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Unlike real estate, most people (including heirs and executors) have never owned a business, let alone sold one. So, when it comes up in an estate probate, understandably, folks are lost. We have a recent estate example, which included a retail business.
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Casa is really becoming a leader in Bitcoin estate planning and custody solutions. They recently launched their version of beneficiary designations for cryptocurrency, and I’m really hopeful about this. I think this is something that needs to be in place, because there is always the risk of catastrophic loss. So, let’s take a look.
How Casa Beneficiary works
You start by naming a beneficiary on your cryptocurrency, and he or she gets 2 keys in 3 of 5 multisig.
Casa uses 3 of 5 multisig as their custody solution for preventing the risk of catastrophic loss and preventing theft.
What is multisig? 3 of 5 means there are 5 keys to your cryptocurrency, and at any time, you need 3 of those 5 keys to take action (such as buying/selling).
In this scenario: you have 3 keys, your attorney or Casa has 1, and your beneficiary has 2.
No one has access while you’re alive. When you die, your beneficiary shows proof of death to Casa (or your attorney) and your beneficiary combines her 2 keys with that key. With 3 keys, the cryptocurrency can move to the beneficiary.
Think about it like you’re dealing with a bank or brokerage company. The beneficiary goes to the bank with a claim form and a death certificate. Similarly, the beneficiary goes to Casa with a claim form and death certificate to prove the person died.
Pros
(1) It avoids probate (for better or worse). “Better” meaning that the surrogate’s court won’t have to deal with cryptocurrency. “Worse” meaning that you’d be avoiding checks and balances (such as the ability for a child to contest if disinherited wrongly, or someone taking advantage of you by making himself your beneficiary). While probate is a pain, it is there for a reason: to make sure people get what they’re supposed to get.
(2) Casa’s multisig solution, in general, is an excellent reduction of risk of theft and catastrophic loss. I still think there needs to be a better version of it, but it does do what it’s supposed to do. They will probably work out all the kinks, and this is just one step in the evolutionary process.
(3) Casa will consult with and “handhold” the beneficiary (such as key custody, how to get access). Will your beneficiary even know what to do with the 2 keys from Casa?
Cons
(1) The beneficiary still must maintain 2 keys, and the beneficiary may not even know what they are. It’s unusual for a family to have two people who know how to deal with cryptocurrency. Casa tries to mitigate this by consulting with the beneficiary to make sure she knows what to do. I’m not sure how this will work, as my experience shows that handholding usually just isn’t enough in a sticky situation.
(2) It’s a bit expensive. To be eligible for this service, you must have a Casa Diamond account, which is $5,000 a year. The cost of an estate planning attorney is about $2,000 to $10,000 every four or five years. If you have a lot of cryptocurrency, it may be worth it since other benefits are included in the account.
(3) Beneficiary designations are not always ideal, as you may recall from a recent blog on illiquid estates.
It will be interesting to see how Casa’s multisig solution evolves. Owning cryptocurrency means you will need an estate plan. Every time I sit down to think about writing a bitcoin estate planning book, something new happens! However, if we get a lot of positive feedback, I will consider writing a short guide that includes high-level principals that don’t seem to change. Would you be interested? Let us know in the comments.
If you want to learn more about probate in general, please check out my book, “How Probate Works.” I don’t have a Bitcoin chapter yet, but you will get a sense of how the probate process applies to your Bitcoin situation.
Request your free consultation
New Client v5 Free Bitcoin Chapter
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Sign-up for your free consultation using the form above, and I’ll be happy to email you a free chapter from Anthony’s best-selling book “How to Leave Bitcoin to Your Heirs.”
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Sometimes the estate doesn’t have cash on hand and only has illiquid assets like the home, a business, or artwork. But settling the estate has many ongoing bills and expenses, from court fees to movers to accountants. We’ll discuss 3 ways to deal with cash-poor, illiquid estates.
Here are three recent, real world, case studies of common probate real estate mistakes. Hopefully, you’ll learn how seemingly small errors can quickly snowball into huge, expensive problems, which you definitely want to avoid!
Earl Simmons (known as rapper “DMX”) recently passed with 11 possible non-marital children. This certainly has the potential to become a complex and interesting probate case. Are any of them heirs? How do they prove they were his kids? Can they prove it without DNA? Let’s break it down:
https://anthonyspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/E223-How-to-Prove-Paternity-After-Death.jpg10801920Anthony Parkhttps://anthonyspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/logo-600.pngAnthony Park2021-07-21 07:00:592025-03-07 10:23:04E223 How to Prove Paternity After Death
One of our podcast listeners asked: “Is it possible to open a Binance account that is funded by a trust account? If so, does that by default make that particular Binance account a trust account with the beneficiaries named on the bank account that is used for funding it?”
When someone passes away and you are in charge, one of the top priorities is securing the house. In order to do this, you need to start with the following five steps.
https://anthonyspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/E220-5-Ways-to-Secure-the-House-When-Someone-Dies.jpg10801920Anthony Parkhttps://anthonyspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/logo-600.pngAnthony Park2021-06-23 07:00:022025-03-03 09:04:32E220 5 Ways to Secure the House When Someone Dies
E232 How Crypto Transfers at Death
/in Bitcoin inheritance /by Anthony ParkLet’s answer a crypto question from Haille: How does crypto transfer on death?
E231 Emotional Distress During Probate (Case Study)
/in New York Professional Executor, Professional executor /by Anthony ParkDeath, family, and money are always an emotional mix. And those emotions can lead to headaches and expensive problems during probate.
E230 How Poor Communication Hurts Probate
/in New York Probate, Probate /by Anthony ParkSometimes the biggest problem in probate is the people, specifically when there are too many people involved.
