In short
Your heirs need three layers of information: what exists, how to get in, and the secrets themselves. Keep the first two easy to find. Keep the third one secure, in a place your heirs will be pointed to.
Every lock, one by one
Walk through your own setup and list everything that stands between a stranger and your coins. For most people it’s some mix of the following.
Exchange and app accounts
- The email address and password of the account.
- The second factor: an authenticator app, a security key or SMS codes. If it’s an app on your phone, the phone itself becomes part of the chain.
- In practice heirs won’t log in to your account. Exchanges want them to go through a formal claim instead, and logging in as you can break an exchange’s rules. But they do need to know the account exists, and the email address it’s registered to.
Wallets you control yourself
- The seed phrase (also called recovery phrase): 12 or 24 words that can rebuild the wallet on a new device. This is the master key.
- The PIN of a hardware wallet. Not strictly needed if heirs have the seed, but it lets them use the device itself, which is safer than typing words anywhere.
- A passphrase, if you added one. It’s an extra word or sentence on top of the seed. Without it the seed opens an empty wallet and gives no error, so heirs may think the money is gone.
- The wallet software and, for multisig wallets, the wallet configuration file (sometimes called the descriptor). With only two of the three seeds, a 2-of-3 multisig can’t be rebuilt without it.
- Which network or coin each wallet holds. A Bitcoin wallet and an Ethereum wallet can come from the same seed, and some apps show both, but others only handle one coin.
Devices and everyday accounts
- The unlock code of the phone or laptop with the wallet app on it.
- Your email account, because password resets for everything else go there.
- Your password manager, if you use one. Some have an emergency access feature: Bitwarden’s paid plans, for example, let a named person request access that is granted automatically if you don’t respond within a waiting period you choose.
Apple (Legacy Contact) and Google (Inactive Account Manager) also let you name someone who can reach your account data after you die. Useful, but check what they do and don’t cover. They’re about your account data, not the keys to a wallet.
Split the information into three layers
Not every piece of information is dangerous, and that makes the job manageable.
| Layer | What it contains | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| What exists | A list of accounts, wallets and devices, roughly what they hold | With your will, with your executor, or at home in a known place |
| How to get in | Step-by-step instructions, who to call, which software to use | Same place as the list |
| The secrets | Seed phrases, PINs, passphrases | Somewhere secure that the instructions point to |
The first two layers can’t be used to steal anything. Make them easy to find. The third layer is where the thought goes: a home safe, a safe deposit box, a sealed envelope with your lawyer, or spread across people and places so no single one of them has everything.
Spreading the secrets
A common pattern: the seed phrase on a metal plate at home, the passphrase in a sealed envelope with your lawyer or a relative, and a letter of instruction that says where both are. A burglar finds half, the lawyer holds half, and your heirs, following the letter, get both.
This only works if you use a passphrase, because then the seed alone opens an empty wallet. Without one, the seed plate is everything and has to be kept as securely as the coins themselves. A PIN protects the device, not the seed. For choosing the places themselves, see where to store seed backups.
Where to keep crypto in the first place
How you hold crypto today decides how hard it will be to inherit.
- On an exchange: easiest for heirs, as long as they know the account exists. The exchange holds the keys and has a claims process. The risk is the exchange itself: if it fails or freezes accounts, your heirs are in the queue with everybody else.
- In an app on your phone: convenient, and the worst of both worlds for inheritance. The phone must be unlocked, the app backed up, and nobody may know it’s there.
- On a hardware wallet: a small device that keeps the keys offline. Good for larger amounts, provided the seed backup and PIN are part of your plan. If you hold more than you’d be happy to lose, this is where it belongs. The reviews on multisigsetup.com cover the common Bitcoin models, and a Ledger handles most other coins as well.
- In a multisig or with a timelock: the most robust setups, and the most complex to explain. See Inheritance methods compared.
Write it down
Once you’ve listed the locks, write the three layers down. The free templates give you a structure for all three: an inventory, a letter of instruction and a recovery sheet per wallet. Next page: the methods compared.