Bitcoin Forum

If I die, my family can use my death certificate to rescue all my money from bank and appropriate all my posses.

But not bitcoin, I was thinking about how to leave bitcoins as inheritence in a safe way, minimizing risks of be stolen by my own family (still if I trust my family, they can store improperly the keys and be stolen, or forced to deliver).

The perfect solution, in my opinion, is a mechanism whithout intervention that reveal my keys to my family, this could be done if I do not access some service for a month, or if I don't store some stuff in the blockchain for a month or ... I don't know a solution. And only my family could access my keys, possibly they have keys that allow then to access my keys.

An good solution could be some artifact, like a file, that I can send to my family, or left it stored online and thar artifact could reveal my keys only to my family.

My basic ideia is:
1 - Encript the keys with your password, but must be a very strong password, resilient to brute force atack.
2 - Print the encripted keys in paper or some more durable medium and store securely in your home.
3 - Reveal to your family a limited set of characters with wich they can sucefuly find the password using brute force, in a short time.
4 - If you die, your family must get into your home/safe box, get the encripted keys and use the characters to perform a brute force atack in order to get the keys.

Does anyone have think about leaving bitcoin as inheritance? Is there already some solution to this? Thoughts?

Remind, Covid-19 is over here.

that doesn't add any kind of security, either reveal the whole password or none of it. partial password is only adding more problems than solving anything.

inheritance should not be through keys in my opinion, instead it should be through transactions. something like this idea: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5180850.0
that way you remain in full control of your own funds and the transaction can only be mined (and the funds claimed) if you pass away and can't renew the tx and receiving key.

I love the idea of a mechanism making sure that there should be proper and proven way of delivering Bitcoin as an inheritance in case something will happen bad to its original owner. I understand that there are some platforms offering such services though I am not sure if they are really safe and will deliver according to their promises. This is actually interesting.

This has been discussed multiple times in the past op. Check these threads out.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5097720.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5194028.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5106560.0

Its fairly simple really. Just store your crypto in a hardware or paper wallet(Powerful encryption) and share the complete password with people who you fully trust.

If you want to give a bitcoin as an inheritance to your family it is better if you do not make too much security progress to your account because some of them does not know what you are doing at the same time they did not know all the things you are stating on the account and they need to ask other people to do this instead. I'm suggesting it is better if you withdraw those funds immediately so they can use but if you don't want and just stay into the bitcoin it is better if you give already the wallet username and password to your wallet so they can immediately use your bitcoin funds. If you still have some time it is better to teach them immediately because they have some insights on how does the transaction of the bitcoin works it depends on your if you will before you die or let them explore the transactions before they'll get your funds.

Many has such idea to leave their Bitcoin as an inheritance. In that case you have to have in mind that Bitcoin is volatile and so the value you leave to someone will not be fixed. With time it can become bigger or smaller.
And I think that the best way to do that is to attach the private keys to will, thus they will also be legaly secured and protected from possible abuse in case that you give them directly to person who will inherite your coins.

Leaving Bitcoin as inheritance process is more harder than leaving physical properties or fiat as inheritance. Many method has been suggested under this thread and I'll suggest the private keys should be printed and included in will. Or get an hardware wallet, keep it in a secret place like a small vault including the details, then include the hints in your will.

Casa has set up a special Bitcoin inheritance plan. You could check it out and learn from what they've already thought of: https://keys.casa/bitcoin-inheritance-plan/

A lawyer is expensive and I don't have one in wich I trust, bitcoin is diferent of others properties that are attached to my ID number, the government will know about my bitcoins and collect a abusive and unfair tax of inheritance, in my opinion. It is not mandatory use a lawyer and a will to die, if you simple die yours properties will be given to your family. Do not sounds good to go in the direction of lawyers.

That crossed and lightest in my mind for the inheritance of children and families is not Bitcoin: that is, shops, land, gold and houses are all obtained from the results of investment or trading on Bitcoin.

I am thinking of getting as much profit as possible from Bitcoin, so that I can leave it to my family, not bitcoin but the results of bitcoin.

Why, it would be difficult for your own family to receive inheritance, by providing a password / key and then entering into a bitcoin wallet, my advice, leave a legacy for families that is easy to accept and reach. Don't complicate things while there are easy ones.

Keeping a paper wallet is a hard task , but I do think at the end of the day you would have to use a centralized body to keep it into a safe location. Because sooner or later it would be problematic to keep it safe by yourself.
Even banks have an entitled locker assigned if you want to keep some documents or something precious there , I do think you can hire a lawyer and give him instructions , the family can directly be contacted by the lawyer and given instructions .
Your idea is good too but I do think to be safe , if I had enough Bitcoins to pass it as inheritance , I would like to use a centralized body . Ironic .

My pick.
Kind of old school but it will work.
Remember before, wills are being processed by lawyer and there are times titles are being given.
It would be something like that.
You will just need to enhance it a bit.

How?
Of course the private key is there. if you have the seeds then input it too with your handwriting. (Somehow they might also remember you that way)
Put instructions on how they will deal with it.
Do not leave a blank step that would give them a hard time. (it should not look like a treasure hunting)
You are already dead at that time, don't let them curse you until their last breath too.
Safest method as for me. Still, you do have a lot of choice.
Like flash drive, paper wallet and so on.

