Payment apps and platform balances
Identify balances, financial products and records that may be queried or withdrawn.
DIGITAL ESTATE & VIRTUAL ASSET SUCCESSION
What happens to online accounts, gaming assets and crypto after death?
Families usually know where to begin with a home or a bank account. Social accounts, gaming assets, creator income, cloud records, domains, exchange accounts and wallets are different: they may be unknown, inaccessible or governed by platform-specific rules. The first problem is often not how to inherit them, but how to establish what exists and who has authority to act.
WHAT MAY FORM PART OF A DIGITAL ESTATE
Not everything left online has the same legal character.
Some items hold transferable value, some accounts are tied to identity, and some records contain private information that should not automatically pass to family members.
Gaming accounts, items and points
Assess account rights, identity changes, valuation and permitted disposal.
Creator accounts, stores and domains
Address revenue rights, business value, content and continued operation.
Cloud files, photographs and private records
Separate material intended for family from personal and third-party privacy.
Bitcoin, USDT and wallets
Connect legal succession with keys, recovery records, hardware and multisignature control.
Overseas platforms and exchanges
Coordinate evidence, succession documents and platform procedures across borders.
A RECENT COURT DECISION
Can a mother inherit 87 gaming accounts?
In a Beijing Shijingshan District Court matter, the court treated the deceased player's rights to use 87 gaming accounts as inheritable virtual property and ordered the operator to assist with changing the verified identity. The decision is important, but it does not mean every account or every item of data transfers automatically. The nature of the right, the evidence and the platform procedure still matter.
PLAN DURING LIFE
Plan what should be preserved, protected and handed over while you can still decide.
- Create a digital-asset and account inventory
- Separate property, records and private material
- Identify intended recipients and contacts
- Record digital-estate instructions
- Coordinate wills and wider succession planning
- Design wallet and multisignature handover arrangements
- Distinguish unavailability, incapacity and death
- Review the inventory as accounts change
AFTER DEATH
Not knowing an account exists is different from knowing it exists but being unable to recover it.
- Identify likely platforms and assets
- Review relationship, will and authority documents
- Prepare platform enquiries and withdrawal requests
- Coordinate probate and court materials
- Communicate with gaming, payment, commerce and cloud providers
- Address exchange and on-chain assets
- Support valuation, division and permitted disposal
- Assess disputes when a platform refuses assistance
SECURITY & AUTHORITY
Sharing an asset map does not mean surrendering control.
Giving one person every password, private key and recovery phrase should not be the default. Access to information, authority to act and the conditions for handover should be separated and documented. We do not log in, delete, transfer or sell assets outside clear authority and an agreed scope.
WORKING TOGETHER
How the work begins
Initial discussion
Establish whether this is advance planning or administration after death.
Asset map
Identify accounts, assets, records and available evidence.
Plan
Set the route for storage, handover, enquiries, succession or disputes.
Engagement and action
Proceed under a written scope and maintain a record of key steps.
START A CONVERSATION
You do not need to disclose every password in the first conversation.
Tell us whether you are planning your own digital estate or dealing with accounts, wallets or balances left by a family member. We can begin by identifying what is known and what needs to be verified.