Crypto Inheritance Guide

Restoring an inherited seed phrase on a new hardware wallet

Last reviewed: October 2026

In short

Buy a new device from the maker’s own shop, choose “restore” during setup, and type the inherited words on the device itself. Then add the coins or accounts in the companion app and compare the first receiving address or fingerprint with what the deceased wrote down. If the balance is zero, think passphrase, other coin or other account before you think theft. Twenty-word Trezor backups and Electrum seeds need their own route.

This is the hands-on companion to Found a hardware wallet or seed phrase?. Read that first if you haven’t. The maker’s own guides are linked throughout; use those, not a video from a search result.

Before you start

  • Buy new, from the maker. Not a marketplace, not second-hand. Shops: Ledger, Trezor, BitBox, Coldcard. The brand needn’t match the deceased’s device: a 12- or 24-word seed restores on any of them. Check the packaging as the maker describes; the sister site has a tamper check.
  • Match the coins. A Bitcoin-only edition shows only bitcoin. If the deceased held ether or other coins on a BitBox02 Multi or a Ledger, buy the multi-coin version; BitBox says its firmware edition “cannot be changed” afterwards (BitBox).
  • Have the recovery sheet ready, with the first address or fingerprint the deceased noted, and the passphrase envelope if there is one.
  • Type URLs by hand. Searches for “Ledger restore” return fake support sites. The real ones are support.ledger.com, trezor.io, bitbox.swiss and coldcard.com.
  • Count the words. 12, 18 or 24: standard. 20, 33 or 59: a Trezor multi-share backup, see below. 12 words that fail on a hardware wallet: possibly Electrum, see below.

Ledger

  1. Install Ledger Wallet (formerly Ledger Live) from ledger.com and connect the device.
  2. On the device choose Restore from recovery phrase, set a PIN, pick the word count and enter the words on the device, letter by letter; it only offers valid words (Ledger support).
  3. In Ledger Wallet, install the app for each coin, then Add account for each. Balances appear only once an account for that coin has been added (Ledger support).
  4. Passphrase: on the device, Settings → Security → Passphrase, either temporary or attached to a second PIN. Ledger stresses that a passphrase “opens a separate set of accounts” (Ledger Academy); you’ll have to add accounts again after entering it.

Trezor

  1. Install Trezor Suite from trezor.io and connect the device.
  2. Choose Recover wallet, then the backup type: 12 or 24 words (standard) or 20-word shares (multi-share). On a Safe 3 you pick letters with the buttons; on a Safe 5 or 7 you tap them on the screen, and the device suggests words as you type (Trezor, Safe 3, Safe 5). Trezor’s warning: “Do not enter your wallet backup anywhere unless your physical Trezor device instructs you to do so.”
  3. Coins other than bitcoin are switched on in Suite under Settings → Networks (Trezor).
  4. Passphrase: in Suite, add a Passphrase wallet and type the passphrase on the device (Suite also allows typing it on the computer; use the device). “Mistyping / misspelling a passphrase will generate a new hidden wallet”, an empty one (Trezor).

BitBox02

  1. Install the BitBoxApp from bitbox.swiss, connect, confirm the pairing code.
  2. Choose Restore from recovery words, pick 12, 18 or 24, enter the words on the device’s touch sensors (it autocompletes), set a device password (BitBox). If the deceased kept a microSD backup, Restore from microSD card is quicker (BitBox).
  3. Passphrase: Settings → Manage device → Expert settings → Passphrase, then enter it on the device after unlocking; BitBox warns that every character must be exact, because a typo silently opens a different, empty wallet (BitBox).
  4. Note: the BitBox02 handles only modern bitcoin address types (starting 3, bc1q and bc1p) (BitBox). Coins on old-style 1 addresses can’t be reached through it; restore that seed in Sparrow or Electrum, or on another device.

Coldcard

Coldcard has no companion app; it works with Sparrow or Electrum.

  1. On the device: Import Existing → 12/18/24 Words and enter the words; the Q model has a keyboard, the Mk models scroll through letters (Coldcard).
  2. Passphrase: Main Menu → Passphrase. The device then shows an eight-character fingerprint (XFP); comparing it with the one the deceased recorded is “the only way to verify your passphrase is correct” (Coldcard).
  3. To see the balance, export the wallet to Sparrow (Advanced/Tools → Export Wallet → Sparrow; older firmware: Advanced → MicroSD Card → Export Wallet) and import the file in Sparrow as an air-gapped hardware wallet (Coldcard, Sparrow).

Check you’ve got the right wallet

Every device can show its first receiving address, and most show a fingerprint. Compare it with the recovery sheet before you conclude anything about the balance. A match means the seed, and any passphrase, are right; a zero balance then points to another account, address type or coin, not to the words. No match with a passphrase usually means a typo. No sheet to compare with? Then zero balance deserves the empty-wallet checklist before any other conclusion.

Two formats that won’t restore on just any device

  • 20, 33 or 59 words: a Trezor multi-share (SLIP39) backup. You may need several such cards (for example three of five). They restore on Trezor and Keystone devices, and in software such as Electrum or Sparrow, but not on a Ledger, BitBox or Coldcard; the word lists aren’t compatible (Trezor).
  • An Electrum seed. Electrum’s desktop wallet uses its own seed format: “Electrum does not generate BIP39 seeds” (Electrum). Twelve words from an Electrum wallet, even if they look like ordinary seed words, won’t restore on a hardware wallet. Restore them in Electrum itself, from electrum.org, with the wizard’s “I already have a seed” option, on a clean computer, and move the coins out at once.

Then

Move the coins to a wallet whose seed only you have: After you’ve got access. The inherited seed has been on paper in someone’s house; treat it as spent.