A will may potentially be read by several people at your chosen law firm, and even more if it is contested for any reasons, needs to go to court, etc. I wouldn't store a private key in plaintext in a will. Better to give an encrypted private key or seed to a trusted family member or two, and put the decryption key in your will.

This requires you to use (and pay for) a third party company. This involves a large amount of trust, and could also leave you or your family unable to access your coins if they go out of business. Casa use a 2-of-3 multi-sig, where you have one key on your mobile phone, one key stored offline, and one key stored with them. However, your mobile phone key is backed up online (encrypted) and they hold the decryption key, meaning they effectively have access to 2 of your 3 keys, meaning they are in full control of your funds. It's not a solution I would recommend.

Great idea, we should have an idea about these things on how are we going to transfer all of our cryptocurrency to our family when we die but for me to lessen the stress of thinking that, if you really love your family you will let them know how to access your account. What is family if you keep a secret to them? Your family is your family, your wife your son, and your daughter, they are the ones why you are working why you are making cryptocurrency.

Do you not trust your family with at least giving them the location of the private key to obtain if they need it? Giving them a partial pass word and asking them to brute force it is the most inefficient way to leave a Bitcoin inheritance. You could leave your things in the hands of a trusted 3rd party and ask that 3rd party to give your possessions to your family when you die. This way, you could write down the password and hand it off safely to your family.

I would rather have it in my text file in a flash drive andput it in my pile of things, I'm sure no one will touchmy things except my kids since they are the only around in the house. Entrust it to you wife if you trust her. When its given to the wife its usually spent for the kids unless she's taht irresponsible. Don't make it hard and dont trust a 3rd party.

Of all the means that people have suggested, I do not think putting your inheritance in the hands of some people that run a platform is quiet sensible. What if people disappear one day? what will you do ?. It is better you get and hardware wallet and write the password as part of your will is consider as the best option

The idea is great but the easiest way to do it is via flash drive or usb, save your private keys in notepad then you will also create an instruction in notepad on how they can access wallet then convert and withdraw it. You can just leave the usb in the vault or anywhere as long as the member of your family can easily find it once you will die.

There are many bitcoins also that were not being use because in this type of scenario especially if the owner of that bitcoin was unable to think about the inheritance and he died in either accident or a sudden death.

You are overthinking too much
If you have kids,just tell them what Bitcoin is and that you plan to leave some BTC to them after you die.
Find some notary and give him your last will/testament/legacy written in paper.Your last will might include the passwords of your BTC wallet.After you die,the notary is obligated to read your last will to your kids and family and execute your last will by giving your password to your kids.Unfortunately,there's a middle man that has to execute the inheritance procedure,but that's what a notary should do.
Personally I don't plan to leave Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency to my kids.What if Bitcoin becomes really cheap after I die.My kids will inherit a really small amount of money.

if you're worried about it being stolen how about letting you most trusted lawyer hold the encrypted key that is designated to each of your beneficiaries with the password attached/sealed to it and stored on a bank locker and will only be retrieved and distributed to your beneficiaries once you died?

It's a good idea to leave Bitcoins as a form of inheritance to your family member. It would be very unsafe to just encrypt keys and share the password to your family member. What's best to do this is maybe to let everything be written in your last will and testament. It's something secure and private and can be trusted with your lawyer. Also, you can urge them to start their Bitcoin accounts and transfer maybe transfer coins little by little.

Damn this is a good one! Just include it to your "last will testament". Write the beneficiaries, amount/private key there, or simply put it on a hardware wallet and give the private key to your lawyer somehow. For me this is the best way to make sure that your money is going to your family if you are gonna die. It could be a friend or anyone else but it's hard to trust anybody, so for me a lawyer will be a good one. ;D

doesn't it all sound like an old idea of creating something very similar to solicitor's company in crypto?

Extremely risky. Your private keys should not be saved electronically, and especially not in plain text. Anyone who finds that flash drive can completely clear out your wallets in a matter of seconds. There is also a risk associated with copying and pasting your private keys in to notepad or similar. There is plenty of malware which could steal your private key from your clipboard, from the file itself, from your RAM, etc., and transfer it to a malicious third party.

This is even more risky than above. Not only do you have all the issues with extracting your private key and saving it to an electronic file as I described above, but now you are also printing that file (and have to worry about printer malware and the printer's built in memory), and giving it to a complete stranger. You are placing complete trust in the honesty of that lawyer, and everyone that he or she works with. You are also placing complete trust in their security systems and the security of their building. You also have to consider physical degradation or damage to your storage medium over 20, 30, 40, etc., years. There's an awful lot of things that go wrong here.

Recently a guy by the name of Bruno Kucinskas died who was an early participant of both the forum and bitcoin more widely.

He has an appeal to donate to help cover his funeral costs (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5236380.0) and in the couple of weeks since he died, those funds have remained untouched which has led many to speculate the family either doesn't know how to access the bitcoins, it's an elaborate hoax (ie he's not dead - wankety wank) or, the family are waiting to access the funds at a later date.  In either case, it highlights the need for families to be aware of just how many crypto's as person is HODLing when they die.

