bitcoin journey.

The link is in the show notes now, back to the show.

So we've been talking a lot about death, but I want to talk about something that actually is more likely, statistically, and that is incapacity.

So people have strokes, they have accidents, they can get things like dementia, it happens all the time.

And that's where you need something called a power of attorney.

And, you know, a wall is generally worthless while you're alive.

And the sense that it only takes effect when you die, but if you're incapacitated while alive, you also need different documents.

So people often talk about getting a power of attorney in conjunction with putting together a wall.

It's a legal document that just gives another person a authority to act on your behalf.

There are different types, the terminology varies by jurisdiction, but you've got like a general power of attorney, which enables them to act poorly on your behalf.

And it would basically lapse if you lose mental capacity, and you use it for specific situations.

An enduring power of attorney is one of which continues to be valid, even if you lose mental capacity.

In Australia, it's called an enduring power of attorney, but a durable power of attorney in the US and a continuing power of attorney Canada, same concept, different names.

You can also get financial and medical powers of attorney.

Obviously, the financial side authorizes this individual to manage your financial affairs, pay your bills, manage your bank accounts, deal with investments.

And yes, Bitcoin, and then this medical health directives, which says, you have the ability to make decisions on behalf of someone else if they can't make it themselves.

They can call it like advanced health directives, the loving wall, healthcare proxy.

There's a number of different ways of framing this, but fundamentally it's if individuals fundamentally incapacitated due to medical reasons, and they can't make a decision about their body, treatment, surgery, medication, etc.

So, why does it matter? Well, let's just consider a situation.

You have an individual, she's 45, she has a financial power of attorney in favor of her husband.

She also has an advanced health directive that specifies her wishes about medical treatment.

She suffers a stroke, she's alive, but she can't now communicate or make joint decisions.

Because of that financial power of attorney, her partner Mark can immediately access their joint accounts, pay the mortgage, manage the investments, deal with the super fund, keep the lights on, keep the household running.

And you can pay for her rehab.

And because of the advanced health directive, the medical team knows her wishes about treatment, and he doesn't have to make that agonizing decision kind of in her vacuum without her input, he has guidance.

Now, if she doesn't have that document, he'd have to go to courts or tribunal for guardianship and administration orders in their weeks and months.

And during that period, he has limited ability to access her accounts, he can't sell assets to pay for her care, he can't make financial decisions.

He's just in like this horrific legal number while dealing with obviously the emotional devastation of a stroke.

So, these are the kinds of things to think through.

And there is no right answer, but it's something that I strongly urge you to think through.

Alright, so next, I want to talk about trusts.

This is where a state planning gets a lot more complex and sophisticated, and the issues potentially multiply.

So, this is not something that you want to navigate necessarily on your own.

A trust is defined as a legal relationship in which one person, the trustee, holds assets for the benefit of another person or persons, the beneficiaries.

So, the person who creates the trust is called a settler, or in some jurisdictions, the grantor or the trustor.

Think of a trust as this legal container.

You chuck your assets into the container, and then the trustee manages those assets in the container,

according to the rules that you've set, and the beneficiaries receive the benefit of those assets.

The key takeaway is that the assets in the trust are not owned by the trustee individually,

and they're not owned by the beneficiaries directly, they're owned by the trust.

And this has significant implications for as-protection, tax planning, and estate planning.

So, there's two main types of trusts in a state planning.

And this is for informational purposes, educational purposes.

This is where things get pretty complex, so bear with.

A testamentary trust is one that is created by your will.

It doesn't exist while you're alive, but it only is birthed when you die, as part of the administration of your state.

And why would you use that?

If you leave assets directly to children under the age of 18,

those assets have to be managed by a trustee until the child reaches adulthood.

And a testamentary trust gives you control over who that trustee is, not the state of points trustee.

The other reason people do it is for tax efficiency,

because in Australia, testamentary trusts have a lot of advantages.

Income distributed from that trust to minor beneficiaries is taxed at the adult marginal tax rate,

rather than the punitive kitty tax rules that applies to other trust income.

And so this can result in some significant tax savings over the life of the trust.

And it's also for asset protection, because assets held in a testamentary trust are generally protected from the beneficiaries' creditors,

and from claims by a beneficiary's future expanse.

So if you leave, say, $500,000 directly to adult child and they go through a divorce five years later,

that inheritance might be considered a matrimonial asset.

But if it's held in a trust, it's much better protected.

So that's another benefit there.

And lastly, it's for vulnerable beneficiaries.

If a beneficiary has like a disability or substance abuse problem or is otherwise just vulnerable,

a testamentary trust allows you to provide for them without giving them control over a large amount of money.

