Can you 'Will' your bitcoin to your children?

[Saint-loup]

The simple way you can do this is to distribute the assets you have to five wallets, each of your five children will receive the same amount of assets for the distribution you make, but there must be some kind of reminder so they can access the wallet, when we leave this world. For example writing a will somewhere, that you have saved some assets and wallet keys for the five of them and when the time is right they can retrieve them.

This is more fair for what you give to the five children, so it doesn't raise suspicions about the distribution of the will that you have and most importantly all of them can reach the access that you have stored and you have distributed it equally.

Unfortunately what is safe with fiat money is no longer safe with cryptos. If the notary, one of his associates or successor is dishonest, he will be able to easily steal the funds without leaving any evidence that he is the thief. And you will never know if the seeds have been hacked on your computer/smartphone, robbed by a housekeeper or randomly broken by a supercomputer if it happens in 10 years. That's why you can't leave seeds or private keys to a notary, if they are not encrypted with a password.

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[ancafe]

The simple way you can do this is to distribute the assets you have to five wallets, each of your five children will receive the same amount of assets for the distribution you make, but there must be some kind of reminder so they can access the wallet, when we leave this world. For example writing a will somewhere, that you have saved some assets and wallet keys for the five of them and when the time is right they can retrieve them.

This is more fair for what you give to the five children, so it doesn't raise suspicions about the distribution of the will that you have and most importantly all of them can reach the access that you have stored and you have distributed it equally.

Unfortunately what is safe with fiat money is no longer safe with cryptos. If the notary, one of his associate or successor is dishonest, he will be able to easily steal the funds without leaving any evidence that he is the thief. And you will never know if the seeds have been hacked on your computer/smartphone, robbed by a housekeeper or randomly broken by a supercomputer if it happens in 10 years. That's why you can't leave seeds or private keys to a notary, if they are not encrypted with a password.

You don't need to store it at a notary or in a place that you can't guarantee, just provide a small safe at home with sufficiently secure equipment and after you write down the private key then enter it. For me, saving something manually is much safer than online, for example, saving on a computer.

But if this method doesn't work and you have another method that is much safer, then it's worth a try, of course everyone has their own method that can be used, although sometimes the level of security is not good enough. Problems like this must have a solution, so that people who want to bequeath their wealth (bitcoin) have a level of security.

[rat03gopoh]

Can you "WILL" the private key to your favorite child or call them together and reveal the private key to them?

5 children of different ages and different levels of knowledge? It is impossible to give the same explanation in one place. At some point, one of the children can trick the other to get the privatekey.
Giving them their private keys at a separate place and time (and secretly) also teaches them some important lessons about security.

That's why you can't leave seeds or private keys to a notary, if they are not encrypted with a password.

Tbh it's a weak security method. If I had doubted the notary from the start, I'd not have trusted him at all instead of giving him an encrypted privatekey that would likely be tampered with with some bruteforce attempts and the capabilities of the future technology you describe.

[Pmalek]

You never said how old the children are. Are they old and responsible enough to understand what bitcoin is, how to keep a secret, and how to use it?
I would do this in advance and without getting lawyers involved.

Prepare their inheritance yourself. Top up 5 different wallets with unique seed phrases and teach them how bitcoin works and how they can spend their coins. I am guessing they respect you enough to understand that the coins are meant for the time after you are gone and that they shouldn't waste it. It's on you to guide them on how to safeguard their digital assets and teach them the basics of how to stay safe. 

[Issa56]

@Op It won't really make sense if you WILL the private key to your favorite child, you are already dividing your children already, I know you will definitely be having a favorite child, but you don't have to show it. If you want your child to share your bitcoin if you are no more around, then you can carve your bitcoin private key on a metal steel and hide it, in your WILL, you will discribe where the private key is been kept and you will ask them to share the bitcoin between themselves, just write the amount of bitcoin that will be allocated to each of them.

[Munir575]

Depending on the children's ages, if they have matured a bit, have had some exposure to life, and are possibly able to operate and use the internet, you can teach them a lot about Bitcoin so that they can handle the private key on their own. After teaching them, you might as well create separate wallets for each of them so that you can send each of them their respective shares so that they both have access to them. But its not wise to teach them before they get of age so it won’t be a distraction to them and their studies.

[moneystery]

If according to the conditions you provide, it's better for me not to give access to my bitcoin wallet to my 5 children, this is to prevent conflicts between them, because there will definitely be conflicts between them if I give access to only one person . Therefore it is very important for us to be able to teach our children about cryptocurrency and how to use it from the start, this is to make them understand more about how to use crypto and be able to continue the legacy of their parents who used to be pro towards crypto development.