If I'm going to die soon, and want my bitcoins to be inherited I'd probably leave my family the simplest clue I can think of on how they are going to reach it. Since my computer has a password, I'll change it to much easier one, like my name, my initials, my birth date some kind of stuff that they are going to guess easily and I'm sure they are going to find my files I'll save a notepad containing all the instructions, private keys, password they need to reach out for my bitcoins. Having a lawyer for this is like also inheriting the lawyer of your bitcoins, coz having a lawyer is expensive, Aside if the amount of your bitcoin is not that huge then absolutely you won't be needing any of middle man.

Agree 100%.
Your solution isnt a solution when you put on non technical people need of brute-forcing password. Its like black magic to them.
I heard and red many inheritance solutions. Not single one is perfect, they all have their lows and highs.
Solution is needed here, because it should be as easy as transacting bitcoin through smartphone.

I know this has been discussed, and I think will be continued to be discussed over and over again. It varies with different people, especially what the family is like. It's going to be easy if the family you are going to leave it to is tech-savvy. If not, you are going to have a hard time explaining it.

Leave it this way, prepare the last dying will video for your family to see or whoever you want to leave that inheritance to. Make a written instruction as well as video instructions on what to do. I think if you have a hardware wallet, just teach them how to recover using your seed, and I think that's pretty easy. Prepare a list of links to help them as well.

it is a good question, i am also thinking regarding it, it is important for the family to have access to funds if someone is not there, but there is still no perfect mechanism to store your keys, and the family could take them afterwards, and it will be missed if you do not leave them, this has to be solved in the future

Op, if you're interested in this topic, you might want to check out this thread by LoyceV about Locktime: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5180850.0. The idea is that a signed transaction becomes valid after some years (after a future block). It's not a good solution if you're thinking of untimely death, but it is quite an original way to arrange inheritance.
As for your plan with limited characters and hope of brute force working, it seems quite risky to me, and it doesn't prevent the family from accessing the money before you actually die.

I am also thinking the same way in inheriting Bitcoin to anyone I love, I would just use a safety deposit box from a bank with a power of the attorney to surely secure your passphrase or the main key I don't want my loved ones to be torture in overthinking about opening my wallet and you will not really use your bitcoin when you are dead so just make a decision quite for that Bitcoin will continue in circulation than to just let it rot inside your wallet,

but if you don't trust the bank in taking the safety of your main key or password then just leave it to someone that you trust that also has even a small knowledge regarding Cryptocurrency.

I have thought a lot about this already and wondered what will happen to my Bitcoin legacy after my death, and I have come to the conclusion that one of my family members must be taught about digital currencies and the way I withdraw them from the platforms and wallets I own, and I created a small notebook in which I record all the important data and keep it in a safe place .

"2 - Print the encripted keys in paper or some more durable medium and store securely in your home."

If you are going to do the above except you are going to tell a trusted member of the family where it is located and most especially how to use it to retrieve the asset, i would say write all information on paper and deposit it in a bank or give your personal lawyer so that in your absence they can present to your next of kin, it will be more like having a will presented to your family.

This is an option but it's also risky to entrust those things to a lawyer knowing the details of the encrypted keys. And do you think that the bank will keep something like this? they don't even recognize cryptocurrencies. Educating your family while you are alive is the best option, teaching them how to access a wallet, retrieving a wallet through private keys that they can easily understand that it's the main key to unlock the funds that you'll above to leave as an inheritance.

A good idea to make bitcoin as inheritance, I didn't even think about. I agree with the 4 points mentioned in the opening post. So by running
these 4 points, the bitcoin that we will inherit can arrive safely to our family. Because the security of bitcoin storage is different from keeping
money in a bank that is guaranteed safe. Bitcoin needs a little special handling, as explained in the opening post. Because bitcoin storage is
vulnerable to being hacked, therefore we must pay attention to this bitcoin storage.

Actually even physical assets are entrusted with their personal lawyers and they are the one who will distribute assets base on the will and testament of the real, so there's no problem with this on digital assets to and if you really want to do this just make sure the attorney you hired is trusted and not a scumbag.

How are you going to change your password after you are dead? Also, unless you are using full disk encryption, a password to an account for your OS does nothing if someone has physical access to your computer. They can just remove your hard drive and mount it on a second machine.

Storing everything needed to steal all your bitcoin saved in a notepad or word processor file is an incredibly risky move. Anyone with physical or networked access to your computer can steal all your money, and there is countless malware which could find that file and send it to a remote attacker. You definitely shouldn't do this.

There's that word again - trust. The whole point is to not have to trust anybody. If you are going to trust a complete stranger like an attorney, then why would you not just cut out the middle man and trust your family member directly? Can you trust your own family less than someone you've never met?

Physical assets are different. Most physical assets aren't handed over to an attorney to keep safe until after you die, and even if you did do this, if they were to "go missing" then the attorney will be prosecuted for theft. If you hand an attorney a private key for safe keeping, he can steal all your bitcoin, deny any knowledge of it, and say you must have been hacked in some other way. Your family would never be able to prove otherwise, especially since you are no longer alive to explain how you set up your wallet in the first place.

I think you can trust at least one person in your family, whether it be your parents or spouse and they should know the private keys of your wallets and more importantly how to use those keys.

As an option, not bad. But the question of trust immediately arises, one cannot unfortunately exclude the possibility that someone will want to receive this money early. As an option, this is to share the password between the next of kin and give each part. So that if anything, they could collect it from pieces, but then a problem arises, if even 1 part is lost, then the password can no longer be collected.

I'm thinking of this too. How can I give my Bitcoin to my family when this happen to me.

