Alternate Title
"Nevada’s Blockchain Gamble: Can A State Embracing Web3 Technology Lead Probate Courts Into The Digital Age? "
Abstract
Probate stands as a bastion of legal formalism, seemingly resistant to the transformative currents of digital innovation that have swept through other domains of American law. While financial transactions, real property conveyances, and contract execution have increasingly begun exploring the use of Web3 technologies such as blockchain and smart contracts, estate and probate law remain tethered to paper-based procedures and rigid execution requirements. Nevada was the first state to provide legal support for Web3 technology, amending its Uniform Electronic Transactions Act statutes in 2017 to recognize blockchain-based transactions as valid and judicially enforceable. Yet despite this progressive legislative framework, the state’s estate and probate laws remain unchanged. What reforms are required to extend this legal recognition of blockchain to testamentary instruments and probate administration? To explore this, I begin in Part I by examining Nevada’s existing statutory framework for traditional paper wills, electronic wills, and probate administration, identifying where these laws diverge from the state’s more progressive legislation governing blockchain-based transactions. In Part II, I introduce the concept of a blockchain will, explain its technical functionality, and discuss how such instruments can be amended, revoked, or rendered obsolete. I then propose specific legislative reforms that could allow blockchain wills to serve as legally recognized alternatives to traditional paper wills, including the creation of a state-managed blockchain will registry that would provide the procedural infrastructure for securely filing, validating, and preserving blockchain wills. To illustrate how these proposals might operate in practice, hypothetical examples modeling blockchain-based testamentary execution and probate are included. Finally, I analyze the policy considerations both for and against reform, examining the legal barriers that must be addressed and the potential benefits this technology could bring to probate courts.
Recommended Citation
Ariel Sweeney, "Nevada’s Blockchain Gamble: Can A State Embracing Web3 Technology Lead Probate Courts Into The Digital Age? ", 20 FIU L. Rev. 753 (2025), https://doi.org/10.25148/lawrev.20.2.11.
Included in
Elder Law Commons, Estates and Trusts Commons, Internet Law Commons, Legislation Commons, Property Law and Real Estate Commons, Science and Technology Law Commons
