Technical article

Hidden Things: Bank Boxes, Storage Units, Crypto Keys, Online Accounts

The trail is often worth following before anything is thrown out.

By Neil Solomon · 3 min read

Picture a widower in California who has died. His daughter has the keys to the house and a folder of papers. She wonders what is not in the folder. A deposit box at a bank? A storage unit across town? Some cryptocurrency, or a collection of coins held with an online dealer?

This piece gives what the sources show. It is a short list, not a full map, and the rules differ by state.

Bank boxes

California is the state read here. Under Probate Code section 331, a person with a key may open a decedent's sole-name box under supervision before letters issue. That means before a court has named an executor. The reasons are limited: to inventory the box, copy wills and trusts, and take funeral instructions. The bank keeps a record. Other contents stay until the personal representative acts. A will found in the box goes to the clerk of the superior court. Someone with no key needs letters first. A law firm's summary adds that a surviving co-holder keeps their rights.

Other states differ.

Storage units

Two New York trust officers wrote in June 2025 that one first step is to locate property, including storage unit charges that appear on bank and card statements. Their list also includes changing locks and alarm codes, calling the insurance agent, and using a qualified specialist appraiser.

Cash among clutter

An American Bar Association Journal report from 2016, citing the Wall Street Journal, tells of an executor who found about US$12,000 in cash in 500 empty potato-chip bags in a hoarder's home. The executor, who was a lawyer, said valuables can sit among junk, and that helpers need to sort carefully before discarding anything. This is a news report, one story. A collectibles columnist advises photographing or filming everything and restricting access, because objects often go missing in the days after a death.

Crypto and online accounts

A November 2025 guide by a trust adviser says inherited cryptocurrency generally gets a basis step-up to the value at death. It also says a court order does not help if the private keys cannot be found. The revised law on fiduciary access to digital assets gives access to digital information but does not transfer the asset. The guide is sponsored content, so it is one adviser's view.

The 2026 instructions for Form 706 list digital assets on Schedule F: cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and digital collectibles. So the IRS expects them on the return.

For one exchange, a funeral-industry blog reports that accounts typically cannot name a beneficiary. Transfer then follows the will or the intestacy law. Claimants usually need a death certificate, letters testamentary or small-estate paperwork, and photo ID. That blog summarizes the exchange's help pages, so the exchange's own pages are the place to check.

A table of places

The objection

You might say it is hard to look for what you do not know exists. That is fair. What the sources show is that most of these things leave a small trail: a rental charge, a key in a drawer, a statement, an email from an exchange. The trail is often worth following before anything is thrown out.

A door you could open

You could write down, now, where your own keys, passwords and storage accounts are, and tell one person where the list is.

If you have found something unexpected in a parent's things, where was it? Share it here, and someone may know where to start looking.

Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.