The only way that I see is that giving all of the private key to a very trusted member of your family and in my case, maybe my wife and my son in the future will be the ones who will I give the private keys. For me, it is easier if you will just give all of the words to them instead of giving just half or they will not do anything on it or worse they will leave it and will not use. I will teach them the basics on how to store Bitcoin properly since I know some of the ways :). That is enough for me already.

I'd spend all my coins before I'd die though. I will buy big properties and teach my kids to rent it to accept BTC, this way I won't have to worry about them fighting over some BTC that they can earn by the business I will be giving out to them. I'd like to buy a big lot somewhere near a resort. Build a small hotel I guess, keep the two kids I have to be busy.

If you are to be giving the inheritance make sure all of the properties and money are shared equally or they fight over them asking why the other get a big stash than the other.

Entrusting your keys to your wife is the same thing as giving her your monthly paychecks, your wife is the closest person to trust your assets. With how you will provide details of your wallet/s give her the authorization to acquire everything. Not sure how but for me since my wife already have little knowledge about crypto and I already provide information in ow to access my crypto assets if I die she can easily use everything for our kids.

Whether is bitcoin or not any inheritance you intend to leave behind should be written and authorised - a will will do! If you could entrust the will writing person with instructions to the safe, perhaps storing the key in a hardcore wallet might be better- that only your family can access then you won't run into issues.

In the meantime you can condition members in your family and let them know that if something was to happen to you, you have a plan in place which will take care of them financially. These people  would each have a piece of the puzzle and only by working together they can access the key and get the inheritance thereafter?

It's an idea...

You are just making it more complicated it you will give partial passwords. I mean, if you really trust your family then there is no need to make your private keys or passwords incomplete like a puzzle. Been thinking also of giving my btc as an inheritance but not the way you think of, OP.
 
 You still have trust issues with your family thinking that one of your family member will gonna stole that thing. You can have your own vault, place that private key in a safe place. As simple as that.

I still have trust issues with everyone, except with the math.

Guys, we all must take into account the fact that no one can predict what will happen to us in a minute or the next day.  circumstances may occur that we will no longer be able to use our cryptocurrency or sell it in order to leave an inheritance to our children in monetary terms after ourselves.  Of course, when making a will, you can indicate any valuable and not valuable things for relatives who are granted an inheritance.  therefore, it seems to me that cryptocurrencies can also be indicated in the inheritance.  Only I can’t imagine How to transfer secret information to access accounts and wallets.  relatives who received the inheritance in order to use Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency will need some knowledge in any case.

It would be a wise idea to leave crypto assets such as BTC to our loves once that serves as last will to them and have its purpose as well like to spend it on their own benefits and life essentials. I already teaching my wife about crypto and how it works, compiled my private keys, 2fa codes and password for exchanges that i have assets unto it. I would recommend to do the same thing, trust your wife as she the most trusted in your family because she will all be benefited all including your sons and daughter in the future.

I guess some projects have already offered this service by a smart contract.

i like your idea of inheriting a bitcoin to our family or parents but your own personal idea is i think to complex or hard enough for our loved ones to figure it out  . bruteforcing means they need to use some software to crack your password or privatekeys  ?  this can only be done by a techy person but most mature people will likely have no clue to do it  . its better to give your keys or password and instruct them in advance on how to open your wallet so that they can withdrew the funds in a less hassel way  .

Making an inheritance is quite a good idea because at the early time while the market price of the coin is profitable it is a huge income to your family but the main problem is you want to keep it secured but how they withdraw their funds because if they are not knowledgable enough in the world of cryptocurrency it is a huge problem to them because they need to hire someone that will help them to open your account and we cannot tell this is safe because when people see the huge money they cannot stop themselves to attempt bypass and get your information at the same time they also paid and your family does not get any income to your stored bitcoin. Else you will withdraw this into a fiat currency so they can easily use this and do not want to help other people because this is the most common transaction nowadays.

If I know when will I die, I'd probably do the same thing too. Let's say I have just a month to live, I'd spend that time to treasure everything after getting reincarnated lol. Well maybe inheriting is best way to end your life, it would be the most remembered thing that you'll do before you die at least you have given your love ones a money. To give it an easy job for them, just make sure you converted it into your local currency before dying haha.

Don't bother to think of these things while dying, you'll be off soon so don't bother  :D

Yes, of course. I want to leave bitcoin as a legacy to my family, especially for my kids. I already teach some information to them, and I hope that they will understand even if they are still in school and learn many things. If they are growing up, and ready to know more about bitcoin, I will tell more about bitcoin to them, including how to keep the private keys in a secret place.

I am thinking to give the private keys to the one person who I can believe so the private keys will not be used for anything, and only for my family. I will use one password with a unique word and separate the password, and make it like a puzzle so they need to gather all of the words in one sentence so they can encrypt the keys, and they can use all of the amounts of bitcoin in that wallet.

But all of your money from banks even if they will get it years after you died still a small amount right?you cannot even earn 100 % of your investment from now and 10 years when you died.
why need to tell them earlier?when you can just wrote all the details in your last will and testament?they can just find it when you died?

I have also thought about this thing sometime and I couldn't come up with any better solution at the moment. What I resorted to is that whatever be the case there has to be someone that you can trust to keep your private keys safe just in case the inevitable happens. So I have exchanged private keys with my very best friends and given instructions how to give it to my family just in case. he has also done same with me and we have not had any issues for the past two years. it's not the best but that's what I have to use at the moment.