And that's something a lot of people want to think about when it comes to Bitcoin.

We might not have that amount of Bitcoin right now that it's warranted, but in the future,

you certainly might not want to have anyone, any of your beneficiaries just inherit a giant win form.

So you want to think about this one.

The second type of trust, so we've got the testamentary trust.

And then you've got these trust called living trust or intervivos trust as they like to call them in law.

And that's created during your lifetime.

And so what you do is you transfer assets into the trust now,

and the trust holds them according to the rules of the game that you've set in the US.

The Revocable Living Trust is probably one of the most commonly used estate planning tools to avoid probate, as I said earlier.

In Australian Canada, they less used for probate avoidance, but more for as protection and tax planning.

So it sounds like trusts are great, but I'm telling you they generally can be oversold.

Like if you've got a simple estate, a home, some savings, some Bitcoin, a super fund,

and you want everything to go to your partner and your kids, then you don't need a trust in all probability.

You just need a well-drafted wall with appropriate beneficiary designations.

Trusts add complexity. They create ongoing administrative requirements.

They cost money to set up and maintain.

And if you don't do it properly, they can create a lot more issues than they solve.

But my rule of thumb would be, again, not advice, obviously.

But consider a trust if you've got minor children or significant assets, very complex family circumstances,

or you've got some specific asset protection concerns.

That's when you go and talk to a lawyer.

And you see, do the benefits actually justify the costs relative to your circumstances?

The next part I want to touch on is really the question of how assets pass on a death.

It's one of the most misunderstood aspects of estate planning.

Not all assets pass through your wall.

In fact, for many people, the majority of their wealth passes outside their wall entirely.

So I'll talk you through the main mechanisms.

There are assets that are only your name alone without a beneficiary designation or joint ownership structure,

bank accounts in your own name, investment accounts in your own name,

personal property, cars, furniture, jewelry, art, real estate, and Bitcoin in your own name.

They're a part of your estate.

They are distributed according to your will.

And if you don't have a will, the state will decide how it's distributed.

Then there are assets, subjects of joint tenancy or tenants in common.

And it's pretty important to understand the difference.

The main tenancy is that you and your co-owner each own the whole property together.

And when one of you dies, the surviving owner automatically inherits the deceased share.

This is called right of survivorship.

The wall has no say in that matter.

The property doesn't go through probate.

It goes straight to the surviving joint tenant.

But contrast, you have to be called tenants in common.

Where you and your co-owner each have a defined share of the property,

generally 50-50, but you can make it in any proportion.

And when one of you dies, your share forms part of your estate and passes according to your will.

It does not automatically go to the surviving co-owner.

So that's quite important.

Just to give you a little bit of color, imagine you have a property as tenants in common.

That's the latter I spoke about with your business partner.

You die and your wall leaves everything to your spouse.

Your spouse now owns 50% of the property.

And as a co-owner with your business partner, that might not be what you intended.

Or what about a situation where your owner property as joints tenants with your partner?

You die.

The property automatically passes to your partner.

But your wall leaves specific gifts to your children from a previous relationship.

Those gifts have come, have to come from the rest of your state,

which might not be sufficient at the end of the day.

So the structure of your property ownership,

and typically your primary residence, at least here in Australia and probably elsewhere,

where it makes up 60, 70% of an individual's net worth.

Maybe not big coiners, but certainly average people.

It's something that you need to think through quite carefully.

Another thing I'll mention here is beneficiary designations.

In terms of transferring of assets.

In Australia, your superannuation fund is not part of your state.

It's held in a trust by the fund trustee.

And it passes according to your nomination, not the will.

And so in the context of a self-managed super fund,

what you're probably going to want here is a valid binding nomination.

So that your trustee will distribute it according to your wishes.

In the US, you have a 401k, an IRA, and life policies.

They all just go to your beneficiary designation.

And in Canada, your RRSP, your RRIF, and your TFSA,

can all have name beneficiaries.

And these just override your will.

What about digital assets and digital presence?

Well, this is kind of the frontier of state planning.

And it's an area where I think they're all still probably going to catch up to reality.

So what happens to email accounts when you dial your social media profiles,

your storage, your online subscriptions, your banking,

what about your exchange accounts?

The answer varies by these platforms, by jurisdictions,

but the news is not great.

They generally the terms of service of all of them

don't just allow you to just seamlessly transfer.

It might be inaccessible.

If you don't have the credentials, you might not be able to get in.

Some have introduced like legacy contacts.

Google, Facebook, Apple have versions of this, but they limited.