E228 First 5 Steps to Selling a Probate Business
/in New York Probate, Probate /by Anthony ParkUnlike real estate, most people (including heirs and executors) have never owned a business, let alone sold one. So, when it comes up in an estate probate, understandably, folks are lost. We have a recent estate example, which included a retail business.
E227 First Impression of Casa Beneficiary Account
/in Bitcoin inheritance /by Anthony ParkCasa is really becoming a leader in Bitcoin estate planning and custody solutions. They recently launched their version of beneficiary designations for cryptocurrency, and I’m really hopeful about this. I think this is something that needs to be in place, because there is always the risk of catastrophic loss. So, let’s take a look.
How Casa Beneficiary works
You start by naming a beneficiary on your cryptocurrency, and he or she gets 2 keys in 3 of 5 multisig.
Casa uses 3 of 5 multisig as their custody solution for preventing the risk of catastrophic loss and preventing theft.
What is multisig? 3 of 5 means there are 5 keys to your cryptocurrency, and at any time, you need 3 of those 5 keys to take action (such as buying/selling).
In this scenario: you have 3 keys, your attorney or Casa has 1, and your beneficiary has 2.
No one has access while you’re alive. When you die, your beneficiary shows proof of death to Casa (or your attorney) and your beneficiary combines her 2 keys with that key. With 3 keys, the cryptocurrency can move to the beneficiary.
Think about it like you’re dealing with a bank or brokerage company. The beneficiary goes to the bank with a claim form and a death certificate. Similarly, the beneficiary goes to Casa with a claim form and death certificate to prove the person died.
Pros
(1) It avoids probate (for better or worse). “Better” meaning that the surrogate’s court won’t have to deal with cryptocurrency. “Worse” meaning that you’d be avoiding checks and balances (such as the ability for a child to contest if disinherited wrongly, or someone taking advantage of you by making himself your beneficiary). While probate is a pain, it is there for a reason: to make sure people get what they’re supposed to get.
(2) Casa’s multisig solution, in general, is an excellent reduction of risk of theft and catastrophic loss. I still think there needs to be a better version of it, but it does do what it’s supposed to do. They will probably work out all the kinks, and this is just one step in the evolutionary process.
(3) Casa will consult with and “handhold” the beneficiary (such as key custody, how to get access). Will your beneficiary even know what to do with the 2 keys from Casa?
Cons
(1) The beneficiary still must maintain 2 keys, and the beneficiary may not even know what they are. It’s unusual for a family to have two people who know how to deal with cryptocurrency. Casa tries to mitigate this by consulting with the beneficiary to make sure she knows what to do. I’m not sure how this will work, as my experience shows that handholding usually just isn’t enough in a sticky situation.
(2) It’s a bit expensive. To be eligible for this service, you must have a Casa Diamond account, which is $5,000 a year. The cost of an estate planning attorney is about $2,000 to $10,000 every four or five years. If you have a lot of cryptocurrency, it may be worth it since other benefits are included in the account.
(3) Beneficiary designations are not always ideal, as you may recall from a recent blog on illiquid estates.
It will be interesting to see how Casa’s multisig solution evolves. Owning cryptocurrency means you will need an estate plan. Every time I sit down to think about writing a bitcoin estate planning book, something new happens! However, if we get a lot of positive feedback, I will consider writing a short guide that includes high-level principals that don’t seem to change. Would you be interested? Let us know in the comments.
If you want to learn more about probate in general, please check out my book, “How Probate Works.” I don’t have a Bitcoin chapter yet, but you will get a sense of how the probate process applies to your Bitcoin situation.
Request your free consultation
New Client v5 Free Bitcoin Chapter
"*" indicates required fields
Sign-up for your free consultation using the form above, and I’ll be happy to email you a free chapter from Anthony’s best-selling book “How to Leave Bitcoin to Your Heirs.”
How to Probate Self-Custodied Bitcoin
How to Hire a Bitcoin Executor
E339 Why Sharing Your Seed Phrase is a Bad Bitcoin Inheritance Plan
E226 3 Strategies for Illiquid Estates
/in New York Probate, Probate /by Anthony ParkSometimes the estate doesn’t have cash on hand and only has illiquid assets like the home, a business, or artwork. But settling the estate has many ongoing bills and expenses, from court fees to movers to accountants. We’ll discuss 3 ways to deal with cash-poor, illiquid estates.
E224 3 Common Probate Real Estate Mistakes
/in New York Probate Real Estate, Probate, Professional executor /by Anthony ParkHere are three recent, real world, case studies of common probate real estate mistakes. Hopefully, you’ll learn how seemingly small errors can quickly snowball into huge, expensive problems, which you definitely want to avoid!
E223 How to Prove Paternity After Death
/in New York Probate, Probate /by Anthony ParkEarl Simmons (known as rapper “DMX”) recently passed with 11 possible non-marital children. This certainly has the potential to become a complex and interesting probate case. Are any of them heirs? How do they prove they were his kids? Can they prove it without DNA? Let’s break it down:
E222 Beneficiary Designations for Cryptocurrency Exchanges
/in Bitcoin inheritance /by Anthony ParkOne of our podcast listeners asked: “Is it possible to open a Binance account that is funded by a trust account? If so, does that by default make that particular Binance account a trust account with the beneficiaries named on the bank account that is used for funding it?”
E220 5 Ways to Secure the House When Someone Dies
/in New York Probate, Probate, Probate Real Estate /by Anthony ParkWhen someone passes away and you are in charge, one of the top priorities is securing the house. In order to do this, you need to start with the following five steps.