Do not trust anyone, even a lawyer. Remember these guys are the best liars you can imagine, they can lie to their God if they have to. I don't even trust my wife for if given a chance, she might just give everything to the next lover she meets after I die. It's best to just keep it for your kid. I'd try not to die until my kid knew how to crypto works.

the lawyers don't have to know the details of the encrypted keys. you can just instruct the lawyer to distribute it when you die

yes, bank locker is like a vault and you can keep almost anything important or valuable in it.

even better. they won't care or take interest to it. but since it is just an encrypted key I doubt they'll be suspicious about it.

yeah, but if you read the OP, the OP is worried that he's relatives might try to steal it and teaching them how it works will just make it easier for them. the process of retrieving it can be easily learned. you can just leave instruction with the encrypted key on how it works or what to do etc...

I actually laugh on this one but actually i would do the same thing which i cant even trust up my wife in regards to this matter.Im not even giving all of my income
even if im still alive because when you die you wont really know that those funds that you've worked so hard will just go to the hands of other guy that he would
meet up when youre gone.I would surely secure my funds into my siblings just in case.In talks of crypto i would early tell up my kids on how crypto works
and incase if i die i will tell them that they do just simply access my USB into my safebox and put all the instructions there.

Do you have a bad experience regarding relationships in building trust? Your wife is your life's companion, a support system that should support all your efforts, if there is no trust, how do you live your life?

Teaching the world of crypto to children is a good choice. Moreover, in the future this will be useful, it can be one of the most potential sources of income. And yes, if you plan to make a legacy with BTC then you should teach your children well.

Hello everyone. I think this is an ideal idea to leave bitcoin as an inheritance to your children. How to do this technically is the second question; it’s not difficult to come up with. But this is phenomenal - someone leaves a legacy of an apartment, a car, but cryptocurrency is like leaving a micro plant that makes a profit. No one doubts that the price of bitcoin will rise, and if you treat such an inheritance correctly, it will be the best inheritance that a person could come up with.

This is also I’m thinking to leave all of my crypto assets to my love ones. The only thing that comes in my mind is to share my private keys to them. Of course, the best part on that you are discussing it first to your family what truly is bitcoin. This way they will understand the usage and importance of crypto.

I think that you can easily include your password in your last will somewhere and keep the will locked. Don't tell your family that you have Bitcoins.
Usually people don't read last wills of their family members before their death.

You can also write it on the property deed. They won't have the need for that before your death, but they will need it to transfer ownership of your home to them and then they'll find it.

You can also tell them and divide the password among all of them, telling each of your loved ones a part of the phrase. They will have to come together to be able to share the coins when you die which means none of them will be left behind.

I also have taught about this, i was thinking that maybe i could create a program that continuesly have a popup notification in my phone checking if im still active/alive and if the day comes that i can no longer turn off notifications and if something happens to me then the program will activate and my private keys and creds about bitcoin will be sent to my family.

Might want to rethink that strategy ... All a "bad guy" would have to do is hack/clone your relatives systems ahead of time, then cause you to loose your phone - hey presto! No more BitCoins.

Some usefull information can be found here https://news.bitcoin.com/how-to-bequeath-your-digital-assets-to-your-descendants/

Its vital to keep your private keys in a safe place. For example you had 100k worth of bitcoin on site A and this happened to go down or vanish over time..With private keys you can retrieve your coins from the bitcoin network into another wallet or site B. Bitcoins are always safe if you keep your private keys safe from hackers or greedy family members.

My advise is buy a mini saftey deposit and place you private keys inside. Instruction with the deed lawyer. Lawyer dosent need to know what asset are being written down. if tax has been already paid no need to worry!. some countries do require inheritance tax to be paid. In the bitcoin law im not to certain.

Trezor is another safe device..the issue is firmware updates are required on regular basis.

The other method is time lock bitcoins. :-)

Regards

The best way to leave bitcoin as an inheritance, is to tell the person we trusts the storage of the private key from our wallet.
Usually our parents or spouse. Therefore we can rest easy our bitcoin heritage can be accepted by our families. Or another
way to hire a professional lawyer, so you can leave bitcoin as an inheritance safely. No need to worry will be controlled by our
greedy family.

It is a good idea especially for the people who have a lot of bitcoins, our family can use it if we have a note or certain information about our wallets and how to access it if there will a bad things that happen for us. We cannot see the future after all so it is better to be prepared. Our bitcoin will be a waste if there not note that we will leave in our home, it is better if we will see it as inheritance that our family can use. But we should also make sure that our family have good money management where we can sure that our bitcoins will use in good things and not in illegal or bad things.

If you have a lot of money in your wallet, you should do so, or you can instruct your wife or your child to remember them. In addition, you should ask them to learn how to dep and withdraw the coins to their correct wallets to exchange fiat money. There are many people who don't know and frequently transfer wrong wallets and your bitcoin number can take forever. Guide them as soon as you can.

If your family members aren't interested and not knowledgeable about bitcoin, you should convert it into a fiat money so that they can directly get the benefit from it. Send it to their bank accounts so that it is less hassle for them to have an access to your bitcoin, especially when some of our family members are old enough to become more engaged in technology. Bitcoin as inheritance is good if your family members know how to manipulate it, if you teach them the concept or principles of bitcoin, maybe they can continue what you've started. Managing bitcoin is not that easy because we all know that it is very volatile in the market, it takes time to adopt in the market and you really need practice and experiences to become an effective bitcoin holder.

