This topic is already asked already... just search it in this forum.
And of course the answer is the coins will be lost forever since the owner of said bitcoin or altcoin is dead and only he/she can only access it this is why you should secure your bitcoins just in case that your fate is already sealed what i mean sealed is you are dying from illness
That is true. If the information of bitcoin and altcoins is not shared with anyone by the owner before his death, that asset will be lost. It is similar to what happens in real world with physical assets. If I have a huge amount of gold which no one knows about and I have buried it at a place which only I know, after my death that will be lost because one even knew it was there at the first place.
yes both are similar cases, not telling about your assets will be useless if you die, but i think that the crypto users are wise enough to deal with this problem, they must write the passwords of their wallets in their personal diaries and also it is very rare cases that only one member of the family know about the crypto, usually in a family atleast two or three persons must know about it, so i think it is not a big problem for majority.