What happens to the coins after your death ?

[sapnu]

It is one of the most frequently asked question in the forum and I think bitcoin or crypto developers would find or make a way on how this can be solved. A sudden death can make your coins go to waste so it would be best that you have some back up files left to your family so that they can access your earnings if ever you die accidentally or unexpectedly. I just hope the developers can make some kind of memorialized option for those who encountered unexpected death wherein through legal documents revealing the relation of a certain family member, they can access the account or withdraw to make use of it.

[Cling18]

In most of the cases when the person dies, his crypto would become useless if his family member do not know about his keys.

I do not usually tell my password or keys to anyone and i know majority of the people don't do this. We are being taught to keep the keys safe.
No one think that one day he will die and in that case, his family won't be able to use those savings (bitcoin/crypto) if they don't know the keys.
Also people won't like to share keys with siblings or wife because they can misuse them. So what could be the solution to this 

My better half knows all my wallet keys since then and vice versa so I believe that my coins are safe no matter what happens. We're starting to teach our daughter things about crypto so she'll also have an access to it in the future. We must have at least a single and trusted person to share our wallet keys with because we don't know the possible things that could happen in the future.

[Rikafip]

It's a good idea, but I don't like the way it is set up. Having a centralized service store your encrypted message, which will presumably be your seed phrase, and handing out the decryption key to your family and friends is the wrong way to do things.

Yeah I know, its not really ideal, just one of the options.

Much better to give your family and friends your encrypted seed phrase, and have a third party service store and email out the decryption key.

True, that's a better way. For me personally just giving seed phrase to my wife and parents works fine, but I know that not everyone can trust theirs (which sucks I might add). My wife asked me (half joking lol ) do I trust her with seed phrase, to which I told her that I would divorce her already if I don't trust her with something like money.

I have my wallet keys saved on my hard drive and my son and wife have the password to my hard drive but are only permitted to use it on my instructions or when am not accessible to use it. This has helped me to secure my coins, I can't afford to risk my digital assets so I let my family have access to my keys and passwords.

But what if something happens to the hard drive? Just few months ago my SSD stopped working after only couple of years, thank God I didn't have any important data there and I don't wanna even think about what would happen if I had something as sensitive as wallet keys stored there. Sure, you can restore some data, but its a major pain in the ass and AFAIK you can't retrieve 100% of the data.

My point is, you might wanna consider saving those keys someplace else as well, just in case.

[pawanjain]

In most of the cases when the person dies, his crypto would become useless if his family member do not know about his keys.

I do not usually tell my password or keys to anyone and i know majority of the people don't do this. We are being taught to keep the keys safe.
No one think that one day he will die and in that case, his family won't be able to use those savings (bitcoin/crypto) if they don't know the keys.
Also people won't like to share keys with siblings or wife because they can misuse them . So what could be the solution to this 

When you die your bitcoins die with you  This decreases the supply hence making bitcoin more valuable.
The only way anybody else would be able to access your bitcoins would be if hackers find a way to access your device where you stored bitcoins or if some way to access your keys.
Also, if you are willingly letting your acquaintance to access your keys then they will get the custody of your bitcoins.
For now I have just said my brother that I am holding cryptocurrencies and I am planning to letting him know how to access my coins in case of any unfortunate event.
In future though, if I get the benefit to accumulate more coins then I am planning to somehow give it back to the community.

[Issa56]

After you die and you don't share your private key and your password with any of your family I believe nobody will be able to access your wallet after your death which is very bad and if you tell them your private key they will definitely miss use it so the only thing I believe is the best thing to do is to make sure you have a diary where you write all your password and your private key which after your death they can easily see it and your coins won't just be in your wallet.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I just hope the developers can make some kind of memorialized option for those who encountered unexpected death wherein through legal documents revealing the relation of a certain family member, they can access the account or withdraw to make use of it.

Absolutely not. Any such system would by definition mean that through the consensus of a number of third parties - the developers, in this case - anybody's coins could be moved or withdrawn without the consent of that person. If you do that, then you destroyed the very essence of what bitcoin is by requiring complete trust in a number of third parties. If you want a third party to be able to move your money, then go use a fiat bank.