I think letting them know that soon is not a good idea because life has so many obstacles and we don't know what will be the future understanding so making this is not a good idea that fast.

Maybe better to just let them know in time,maybe make them ready in case of emergency or unexpected situations.

Having a proper written is best way to do,or at least have them a USB that can be found in your personal things when you died unexpected so they will know how to take their part from your crypto assets.

You need to choose someone who is trustworthy, responsible, creative, and wise enough to inherit your coins. It is not that easy to hold a bitcoin, there are a lot of things to consider to prevent losses in bitcoin. Market is one of the most crucial factor in the price of bitcoin because of its volatility in the market.

When you die, you should teach some of your family members some idea about cryptocurrency so that as early as they can, they practice and gain a lot of experience manipulating that. Private keys are also important and the best thing to do is secure and protect your assets until your family members are already knowledgeable about bitcoin.

Inheritance is not that easy, giving your trust and your assets that you've worked for, for so many years needs to be in a good hand. Being open-minded about cryptocurrency is the most essential thing that people who will inherit needs to acquire.

Even though they are your brother or sister, or any member of your family if they don't have any interest in this, you better not risk. Better to find someone that could be worthy of such confidentiality.

Maybe it was best to expose them to crypto early and give them a chance to explore in such a way they'll never get hard to understand the market as they will take the responsibility in the future.

You can use hardware wallet to make things easier, store the wallet in a bank and put it on your will and testament, and give instructions there on how they will use the wallet and what is the part of each family member to the piece of bitcoin pie. Inheritance system for bitcoin, in my opinion does not solve any problem, you can entrust almost anything in your will, that includes your online accounts and stuff like that. I think that there is no merit in going extra step to do something simple that works. And on the side note, making a inheritance is vulnerable to attacks in this time and age and the non-electronic concept works best because hackers do not see any merit attacking a notary or lawyer's office and expect profit.

Your way is the like of that national treasure movie where only those who know to decrypt the map can find the treasure. why not make it simple for them, you're giving it to them anyway. why not put all information at once that can be easily to understand by some normal person. In my opinion, the only crucial information you need to put on the letter of the inheritance is "Do this alone" no matter what happens. This will make sure that no one can get access to whatever the amount of cryptocurrency that you left them.

I will choose Bitcoin to be my inheritance than Money in banks or any
 other assets since i Believe this will
 be a fortune for my family's future,all the cryptocurrency that in my
 pocket now will remain for them
10-20 years from now,though it is not that Big amount but i believe
 when time that adoption finally
 happens?amount like mine will be worth more than what i am expected.

It seems like you are already getting ready to have your last will and testament to be prepared once you die. Well, that was really a problem because your assets (money) stored in your bank as well as your properties are easy to be stated in the legal document because it has already a legal process since it is clearly stated as you owned. But when it comes to cryptocurrency like Bitcoin to be left as your last will seem to be hard because privacy is the main thing we are all protecting when it comes to our accounts. We cannot just entrust it into anyone having your private key or password because they can already have an easy access on it once known. But if you are really wondering how you will leave it as inheritance, then you may at least leave some clues to be able for your family to have an access on it. But I think since they will be your beneficiary once you die, I think it will be best to directly give them the access since they were the once who will be having it. But in any cases that you don't know and no one do really know when a person will die, maybe writing it on a piece of paper your private key or access to your account and include it into your last will for your family to have it directly.

Does your family understand cryptocurrency too? if not yet available, you should provide education to the closest and most trusted family, for example, your husband or wife, your brother or sister. This is as an anticipatory step so that the inheritance can be well utilized.
There is a simpler way. You create a document containing letters, instructions, etc. You can also include a private key or password to access the wallet containing your inheritance. Then you can ask for the help of a trusted lawyer, or to make it simpler to keep it with other important papers.

China Passes Law Protecting Cryptocurrency Inheritance

https://news.bitcoin.com/china-law-cryptocurrency-inheritance/ by Kevin Helms

Bitcoin is a wonderful wealth inheritance. i guess you should inform and educate your family members how to use it. Educate them how to encash it. If you do not educate them, your bitcoins might be invested to scams like Bitconnect. Or they might seek advice to wrong people when you die. Must teach them properly.

Thats the simpliest thing on my mind in talks of inheritance where you do teach the closest family member and even teaching out the basics which would really be
enough yet incase you die they will able to access your crypto wallets yet even having that basic knowledge would really be enough.Even myself do tell my wife
about it and all of my files are on USB on a text file in all of my wallet keys even though i dont totally trust up my wife (lol) but this is better that to entrust
it to third party or do make will on a lawyer.

Maybe not all of the family but he can tell his trusted family members and teach him/her about how to use bitcoin so he/she won't have a problem in the future. We can tell the family members, but we cannot force them to learn bitcoin or use bitcoin because that will be their decision to use bitcoin or not. But if one of our family members have a curious about bitcoin, that will be the right time to tell and explain everything that we know to them.

I havent been able to fully decide to tell someone about the assets I have so far on bitcoin even if its my closest family. As an asset that has value, bitcoin can be inherited 100% to others of our own volition and in our own way.

