Most South Africans plan for houses, cars, and policies, but overlook their online lives. Behind every email login sits real value – crypto wallets, PayPal balances, cloud storage, loyalty rewards, e-books, even domain names.

When someone dies without leaving access instructions, those assets can be lost for good because executors often cannot locate or unlock them under platform rules and local privacy law. South African estate specialists note that identifying, valuing, and accessing digital assets has become a routine but tricky step in winding up estates, often requiring a clear personal inventory and secure credentials held outside the will.

There is no single South African statute that fully governs digital assets after death, so standard estate law applies alongside platform terms and privacy frameworks. The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) generally protects living data subjects, but practitioners flag grey areas in handling deceased persons’ information and access requests, which can delay administration if no instructions exist.

The practical implication is simple; without a documented map of accounts and authorisations, executors may be blocked or forced into slow, case-by-case processes.

The fix is straightforward. Create a digital asset inventory that lists key accounts and what should happen to each, store passwords in an encrypted manager, and give your executor access instructions separate from the will because a will becomes public when the process of winding up a deceased person’s estate starts.

International practitioner guides and local fiduciary resources echo these steps, and South African firms now recommend updating this list whenever you change major accounts or devices.

In a world where wealth lives as data, your heirs inherit only what they can find and open. The most valuable legacy item might be a well-kept password plan.