For me personally just giving seed phrase to my wife and parents works fine, but I know that not everyone can trust theirs (which sucks I might add).

I always find it pretty sad when people on here talk about how they can't trust their partner with knowledge of their seed phrase, in case their partner steals all their money. You are in a committed relationship with this person, but you can't trust them not to clear you out and leave at the first chance they get? You've got bigger problems then figuring out how to leave your bitcoin to someone after you die.

For now I have just said my brother that I am holding cryptocurrencies and I am planning to letting him know how to access my coins in case of any unfortunate event.

What if that unfortunate event leaves you incapacitated or dead. Saying to him "I'll tell you later how to access them" is useless. You need a plan in place now.

[mckinleeanael07]

My habit is that I usually don't tell anyone my password or keys, I just write some important things in my diary and maybe when I die. No one knows of its existence. Because of everything I do or any secrecy about the coin, I am very careful and careful not to want anyone to invade my privacy. I just like to be alone and independently

[qwertyup23]

In most of the cases when the person dies, his crypto would become useless if his family member do not know about his keys.

I do not usually tell my password or keys to anyone and i know majority of the people don't do this. We are being taught to keep the keys safe.
No one think that one day he will die and in that case, his family won't be able to use those savings (bitcoin/crypto) if they don't know the keys.
Also people won't like to share keys with siblings or wife because they can misuse them . So what could be the solution to this 

This question has been raised before and the answer stays the same: it's good as dead assuming that you kept your private keys to yourself.

Our BTCs are stored in our wallets that are protected with our respective private keys. In the unfortunate event that you die, no one will be able to access your wallet without which knowing the private keys; that is why it is somehow advisable to create a safe-lock containing all of your essential items/documents for your heirs to manage.

[ChiBitCTy]

This is where establishing a will comes in to play.  You can write up a will, have it stored in a safe place and require it to only be viewed upon your passing, which is all stuff you can set up through lawyers.  It's important that you make sure a couple people are aware of these plans, just in case you were to tragically pass with the only other person or persons who know about what you have going on in terms of your Will.  I created a topic about this a few years ago I would highly suggest reading- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5134350.msg50703294#msg50703294

They have even written books about this very topic  - https://www.amazon.com/Cryptoasset-Inheritance-Planning-Simple-Owners/dp/1947910116/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?keywords=estate+planning+bitcoin&qid=1555850417&s=gateway&sr=8-5

[ivankoh]

Just make a testament or will whenever the time comes to you. If that won't work, teach one of your family members how to make wallets and how to recover wallets.
That will suffice your worry but you have to be sure that the person you'll be teaching is trustworthy.

How many people will do it this way. For me no, if I had children, I would give them 12 keywords and write down my will in a sealed safe.
the rest, no one wants, it will be put into a chain called coffin burn forever. Lol

[mindrust]

In most of the cases when the person dies, his crypto would become useless if his family member do not know about his keys.

I do not usually tell my password or keys to anyone and i know majority of the people don't do this. We are being taught to keep the keys safe.
No one think that one day he will die and in that case, his family won't be able to use those savings (bitcoin/crypto) if they don't know the keys.
Also people won't like to share keys with siblings or wife because they can misuse them . So what could be the solution to this 

If you die and nobody knows your password, you'll become the eternal hodler.

Since the coins you originally owned will never ever move again, they won't be sold on the exchanges which means the other people that control their coins will potentially benefit from your sacrifice by having higher bitcoin prices.

[RapTarX]

This is something weird to think about LOL. I have my hardware wallet and a metal with my seed key. I'm trying to teach my family how to use this. Apart from that, I have written some direction on a paper with the metal. I believe if I'm not here, they will be able to recover my coin.

[Leviathan.007]

Considering my lifestyle, I hope to live for long years. But, we we should always think about any situation. A year ago I said my sister, mother and my girlfriend about my fund and how I invest. So, they know what I do and they can use all the assets I invest. Also, I wrote all my recovery codes on a peace of paper and I did put the paper in a super safe location. In that paper I write some words for my family and I did advice them to use the coins for a good purpose such as donating for poor children. However, I'm not sure if they will even find the find the paper or not. However, some other people may want their assets to be buried and inaccessible after their death.