I understand on what basis this thought emerged. We cant know when we die and that has become the main idea why we all have to prepare everything well so that it can be used by families. For a small amount, I dont think you need to bother thinking about how it should be. But if the amount of assets that are owned in large quantities, then it must trust someone who can represent us as well as in a lawyer.

Even so, I also have a special note that I keep safely and will notify someone one day. Among the important things that I think should include:
1. Bitcointalk.org account with a password
2. Private key bitcoin wallet
3. Email along with a password
4. Exchange account and a few other things.

For to get additional security then I wont say what the actual amount is.

This is an important topic that I don't see being discussed nearly as often as it should.  I made a write up about it a few months back in the collectibles section.  While this write up was more geared towards collectibles, it also applies for digital assets such as bitcoin pretty much just the same.  Worth a read, a lot of good info contributed as well- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5134350.msg50703294#msg50703294

Anything you leave your family is important, we always think of the things of greatest value as if they make our heirs or family happy.

The reality is that no matter the good that is going to be left, you only have to leave clear and precise instructions on how to do it.

You can leave something notarized and registered for the law through an attorney to enforce it, remember something, in these times of the 21st century, there are such valuable things as YouTube channels, website, applications, etc., they are not different from a active as the bitcoin for which you inherit them,  so sometimes the instructions of what to do with the ones you are giving as an inheritance can be more beneficial than the inheritance itself.

I mean why give them problem after you die when you can just tell your wife the password that way they wouldn't stress their minds out figuring out the key to the wallet of your Bitcoin wallet address.
You can give the password to other members of the family, the ones you trust but limit it to three person.

Maybe, you could entrust your security to your friend, for example, ask them to remind your family if you die, that you have a drawer where you store bitcoins, including all the security passwords to your account to make sure that they can access it. I think there's no reason for you to put up a puzzle for them to brute force your accounts just make it easy for them, the only problem you need is how you could make sure that you are the only person who can access your drawer, and to make sure it is secured. All you just need is a piece of paper, hide it in the safest place possible.

I'm a lawyer, working in bitcoin full time since early 2014. I've been working on this inheritance issue for a few years now. You can find free resources at my website: empoweredlaw.com, including a "Letter to Loved Ones" template that you can use to let your people know you have bitcoin after you're gone. If you need more, I've also written a book: Cryptoasset Inheritance Planning, which will guide you through the steps of making a plan that will (hopefully) work for you and your loved ones.

There is no one solution, every family is different. Some people have families who are technophobes, others are cryptosavvy. Some have younger or older people they are responsible for, others don't. Your risk profile and your family situation will determine what the "right" plan is for you. However the most important thing you can do to help them is designate 2-3 people who can help them recover your assets when you're gone. It's likely you're the bitcoin expert in your house. When you're gone they'll need someone else, trustworthy, to help them. I don't like the idea of just one person (single point of failure) so I prefer to designate a couple of people who don't know each other or have no reason to collude.

Hope this helps.

As far as I understand, a person initially does not want to trust his money to anyone, friend or family. He wants them to be able, even theoretically, to receive money only after his death, and not earlier. And here big problems are possible, because let's say that a person does not trust anyone, although, I would probably suggest then, a bank cell.

You do have a point on where not all people would really have that kind of trust even though it do talks about into their closest loved one when it regards to money.We dont now that in-depth reason but its their choice
we cant even tell if they do tend for those funds to be inherited or just fully decided to let those coins lost in void after his/her death.I do see that bank cell option but it would be all useless if you havent teached out
everything to those people whom you do like to received your crypto as an inheritance. If you are willing to leave it all then you will surely have that option on teaching out everything next to the person whom you trust.

That was a nice yet a little bit tricky way of passing your coins to your loved ones :D. But what if you died because of a sudden accident (knock on the wood), how did they find where your safety box located? And how can they open it just in case you used a vault? Well, just a "what if".

I think much better to do is pick someone who you trusted the most. The one who really loves you as a whole and not because of your money. You can tell him/her your private keys right away and how can they have it. You now have nothing worry about because if a person really loves you, he will not get tempted with all of the assets you have and try to backstab you over these material things :). It is very crucial so choose wisely.

Trust is a big issue when it comes to letting a family member to know about your private keys when you're still alive. Am just scared of the unknown attitude that might be display from him when he sees the bitcoin assets I owed. He might arrange my killings before my time.


The best idea I will go with is to inform my family members that I have a box saving in a bank where all your documents and private keys are kept

That is i believe is right because we knew Money and we also knew what will happen if this become greedy used?
the value of bitcoin is really going up and we can't deny
 the fact that if Bitcoin comes to million value for sure family members will be into the crypto asset we can inherit
them and in the end will even come to fighting,arguing
and the sad part is killing just to win the inheritance.so better educate the most trusted one but never let Him/Her
 know your private keys,just let the key hiding until the
final day comes that they need to take their share,by your attorney or even place the keys in your most precious
thing that they can find when your are already gone.

Although it would be fairly smart to leave bitcoins as inheritance, many laws on intestate and succession would have to be then revised or repealed in order to cater to this idea. I am not familiar with the all laws of inheritance but because bitcoins are a new type of monetary exchange, creating laws for these would take several hearings, modification and various votings for the legislative body. Moreover, before they can even get to the point of hearing this in their respective congress, these lawmakers have to have extensive knowledge on this topic, the pros and cons. Keep in mind that there are many people to consider when taking this to congress and for them to actually hear it.

