MSTR Cat

Trust Law/Level IX · Trusts on chain/9.3 Full circle/Lesson 5

Building a plan that survives you

Bringing the course together: an inventory, the core documents, beneficiary designations, digital-asset instructions, the people you name and a habit of review, at whatever scale fits.

Education, not legal advice. Trust law changes from country to country and state to state, and the right structure depends on your situation. Anything you sign should be drafted or reviewed by a qualified lawyer where you live.

The lean path

The cheapest, lowest-tax, simplest and most private route the law allows, best first. Each step names the rule it rests on and the condition that keeps it lawful.

  1. Start with free tools: beneficiary designations, a will and a durable power of attorney, plus a letter of instruction for digital assets with no seed phrases. Catch: designations override the will, so review them after marriage, divorce, births and deaths.
  2. Use a statutory will form where offered, such as California’s (Probate Code §6240), and legal aid if household income is at or below 125% of federal poverty guidelines. Catch: blended families, disability, a business or land in several states usually justify paid advice.
  3. In England and Wales, register each lasting power of attorney with the Office of the Public Guardian for £92, with a reduction below £12,000 income. Catch: registration takes 8 to 10 weeks without errors, and the power cannot be used until registered.
  4. Most US estates owe no federal estate tax under the 2026 exclusion of $15,000,000, so a plan can focus on avoiding probate and lost keys. Catch: tax figures change by law and year, so check the current year before relying on any.

MaterialsA list of what you own and how each item is held, including any beneficiary designations you have madeLesson 3.1.4, on incapacity, and lessons 9.1.3 and 9.1.5, on letters of instruction and fiduciary access to digital assetsLesson 2.2.7, on free and low-cost help, and lesson 2.2.6, on questions to ask before hiring anyone

Wonder

  1. Which of your assets would pass under your will, and which would pass some other way?
  2. Who would make decisions for you if you could not, and could they find what they need?
  3. When does a simple plan do the job, and when is professional help more likely to be worth its cost?

Explore

  1. This lesson brings the course together. It describes the usual parts of an estate plan and how they fit; it does not say which structure anyone should use, and many households need nothing more than simple tools. A plan usually starts with an inventory: what you own, such as a home, bank and retirement accounts, insurance, a business, personal items and digital assets, and how each is held, whether in one name, jointly, in a trust or with a named beneficiary. How an asset is held often decides how it passes, so the inventory shows which assets a will controls and which it does not.
  2. Each core document has a job. A will says who receives probate assets and names an executor (lesson 2.1.2). A revocable living trust governs only assets actually transferred into it (lesson 3.1.2). In the US, a durable power of attorney for finances covers assets outside the trust if you lose capacity, and a separate health-care document, such as a living will or a durable power of attorney for health care, covers medical decisions; names and forms vary by state (lesson 3.1.4). In England and Wales, lasting powers of attorney, made under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, cover property and financial affairs or health and welfare, and must be registered before use.
  3. Beneficiary designations can override a will. In the US, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death registrations, life insurance and retirement accounts generally pass to the named beneficiary outside probate (lesson 2.1.4), so a will that says something different may not control them. Designations can also go out of date. Under Uniform Probate Code §2-804, followed in many states, divorce revokes revocable gifts to a former spouse, but federal law overrides this for ERISA employer plans (lesson 3.1.6). Other countries have their own rules, so designations are worth checking against the law where the account is held.
  4. Digital assets need both legal and practical planning. In the US, RUFADAA, enacted in most states, ranks a custodian’s online tool above a will or trust, and both above terms of service the user did not separately agree to; the content of communications is disclosed only with the user’s consent or a court order (lesson 9.1.5). For coins in self-custody, the law can give a fiduciary authority but cannot supply a lost key. A letter of instruction can list what exists, how it is protected, who holds each key or device and whom to contact, without recording any private key or seed phrase, which does not belong in a will (lessons 9.1.2 and 9.1.3).
  5. Choosing people matters as much as choosing documents. Executors, trustees, agents and successors need honesty, organisation and time, and it helps to ask them first, since a person named as trustee may decline (Uniform Trust Code §701; lesson 2.3.1). Family members often serve for little or no pay but may need help; professional and corporate trustees offer continuity but charge fees that vary widely by provider, place and trust size. If the people named in the legal documents differ from the people who can actually sign for digital assets, those entitled may not be those in control (lesson 9.1.3).
  6. A plan needs review. Common triggers are marriage, divorce, births, deaths, moves, changes in assets and changes in the law (lesson 3.1.6). Tax rules and figures change by year and by law, so any figure in a plan should be checked against the current year. Help exists at every income level: in the US, legal aid, law-school clinics, bar referral services, statutory will forms in some states and court self-help centres; in England and Wales, Citizens Advice and law centres (lesson 2.2.7). Blended families, a disabled beneficiary, a business or property in several places are where professional advice is more likely to be worth its cost.

Key facts

  • How an asset is held, in one name, jointly, in a trust or with a named beneficiary, often decides how it passes at death.
  • A living trust governs only assets actually transferred into it; a durable power of attorney is usually needed for assets outside it if the settlor loses capacity.
  • In England and Wales, lasting powers of attorney are made under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before they can be used.
  • In the US, payable-on-death, transfer-on-death and other beneficiary designations pass assets outside probate and can override a will.
  • A letter of instruction can tell a fiduciary what digital assets exist and whom to contact without recording any private key or seed phrase.
  • Marriage, divorce, births, deaths, moves, changes in assets and changes in the law are common triggers for reviewing a plan.

Exercise nine, six, three, one

9CollectList up to 9 parts of an estate plan described in this lesson or a source you are reading (some sources give fewer), such as an inventory, a will, a trust, a power of attorney, a beneficiary designation or a letter of instruction.
6ClusterSort them into 6 categories: inventory, documents for death, documents for incapacity, beneficiary designations, digital-asset instructions, and people and review.
3DistillReduce the 6 categories to 3 groups: what is owned, who decides, and how others will find and reach it.
1CrystallizeWrite 1 sentence explaining, in your own words, why a plan for digital assets needs both legal documents and practical instructions.

Fact check

Dates, figures and claims checked against the published sources listed below.

Open in the interactive academy →

PT ES ZH JA KO RU DE FR MS