Do You Need to Include Digital Assets in Your Will in Canada? (2026)

Yes — and if you skip it, your executor may have no legal authority to access accounts worth thousands of dollars. Canadian law still has no single federal statute governing digital asset succession, which means your executor's ability to log in to a cryptocurrency exchange, retrieve files from cloud storage, or transfer an NFT depends heavily on the province you live in and what your will actually says.

What counts as a digital asset

The term covers more ground than most people expect. Cryptocurrency holdings — Bitcoin, Ethereum, and tokens held on exchanges like Wealthsimple Crypto or Coinbase — are the obvious category. But the list also includes domain names, online business accounts with revenue, PayPal and Wise balances, gaming accounts with real-money value, subscription services still carrying credit, digital photo archives, and non-fungible tokens.

Social media accounts are a separate matter. Facebook's "Memorialization" policy and Google's "Inactive Account Manager" operate independently of provincial estate law, and most platforms deny any obligation to follow a will's instructions absent their own internal process.

Why your executor cannot simply "log in"

Executor authority over physical property is well-established in Canadian common-law provinces under the Administration of Estates Act equivalents. Digital accounts are different. The terms of service for most platforms bind only the original account holder and prohibit password sharing or transfer. An executor who accesses a deceased person's account without explicit platform authorization could technically face liability under the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46, section 342.1, which deals with unauthorized use of a computer.

Without a valid legal framework giving the executor access rights, platforms are not required to cooperate — and some refuse outright.

Which provinces have fiduciary access legislation

Three provinces have addressed this gap directly:

Saskatchewan was the first province to act, enacting the Fiduciaries Access to Digital Information Act, S.S. 2020, c. 6, which came into force in 2020. The Act allows fiduciaries — including estate trustees, agents under a power of attorney, and trustees — to access digital assets if the account holder granted access in a will, power of attorney, or trust, or if a court orders it. Custodians (platforms) must comply with a properly served request.

New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have also enacted legislation based on the Uniform Access to Digital Assets by Fiduciaries Act, with PEI's Access to Digital Assets Act proclaimed in January 2022. These statutes follow the same framework: the fiduciary must provide a copy of the legal instrument granting authority, certified proof of the account holder's death, and a written request specifying the assets sought.

Alberta and British Columbia had not enacted standalone fiduciary-access legislation as of 2026. The Alberta Law Reform Institute published a report in 2024 recommending that Alberta adopt similar legislation, but no statute had been enacted at that date. Executors in those provinces, as well as Ontario and most other jurisdictions, operate without a clear statutory basis and must typically negotiate with platforms individually or seek a court order.

Ontario does not have standalone fiduciary-access legislation. An executor can rely on the Substitute Decisions Act, 1992, S.O. 1992, c. 30 for powers of attorney and on common-law trustee duties for wills, but without a specific statute Ontario executors typically must negotiate platform by platform or seek a court order.

What your will needs to say

A generic bequest of "all my personal property" does not reliably capture digital assets. Courts interpreting older wills have sometimes excluded purely digital property from broad catch-all clauses, particularly where no monetary value is apparent at the time of death.

A properly drafted will should do four things:

Name digital assets specifically. List categories — cryptocurrency wallets, domain names, online accounts with monetary value — and state explicitly that they pass to a named beneficiary or form part of the residue.

Authorize executor access. Include a clause that authorizes your executor to access, manage, and transfer any digital asset you own, including the right to request access from third-party custodians under applicable provincial legislation.

Reference a separate access document. Do not put passwords, seed phrases, or private keys directly into the will — it becomes a public document on probate. Instead, direct the executor to a secure, separately maintained document such as an encrypted file or a physical envelope held by a notary. The will should state that the executor "is authorized to use access credentials stored in a separate memorandum, the location of which is known to the executor."

Appoint a digitally competent executor. If your estate includes significant cryptocurrency holdings, consider whether your chosen executor actually knows how to use a hardware wallet or navigate an exchange's estate-claim process. A technically inexperienced executor can lose assets permanently by sending funds to an incorrect address or missing an exchange's 90-day claim window.

Cryptocurrency: the self-custody problem

Exchange-held cryptocurrency — coins sitting in a Coinbase or Kraken account — follows the platform's own estate procedure and usually requires a death certificate, probate grant, and completed estate claim form. Most major exchanges have a documented process, though timelines vary from weeks to months.

Self-custody cryptocurrency, where the only access mechanism is a seed phrase or hardware device, is categorically different. If the executor cannot locate the private key, the assets are permanently inaccessible. No statute can recover coins from a wallet when the seed phrase is lost. Fiduciary-access legislation in provinces like Saskatchewan grants the executor the right to request information from custodians — it cannot restore access to a self-custody wallet without the key material.

For this reason, many estate lawyers in Canada now recommend a "digital vault" approach: a sealed, notarized envelope containing seed phrases and hardware wallet recovery codes, stored separately from the will and updated whenever accounts change. Forms-legal.com provides a free digital assets will template for Canada that includes the authorization language and executor-access provisions described above.

NFTs and domain names

NFTs recorded on public blockchains follow the same private-key problem as self-custody cryptocurrency. The NFT can be transferred by anyone who controls the associated wallet — ownership evidence on the blockchain alone does not prevent permanent loss if access credentials are missing.

Domain names registered through Canadian or international registrars are typically governed by the registrar's own transfer-on-death or estate procedures. The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has a published process for transferring .ca domain names on the death of a registrant. Premium domain names can carry substantial value, and a failure to notify the registrar within renewal windows can result in the domain expiring without the estate's awareness.

Online businesses and subscription accounts

A Canada Revenue Agency reassessment can sometimes surface digital business assets the executor did not know existed. Revenue-generating accounts — Etsy shops, Amazon Seller accounts, Substack subscriptions, YouTube monetization — each carry their own transfer policies. Most prohibit outright transfer of the account itself; the practical outcome is often a wind-down and withdrawal of any remaining balance. The will should explicitly authorize the executor to wind down such accounts and recover balances within the relevant platform's claim period.

Subscription services carrying prepaid credits (app stores, cloud storage, e-book libraries) are generally non-transferable under their terms of service. The executor's focus should be on identifying and cancelling them to stop ongoing charges from eroding the estate.

Steps to take now

1. List every digital asset with meaningful monetary or sentimental value. Check cryptocurrency exchange accounts, domain registrars, and any platform where you hold a balance.

1. Review your current will. If it predates 2020, it almost certainly lacks explicit digital-asset language.

1. Prepare a separate access document — sealed and stored securely — covering wallet addresses, exchange login instructions, and recovery codes. Update it when you change accounts.

1. If you live in Saskatchewan, PEI, or New Brunswick, confirm your will includes the authorization language required by your province's fiduciary-access statute. If you live in Ontario, Alberta, BC, or another province without dedicated legislation, include a broad access clause authorizing the executor to deal with digital assets in any form and to request access from third-party custodians.

1. Discuss the practical mechanics with your chosen executor before you die, not after.

The short answer

Yes, you need to address digital assets in your will. The absence of federal legislation in Canada means province-specific rules apply, and in provinces without fiduciary-access statutes, your executor may be left guessing. The cost of adding explicit digital-asset provisions to an existing will is far lower than the cost of an estate that cannot recover a significant cryptocurrency holding because the executor had no legal authority to ask for access.