It is still possible, can leave an inheritance by just putting small information that only our friend knows and the half information for our family in which when combined together, could potentially unlock the funds that we secured. It is not necessary to provide the password, maybe just give some hints, we'll not give out anything while we live, the idea is to preserve it till we die so our family will benefit from it, might as well provide a small credit to our friends.

But as the cryptocurrency era is currently expanding and develops I think pretty soon, there will be services that will offer this bitcoin inheritance system.

Very surprising, can be that extreme what you imagine. But that's the right thing to do, if you are still alive, don't let other people you don't trust fully have access to where your assets are stored. Wealth / money / property can change a person's character, can be greedy and will do everything possible to get that wealth as soon as possible. That is why you think so.

Well, you've done the right thing :)

I also began to prepare for this, because death can come anytime and unexpectedly. I have educated my wife, our trust is truly sincere, we share passwords and other important matters related to assets in the crypto world. I feel calm :)

So much money in cryptocurrencies have been lost due to relatives not having access to the private keys and passwords of the owners. I think it will always be best to share the location of your keys with someone you trust. It could be your wife, brother or at least a good friend so that once you pass away they can retrieve the funds for future use.

Company called Casa are currently perfecting a decent solution for this.

I run 2 Casa nodes, highly recommend their product if you're not overly technical like me :)

Lol, a family where there is no trust is no family at all. In that family there must be someone that you really trust. These are people that you have been living all your life with, so you can’t say that you don’t know anything about them. There should be one or two persons that you know very well and trust. You can let this person know that you’re into such thing and tell them your password so that they will know. If anything should happen, they will be able to have access to it.

All the list you have mentioned here is quite unnecessary, and won’t work. It’s just going to be either you tell them or you just leave and forget about it completely. It’s still up to you to decide what’s best for you.

It's my problem because my family doesn't know or doesn't even know what is bitcoin, so it's difficult to tell them at this moment I'm hoping that maybe soon because the world is getting exposure in bitcoin a lot of people maybe would be interested in bitcoin. We dont really know when we are going to die and if that happened your bitcoin is just going to be lost forever. But having a journal seems a good idea where they could read after you die where all of the details like private key password etc is in there since I already have one where are store most of my private keys. But for now, maybe I could say I don't trust them when my small investment ;D.

You dont need for bitcoin to be adopted worldwide for them to learn.You should at least teach them by your own even with the basics or on how to access a wallet and able to

pull out the coins and able to exchange it with fiat and that should be enough.If you cant just trust them for now then dont reveal that you've been saving up some coins

and when the time comes that you die then they have the idea on how to open your wallet and of course you should tell them if you do have the chance but for more secure then

they do just give out some hint.

Maybe it is good idea having handbook where your account is listed with the password or private keys and leave it on your locker where your family have access when you live this world. While you are alive,.your family knows about your transactions and crypto even they do not involve on it which give them hint that their inheritance has something to do with it.

That's what I did for my daughter. Since she's computer literate already, I have shared the basics on how to access my holdings  and what to do with it. We don't know what will future brings so it's better to be ready for the possibilities. It's better that we'll have something to leave them in case unexpected things happen.

I think it just better to write your seed phrase in your teastment that will be read after your death

I also plan to leave all my crypto to my family as inheritance and I think the safest way is to leave some guide on how to operate and convert my crypto into Fiat.
But I want to be sure that only my family would get it so I am planning to create a message that would only be sent on a certain date if it is possible with all the details and everything that they need to know.

People are talking about it now because of the Pandemic, I read sometime ago that there is a service that specialize on this, but it's still preferable to educate your inheritors about the inheritance, in case they are not yet acquainted to Cryptocurrency, give them the hardware wallet and all the relevant information in a vault, maybe a video explaining everything about Bitcoin will do.

On the flip side, death is as scary as s**t! Well, some day one will definitely die. That's inevitable. But what matters beyond one's ability to secure one's assets the best way one can is the need to always do good while alive. One thing remains striking while making every attempts to safeguard one's Bitcoin, no matter whatever password one uses, is that there is always that loophole where a costly slip could happen and then make a complete mess of whatever security one had by breaching it. Hackers are a clever set of humans. They're always trying to beat the network.

The scary thing is we don't know when we are going to die  ;D, Even at this moment I already think of this but still not doing it maybe when I have my own family I would like to teach them about this bitcoin, etc.

Or Maybe just print everything that your family needs to know so that when the time has come they are going to read those and figure out about your investment or bitcoin. Another scary thing is when you don't have an investment for them to inherit  ;D

Other than people hospitalised with a terminal disease or a person on "death row" (or on battle fields) we usually don't know when we're going to die.  Imagine being told you have years to live, not bothering to get a Will drawn up much less bother to put in place a Crypto handover then being involved in a car crash and dying before you can put any of those plans in place.

brute forcing is hard to do  . even me that im familiar with it  i didnt learn brute forcing and how much more to those elder people that dont know how to use a crypto or can hardly use modern technologies  .

they dont learn crypto yet but they are going to learn how to do brute force first just to open your wallet ? lol . not a good idea , just give your password and dont let others suffer .  they are not any other people anyway but they are your family and they wont do unwanted things to your money