[Adams0001]

The first thing I'd like you to do before sharing your Bitcoin with your five children, because they have no idea what it is. If you want to guide them on how to use crypto currency, they should go and do some research on it. Once they understand what crypto and Bitcoin are and how to use it and invest in it, you can open five wellets for each of them and share it with them as needed.

[tvplus006]

...What will you do? Since non of them are aware...

It would be great to pass on your knowledge about bitcoin to your children while you can still do it. And along with the knowledge, transfer to each of them the seed phrase from the wallet to which you transferred the bitcoins owed to them. Let your children know that you take care of them while you are alive, not after your death.

[Cedie]

Yes, you can. Well with or without a will, all your estate will be be divided to your heirs upon death, and estates are taxed. When it comes to taxation of cryptocurrencies, it is very complex in every country and there is no universal rule yet for its accounting. So unless you want your children to suffer the rough road of estates along with the emotional pain of you passing away, you should rather find an attorney who will execute your will on your behalf and who will find out how bitcoin is accounted for in your country because that is where the tax rate will be based. Either way, your heirs will still pay estate taxes because if not, transferring of your properties to them will not happen. But if you want your death to be a little bit easier and peaceful, liquifying your assets before is also an option.

[pawanjain]

~

First of all, depending on the place of residence, the execution of the will and its taxation may be different. So you should keep that in mind when drafting a will.

Regarding your example above: One Bitcoin can be divided into eight decimal places. What prevents you from writing a will that covers all five of your children equally? You then deposit this will (including the sealed private key of course) with a notary who, in the event of your death, will pay out the Bitcoin to your children according to their share.

Problem solved. After all, this is how it is done with other assets that are passed on to the descendants. With Bitcoin there is no big difference, except that the notary has to be familiar with Bitcoin and you have to include the private key in your will.

Yeah, I had the same logic in my mind as well. Just like any other assets, we can pass our bitcoins to our children.
But then a thought struck into my mind. What if a person from the notary steals the keys and then destroys the will ?
Even if the will is not destroyed but the coins will be gone since he would have the keys.
He will be easily able to take the coins and nobody would know how to prove him guilty of the theft.

[Jawhead999]

Yeah, I had the same logic in my mind as well. Just like any other assets, we can pass our bitcoins to our children.
But then a thought struck into my mind. What if a person from the notary steals the keys and then destroys the will ?
Even if the will is not destroyed but the coins will be gone since he would have the keys.
He will be easily able to take the coins and nobody would know how to prove him guilty of the theft.

Anything can happen, that's why it's advisable to leave your back up in the safest and unknown place. The better way is set a multisig wallet where you need at least 2 private keys, so when someone discover a private key, he will not able to take your coins. You can also create a time lock transaction where you've setup the transaction will occur after x date, your kids need to protect the back up of the new wallet and don't need to care with your old wallet.

[robelneo]

~

First of all, depending on the place of residence, the execution of the will and its taxation may be different. So you should keep that in mind when drafting a will.

Regarding your example above: One Bitcoin can be divided into eight decimal places. What prevents you from writing a will that covers all five of your children equally? You then deposit this will (including the sealed private key of course) with a notary who, in the event of your death, will pay out the Bitcoin to your children according to their share.

Problem solved. After all, this is how it is done with other assets that are passed on to the descendants. With Bitcoin there is no big difference, except that the notary has to be familiar with Bitcoin and you have to include the private key in your will.

Yeah, I had the same logic in my mind as well. Just like any other assets, we can pass our bitcoins to our children.
But then a thought struck into my mind. What if a person from the notary steals the keys and then destroys the will ?
Even if the will is not destroyed but the coins will be gone since he would have the keys.
He will be easily able to take the coins and nobody would know how to prove him guilty of the theft.

There are some ways you can hide when notarizing it even without a notary only a signature and a video testimonial will suffice just notarize it after the assets are handed down, in my case I will distribute my Bitcoin asset while alive so I can oversee and teach them how it works and even motivate them to HODL it, there's a little complication when it comes to an asset like Bitcoin compared to all the other assets, so distributing when you're still alive will ease the burden.

[Stable090]

I don’t know your children’s age, but I thinking if the are uptill 18 years and above, I don’t think you should hide anything from them again, it will be better if you just introduce bitcoin to them then create wallet for all of them and share the bitcoin to them, am sure they will want to hold it and am sure some might even want to buy more, so that they will top up the bitcoin you give them.

[mamesso]

In a case where you have five children and you don't have much physical assets but you have a enough bitcoin that non of your children are aware of it. Now your age is advancing, you begins to prepare "WILL" and there is no way to divide and share bitcoin account to the five children! What will you do? Since non of them are aware.