And so you're really going to be subject to the terms of service of the exchange.

And so, you know, this is something you need to think through.

When it comes to state planning is what happens to all these other digital assets.

Never mind your Bitcoin, obviously.

The Bitcoin is, that's a self evident problem.

You need to ensure that your loved ones can actually access your Bitcoin.

In self custody when you're no longer there, but what about everything else?

You've got to come up with a strategy to make this as simple as possible for your executive.

All right, so those are some of the big picture concerns.

I've zoomed right the hell out.

I've spoken a lot about a state planning in general,

mentioned Bitcoin here and there.

But let's just talk some specifics about Bitcoin in a state planning.

And I'm just going to make some sort of blanket statements.

The properties that make Bitcoin valuable self custody, censorship, persistence,

permissionlessness, irreversibility, final settlement, et cetera.

They're all the same properties that make it dangerous from an estate planning perspective.

So just think through that for a second.

Bitcoin's valuable because no one can take your keys from you without your permission.

But it also means that no one can access it without your keys, including your family, if you're gone.

Bitcoin's valuable because transactions are immutable, full and final settlement, they're irreversible.

But it also means mistakes are irreversible, including mistakes leading to the loss of access to your Bitcoin.

And it's valuable because there's permissionless, no one controls it.

But then there's no one to call something goes completely pear-shaped.

From what I can tell, there's sort of three significant failure modes that it's Bitcoin estate planning generally falls into.

The first is kind of no one knows exists.

You've been great at maintaining op-sec, but you haven't told anyone about it.

Whether it's in a hardware wallet or wherever it might be, it's entirely self-inflicted and avoidable.

The next is that people know that your Bitcoin exists, but they can't access it.

So they knew there was a hardware wallet, but they didn't know where the backups were.

All they didn't know what the pin was to your hardware wallet.

A bit of a problem.

And then the third is, well, maybe they've got access to that all, but you haven't told them some of the basics to avoid.

You haven't educated them or told them who to speak to.

So they didn't know what they're doing.

They chuck the seed phrase into random fishing site.

They send the coins to a random address.

They fall for scams.

They wipe the device.

Whatever it might be, there's all sorts of things that can go wrong if people don't know what they're doing.

So those are like the three main things you want to really avoid.

You need to solve the access problem, which to me is probably the hardest part of Bitcoin to stay planning, but there's no single right answer.

You want to ensure that people can access it off your death, but not necessarily before.

So a couple of ways that people have done it and that I've spoken with.

So you can use the sealed envelope method.

So you're right down your seed phrases and stored in a sealed envelope with your wall safety deposit box that your executive access to.

Simple, but it means your seed phrase is accessible to anyone who can access the envelope, including you.

While you're alive, then there's the split information method.

You can split the information needed to access your Bitcoin across multiple trusted people or locations.

Like your executive has the seed phrase, but your lawyer has the past phrase or whatever need that can access the coins alone.

There's complexity, but additional security.

And then there's the multi-seg option.

You've got a multi-seg set to have three.

You've got one key.

Family members got another and then there's a professional custodian.

All lawyers got the third off to your death.

The family member that custodian can just access the coins without needing your key is probably the most elegant solution.

Like multi-seg, I'm a big fan of multi-seg. It just helps me see it tonight.

Again, there's no perfect solution here.

There are just trade-offs in here.

Simplicity is fantastic, but introduces issues and then complexity can protect your Bitcoin.

But then it also creates more failure mode.

So at the end of the day, you've got to do what's best for you.

And everyone needs to make their decision themselves.

Remember, your Bitcoin is not going to pass unless they can actually access your Bitcoin.

And so something that people need to do is educate their executive.

They need to know how to avoid catastrophic mistakes.

Even if your instructions are like, hey, once you get this Bitcoin, don't do anything with it.

You need to speak to a professional.

And then what I've done and what I know a lot of people have done is point a Bitcoin literate advisor.

Someone who is actually like a custody specialist, someone who is a technical friend, someone who they know they can trust.

And so perhaps you want two of these people so they can get together in a room together.

And so that there isn't this appearance of conspiring to take your coins or anything like that.

There needs to be this complete and utter transparency that I've got two people in the room in the event of my death.

That are going to talk through what we've got and how we can go about moving it.

Something I'm fully aware of is the opposite paradox because I know it's probably, you know, top of your mind.

So you're thinking like there's this tension between good opposite and a good estate planning.

Good optics is don't tell anyone about your Bitcoin.

Keep your holdings private. Don't create paper trails.

Don't trust their bodies, blah, blah, blah.

