PRACTICAL SUPPORT FOR LIVE ESTATE MATTERS

Cryptocurrency & Digital Asset Probate Support

You’ve identified cryptocurrency or digital assets in an estate. Now you need to understand what may exist, what information matters, who has authority to act and what should happen next.

Plutus helps probate and private client professionals make sense of the digital-asset side of a live matter before unnecessary risks are taken.

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Plutus provides practical digital-asset support and education. We do not provide legal or tax advice, take custody or control of assets, bypass security or ask you to send private keys, seed phrases, passwords or recovery information.

WHEN SUPPORT MAY HELP

You don’t need to have solved the crypto problem before getting in touch

In many estates the first difficulty is simply working out what you are looking at. Support may be useful when:

The family says the deceased “had some crypto” but nobody knows where.

You have found an exchange account, wallet app or hardware device and are unsure what it tells you.

A family member knows a PIN or password but it is unclear whether they should use it.

Recovery words, private keys or other sensitive information have been found.

There may be several wallets, exchanges or different types of digital assets.

You need to understand what specialist input may be required before proceeding.

THE PRACTICAL ISSUE

Finding access information does not automatically answer the legal question

Digital assets can create a difficult mixture of technical access, ownership, evidence and legal authority. Keeping those issues separate helps avoid assumptions and potentially irreversible decisions.

What may exist?

Build a clearer picture of the possible holdings, platforms, wallets and digital-asset activity before jumping to conclusions.

Who may act?

Technical ability to unlock a device, exchange account or wallet is different from having legal authority to deal with the assets.

What must be protected?

Private keys, seed phrases and recovery information can effectively provide control over assets and require careful handling.

HOW PLUTUS CAN HELP

Understand the situation before deciding what to do next

The starting point is normally a high-level review of what is known, what has been found and which questions are still unanswered.

Clarify what you’re looking at

Make sense of unfamiliar terminology, wallet types, exchanges, devices, records and other digital-asset information found during estate administration.

Structure the fact-finding

Identify sensible questions and possible evidence sources without unnecessarily requesting or circulating sensitive access information.

Identify the next step

Work out whether the matter requires further practical investigation, or appropriate legal, tax, cyber-security, technical or other specialist input.

PRACTICAL SUPPORT CAN COVER

Helping you ask the right questions in the right order

Exchanges, wallets and different custody arrangements.
Possible sources of evidence about digital-asset holdings.
Devices, apps and records discovered within an estate.
Distinguishing access, ownership, control and authority.
Private keys, seed phrases and sensitive recovery information.
Questions to ask family members or other advisers.
Recognising when more specialist input is required.
Building a clearer picture of a complex digital-asset estate.

There are important limits to what Plutus does.

Plutus does not provide legal or tax advice, determine legal ownership, obtain probate, access wallets or exchange accounts on your behalf, bypass security controls or guarantee that cryptocurrency can be identified or recovered.

We do not ask you to send private keys, seed phrases, passwords, two-factor authentication codes or recovery information.

STARTING SAFELY

What to send — and what not to send

For an initial conversation, I normally need context rather than credentials. A short professional summary is enough to establish whether I may be able to help.

Useful for an initial enquiry

Your role in the matter.
The broad circumstances of the estate.
What type of digital asset or platform may be involved, if known.
What has already been identified at a high level.
The particular issue you are trying to understand.

Please don’t send initially

Seed phrases or recovery words.
Private keys.
Passwords or PINs.
Two-factor authentication codes.
Screenshots containing access credentials.
More personal client information than is necessary to explain the issue.

START WITH THE SITUATION YOU HAVE

You don’t need to know exactly what you’re dealing with

Send me a brief, non-sensitive outline of the situation, what has been found and where you’re currently stuck. That’s normally enough to work out whether practical digital-asset support may be useful and what the next step should be.

Ask about a probate matter Need a firm-wide process review instead?

RELATED SUPPORT

Looking beyond the current estate?

COMMON QUESTIONS

Probate support questions

Can Plutus recover cryptocurrency from a wallet or exchange?

Plutus does not operate as an asset-recovery service, access wallets or accounts on behalf of an estate, bypass security controls or guarantee recovery. The support is focused on helping professionals understand the digital-asset situation and identify appropriate next steps.

Can you tell us who legally owns the cryptocurrency?

No. Legal ownership and authority are legal questions. Plutus can help explain the practical digital-asset context and distinguish technical control or access from legal authority, but legal conclusions should be made by the appropriate legal professional.

What information should I send initially?

A short high-level professional summary is normally enough. Explain your role, what type of asset or platform may be involved, what has been found at a broad level and where you are currently stuck.

Do not send seed phrases, private keys, passwords, PINs, two-factor authentication codes or other access credentials.

We’ve found a seed phrase or private key. What should we do?

Treat it as highly sensitive information and avoid unnecessarily copying, photographing, emailing or sharing it. Do not send it to Plutus through the website or ordinary email. The appropriate next step will depend on the circumstances of the estate and the authority of the people involved.

Can you work with a solicitor, probate practitioner or will-writing firm?

Yes. Probate support is primarily designed to help professionals dealing with digital assets in a live estate matter. If the issue concerns your wider firm process rather than one estate, a consultancy review may be more appropriate.

What if we don’t know whether any cryptocurrency still exists?

That is often part of the problem. The first step may be to organise what is already known, understand potential evidence sources and decide which further questions are proportionate before assuming either that assets exist or that they do not.