Inheritance Of Digital And Intangible Property: Where Does Your Crypto Wallet Go When You Die?
- IJLLR Journal
- 20 minutes ago
- 1 min read
Aditya Mishra, National Law Institute University, Bhopal
Nikhil Kumar Jha, National Law Institute University, Bhopal
Akshat Mishra, National Law Institute University, Bhopal
ABSTRACT
India's succession law framework, anchored in the Indian Succession Act, 1925, and the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, contains no statutory category for digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, NFTs, domain names, or monetised social media accounts. Yet the Finance Act, 2022 recognises Virtual Digital Assets as taxable property under Section 2(47A) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, imposing a 30% tax and 1% TDS on transfers. This creates a doctrinal paradox: the state treats digital assets as property for taxation but ignores them for succession. The Madras High Court's October 2025 judgment in Rhutikumari v. Zanmai Labs Pvt. Ltd. recognised cryptocurrency as property capable of inheritance, yet practical barriers remain. Executors holding valid probate cannot access self-custody wallets without seed phrases, as private-key cryptography renders legal title meaningless without technical access. Nomination frameworks under banking law do not extend to decentralised blockchains or platform- controlled accounts. This paper employs doctrinal legal research and comparative analysis to examine the statutory gap, survey approaches in the United States (RUFADAA), United Kingdom (Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025), and Singapore, and propose a comprehensive reform agenda. It argues for enactment of a Digital Assets (Succession) Act, 2026, regulatory guidance for exchanges, and practical estate planning measures including digital executors and multi-signature wallets. Without reform, India risks rendering vast digital wealth permanently inaccessible to legal heirs.
Keywords: Digital inheritance, Virtual Digital Assets, Indian Succession Act, cryptocurrency succession, private-key cryptography, digital executor, RUFADAA, estate planning India, blockchain inheritance, succession law reform.
