Digital Inheritance: The Legal Framework of Hereditary Succession for Cryptocurrencies, Digital Files, and Personal Data

Digital Inheritance: The Legal Framework of Hereditary Succession for Cryptocurrencies, Digital Files, and Personal Data
Digital Inheritance: The Legal Framework of Hereditary Succession for Cryptocurrencies, Digital Files, and Personal Data
The rapid growth of the digital economy and the migration of social and economic activity into cyberspace have created a new category of rights: digital property. What happens after a person’s death to assets that lack physical substance, such as cryptocurrencies (Crypto), digital wallets (e-wallets), domain names, professional social media accounts, or files stored in the Cloud?
This issue balances on the fine line between traditional rules of Inheritance Law and Personal Data Protection Law, creating complex legal challenges that require specialized analysis.
The Concept of Digital Inheritance in Greek Civil Law
Under Greek inheritance law (Article 1710 of the Civil Code), upon a person’s death, their estate as a whole (inheritance) transfers to their heirs. The estate includes all rights and obligations of the deceased, provided they are not strictly personal (i.e., they are not extinguished upon death).
In this context, digital property is legally distinguished into two categories:
    • Assets with a Purely Economic Character (Property Assets): Cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.), digital repositories (PayPal, Revolut), intangible goods (domain names, websites, e-shops), and intellectual property rights in digital works. These assets unquestionably form part of the estate and transfer to the heirs in proportion to their shares.
    • Assets of a Personal or Mixed Character: Electronic mail accounts (e-mails), social media profiles (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn), and digital files (Cloud). Here, the legal issue of post-mortem privacy of communications and the protection of personality arises.

Cryptocurrencies (Crypto) and the Legal-Technical Paradox
Cryptocurrencies are treated legally as intangible assets (property rights). Although their legal inclusion in the assets of the estate is clear, claiming them in practice faces two main obstacles:
    • The Technical Issue (Private Keys): If cryptocurrencies are stored in non-custodial wallets, the absence of private keys or the recovery phrase (seed phrase) renders the property technically inaccessible. Legally, the heir is the owner of the asset but lacks the ability to enjoy or dispose of it.
    • The International Element (Custodial Exchanges): If crypto is held on centralized foreign exchanges (e.g., Binance, Coinbase), heirs must follow the verification procedure based on the Terms of Service of each platform, providing official documents (certificate of inheritance) with an Apostille stamp or consular legalization.

GDPR and Post-Mortem Protection of Personal Data
One of the most thorny issues is the heirs’ access to the deceased’s emails or social media accounts. Service providers (Google, Meta, Apple) frequently deny access, citing privacy and confidentiality.
    • The GDPR Approach: The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 does not apply to the data of deceased persons (Recital 27). It is left to member states to establish relevant rules.
    • Greek Law (Law 4624/2019): In Greece, the implementing law of the GDPR does not include an explicit provision for the data of the deceased, meaning that the general provisions of the Civil Code for the protection of personality apply (Articles 57 and 59 of the Civil Code), where the right to protect the memory of the deceased is exercised by the closest relatives.
    • European Jurisprudence: The international trend (marked by the landmark decision of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany – BGH, 2018) accepts that digital content is universally inherited, just like paper diaries or letters of the past. Consequently, heirs step into the contract with the provider (e.g., Facebook) and are entitled to access, unless the testator had explicitly stated otherwise in their will.

The Legal Necessity of a “Digital Will”
To avoid intractable legal disputes and the permanent loss of property, proactive legal planning through a Digital Will is now deemed imperative. This includes:
    • Explicit Provision of Last Will (Article 1712 et seq. of the Civil Code): The body of the holographic or public will must clearly record digital accounts and wallets, as well as designate by name the person to whom the right of access is transferred.
    • Privacy Management Clauses: The testator can explicitly define whether they allow the heir or the executor of the will to read their personal messages or if they mandate the immediate and permanent deletion (digital oblivion) of their accounts.
    • Secure Separation of Passwords: For security reasons, passwords and seed phrases must not be written in the text of the will itself (as it will be published in court), but kept in a secure medium (e.g., a bank safety deposit box or an encrypted Password Manager) with an explicit reference in the will on how to retrieve them.

Conclusion
Inheritance Law must adapt to the intangible reality of the 21st century. Digital property possesses real legal and economic value, and its management demands a deep understanding of both traditional Civil Law and Information Technology Law.