[SaShiRaJaVu]

In most of the cases when the person dies, his crypto would become useless if his family member do not know about his keys.

I do not usually tell my password or keys to anyone and i know majority of the people don't do this. We are being taught to keep the keys safe.
No one think that one day he will die and in that case, his family won't be able to use those savings (bitcoin/crypto) if they don't know the keys.
Also people won't like to share keys with siblings or wife because they can misuse them . So what could be the solution to this 

There are many threads that discusses about the coins we hold after our demise and the most legit one is that you can write a Last Will or Testament with the help of a lawyer so that all the coins reaches our family after our demise and with the pandemic situation it is a necessary that we should do these if you are holding huge amount of money in cryptocurrency as you never know what happens in the future even if you are healthy and young.

[AakZaki]

at least we must have the intended heir to hold the private key wallet and be able to access it when something unexpected happens to us.
The inheritance method for wallets like this has been discussed a lot in this forum and even many methods can be used to store private keys safely and only a few approved people know.
If you have many valuable digital assets or have 100 Bitcoins for example, it is very necessary to do all the heir preparations. lest the Bitcoin can not be opened by anyone, when we are not in this world anymore.

[ReiMomo]

You can hire a lawyer and make a last will testament about this, and explain it there how to access your bitcoin to your heirs.
This is everyone's common problem, when they had died and did not tell their family about his bitcoin and it will not recover anymore, his bitcoin belongs to the forever lost bitcoin that estimated 20% of the entire supply which mean unrecoverable. 

We should aware of this, that's why I now start thinking about the best idea when we passed away who will benefit our crypto assets knowing that they are also aware of how to use it and convert it into fiat.

[Slow death]

this is a very complicated issue to be resolved, you asked a question about in case someone dies as the relatives will have access to the coins of the person who died, but there is another question that is also very important and serious, which is:

in case two people get married and then separate, how is the division of currencies? Do coins count in the inventory of goods that must be shared?

how is the children's inheritance if the parents have coins?

these are very difficult issues to solve

[Ryker1]

^[snip]
this is a very complicated issue to be resolved....

Well, you have a point, this is a very complicated question because there are possible consequences and it will depend on the situation.
Perhaps all you have to do is write down the private key and put it into your valuable belongings something in a vault or any safety place that belongs to your valuable assets. In that case, once they found it, they will surely have proper research on how to use it, --everything is now on the internet and there is too many tutorials how to use bitcoin, for sure your family will not hard to understand what it bitcoin and how to use it safe.

[gundala]

It is one of the most frequently asked question in the forum and I think bitcoin or crypto developers would find or make a way on how this can be solved. A sudden death can make your coins go to waste so it would be best that you have some back up files left to your family so that they can access your earnings if ever you die accidentally or unexpectedly. I just hope the developers can make some kind of memorialized option for those who encountered unexpected death wherein through legal documents revealing the relation of a certain family member, they can access the account or withdraw to make use of it.

that's how it is, concerns about losing access to our assets if we die suddenly need to be prepared. That's why I always share with my wife and teach her how to earn money from cryptocurrency. I make a special note regarding the secret key to access all the wallets I hold, as well as my wife, so if something goes wrong then the asset is still safe and can be used.

This is a precaution that really must be prepared. In the past, there must have been a lot of people who didn't think that bitcoin would be this fantastic in price, that's why many lost access to their wallets because they stored keys carelessly, and look how many regret it.

[Luqman]

It will depend on each individual. Sometimes, each will have its own strategy.
for me personally, I am a married man, and I let my couple know about this and whenenever I died, it will be managed by her.
And if we are two dead at the same time, hopefully, my children can learn about cryptocurrency someday, that is why telling them earlier is kinda good ways.
However, if we are all dead at the same time, the coins will be lost or if someone finds them someday, they will get them.