Good estate planning goes your executive needs to know about your Bitcoin.

You need to document your setup.

You need to trust someone with access information.

And they obviously in conflict and there's no perfect resolution.

But she says I tend to think about it.

Opsick is more about protecting your Bitcoin from adversaries while alive.

But estate planning is about protecting your Bitcoin for your family after you're dead.

These are different problems with different solutions.

The goal is ultimately to find a setup that provides adequate security while you're alive.

And adequate accessibility after you're dead.

And this might mean keeping your Bitcoin holdings private from the general public.

But documenting them for your executive in a secure controlled way.

Or using a multi-sec as I said, big fan of them.

Multiple parties need to cooperate.

No single person as you need lateral access.

But they can access it off your death.

Or you can just use a trusted professional Bitcoin.

Literate lawyer or custody specialist as part of your key management setup.

So there's actually a professional with legal obligations involved.

There's no one size fits all.

But the worst answer is to do nothing.

Because if you're too focused on Opsick, you know what happens.

You're not going to pass your Bitcoin.

And so as we start drawing towards the end of today's episode.

I want to talk just through some of the common mistakes that I've seen.

I've heard.

And the beginning is just referring to what I was saying initially.

The secret Bitcoiner.

You've been so focused on Opsick.

Nobody knows about your Bitcoin and you die.

And your family struggles financially while your Bitcoin sits in a hardware wallet.

That's nobody knows about.

And your family's financial security off to your death is much more important in my view than your operational security while you're alive.

So find a way to document your Bitcoin holdings for a state plan.

Even if you want to keep them private from everyone else.

Another mistake is obviously having outdated beneficiary designations.

You know, whether it's a superannuation life insurance with time and account beneficiary designations or separate.

Then it's been reviewed and updated.

Particularly after major life events, marriage to all children, etc.

Another mistake I see or I've heard a lot about is particularly on these digital accounts and login credentials like everything from your social media possibly manage all these things like.

They're almost as important as your Bitcoin seed phrase in a sense that they they will make your executives life so much easier now all of these need to be addressed in your state plan.

Not necessarily in your will obviously don't saw your bloody seed phrase in a wall.

But you've got to figure out a secure document a way to get your executive to have access to that information.

You can create a digital asset memorandum or something like that, a separate document storing all that information.

And you can update it from time to time and send it to exactly so they know what's what they know how to access the stuff just makes their job infinitely easier.

And the last mistake is essentially making always state of treasure hunt.

I've seen this movie too many times that you try to be too clever about security.

You create a system so complicated that no one can figure out you leave clues all over the show.

You've got passwords splits across multiple documents at different locations.

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack your family's grieving they're going to be stressed they're going to be dealing with a hundred issues at once.

Don't make them solve a goddamn puzzle to access your Bitcoin.

No, you really want simplicity and clarity.

The goal is to make things as easy as possible for people you leave behind.

And you need to maintain adequate security today and get it.

But if your system is so complex that a competent and motivated person couldn't figure out what the hell's going on in a reasonable time, then it's way too complex.

So I've covered a ton of ground today.

Wheels, probates, executives, piles of turning your trusts.

Some Bitcoin is state planning stuff, common mistakes.

And I think I just want to close with something that I think is at the heart of everything we discuss.

We talk about Bitcoin as a tool for financial sovereignty, for freedom, for generational wealth, for opting out of a system that continues to fail.

Ordinary people.

But sovereignty is not just about accumulation, it's about stewardship, it's about responsibility, person responsibility, not just for yours, but also for future generations benefit.

I hope you've found this monologue of sorts somewhat valuable.

The goal here was to just provide some high level education on some of the concerns and things you should be thinking through when it comes to a Bitcoin estate plan.

Of course, no single monologue can cover it all.

But I hope I've given you enough things to think about.

As I mentioned from the outset, I had intended to talk with the lawyer about these things.

I found out that I was busy building something that they didn't necessarily align with and they quickly pulled the pin, which perhaps that's a good thing.

Just suggest that we are very, very early.

Anyway, stay tuned for some updates and announcements in the near future regarding what I've been building.

Really excited to bring it to you guys.

And until next time, keep it clean.

Stay sovereign.

And for God's sake, keep stacking sets.

These prices are a gift, particularly if you've got a 10-year horizon.

Peace.

Alright friends, that's all for today.

I hope you enjoyed the episode.

And as always, I really do appreciate your support sincerely in the fall to me.

If you've got any feedback at the update, contact at www.wobison.com

Until next time, keep stacking sets, keep hot lane, and I will see you soon.

Thanks for watching.