Can you "WILL" the private key to your favorite child or call them together and reveal the private key to them? Or what will you do?
OK guys is up to you!

Keep in mind, every child has the same rights to assets owned by their parents. There is no term favorite child in the distribution of assets, each child will receive equally. I will not give up private keys to my five children, they have different minds and not all of them understand blockchain technology.
To prevent something unwanted from happening in the future, I will sell all the assets in the wallet and then share them equally. That way they can make the money for their business capital.

[Rabata]

In a case where you have five children and you don't have much physical assets but you have a enough bitcoin that non of your children are aware of it. Now your age is advancing, you begins to prepare "WILL" and there is no way to divide and share bitcoin account to the five children! What will you do? Since non of them are aware.

Can you "WILL" the private key to your favorite child or call them together and reveal the private key to them? Or what will you do?
OK guys is up to you!

An excellent question. In this situation I will divide my bitcoins into 5 wallets. Because I know not everyone in 5 will be able to keep it carefully. Those who wish will sell and some may hold for a long time. What will I give them by opening their separate wallets so that they don't feel any discomfort in the future. I will try to make them aware of the potential of Bitcoin before giving them the assets.

[Sexylizzy2813]

Can you "WILL" the private key to your favorite child or call them together and reveal the private key to them? Or what will you do?
OK guys is up to you!

OP this is a very earnest matter and a tempting one, when you say "favorite child" it will be some how if the other children gets to hear about it that the father gets to choose one ahead of the others and it might cause hatred. So the best is to make it look equal.
Well, for me I'll make it easy by giving the pass key to the eldest child and make it known to them that it's there own but he/she should be incharge of it. Is like where they'd get all funds to support each other if other properties can meet up to their needs...

[pawanjain]

~

First of all, depending on the place of residence, the execution of the will and its taxation may be different. So you should keep that in mind when drafting a will.

Regarding your example above: One Bitcoin can be divided into eight decimal places. What prevents you from writing a will that covers all five of your children equally? You then deposit this will (including the sealed private key of course) with a notary who, in the event of your death, will pay out the Bitcoin to your children according to their share.

Problem solved. After all, this is how it is done with other assets that are passed on to the descendants. With Bitcoin there is no big difference, except that the notary has to be familiar with Bitcoin and you have to include the private key in your will.

Yeah, I had the same logic in my mind as well. Just like any other assets, we can pass our bitcoins to our children.
But then a thought struck into my mind. What if a person from the notary steals the keys and then destroys the will ?
Even if the will is not destroyed but the coins will be gone since he would have the keys.
He will be easily able to take the coins and nobody would know how to prove him guilty of the theft.

There are some ways you can hide when notarizing it even without a notary only a signature and a video testimonial will suffice just notarize it after the assets are handed down, in my case I will distribute my Bitcoin asset while alive so I can oversee and teach them how it works and even motivate them to HODL it, there's a little complication when it comes to an asset like Bitcoin compared to all the other assets, so distributing when you're still alive will ease the burden.

That's probably the better way to do it. Instead of creating a will I would prefer teaching my children how to use bitcoin properly.
Making them learn about its fundamentals and technicality would make them more wise and hence they will be able to secure the coins by themselves.
Just letting them know about the possible locations where the keys are, after they are well trained ofcourse, will probably solve the problem.

[Die_empty]

In a case where you have five children and you don't have much physical assets but you have a enough bitcoin that non of your children are aware of it. Now your age is advancing, you begins to prepare "WILL" and there is no way to divide and share bitcoin account to the five children! What will you do? Since non of them are aware.

Can you "WILL" the private key to your favorite child or call them together and reveal the private key to them? Or what will you do?
OK guys is up to you!

I think most of the responses you have gotten so far are valid and you can seamlessly divide the bitcoin and assign each wallet to each of your children. I have also learned from this thread, thanks for starting it. I think it is also important to start exposing our heirs to bitcoin education.

Although it might be off-point I want to speak about the issue of having a special or favorite child. Regardless of the behavior of our children, we should ensure we treat all of them in a just and fair manner. You might indeed end up loving one or two so much because of their unique character but we should not let others know that we love others more. Unequal treatment might give rise to jealousy and conflict among them.

[StormHawk]

The major question about this is how smart are the children when it comes to crypto? Are they new to crypto or they know nothing about Bitcoin? That should be the perfect way to start this plan, make sure they understand what Bitcoin is and how to keep their coins safe or else you will waste your hard earned money because today there are too many scammers out there hoping that someone makes some silly mistake.