What happens to your Bitcoin should you suddenly die?

[pawel7777]

Just keep your paper wallets in the same place where your other important/valuable papers are.

That is what I am currently doing. I  think, that somebody who would look through it, wouldn't recognize it as something valuable and would just throw it away.
I showed my paper wallets to my girlfriend once and told her how much they are worth, but she just asked me, if I would put that money into a bank.
I couldn't really bring my self to telling her, what to do, with them in case of my death, since she already worries enough about the future.

Keeping cold wallet with other important papers is useless if it's encrypted. And if it's not, it's very risky (burglars etc).

There are always some traditional ways like notary or bank deposit box. But I wonder if it's possible to create some sort of decentralised contract, ie that sends specific email to the relevant person, when there's no activity on particular address for 6 months or year...


Anyway, thanks for bringing up this subject, it's worth discussion. I reckon that in 20-30 years there will be quite significant amount of bitcoins lost because of deaths, unless there are some easy solutions available.

[turvarya]

I think that the simplest and the best idea will be to give all your BTC secure info to your partner or someone you trust or love, so that your family or good friends can inherit your BTC funds.

What if you have a car accident, where both your partner and you die?

In this case (specially if you don't have adult children) I think our BTC funds will be lost, like in the real world to.

If by "in the real world" you mean, that if you have the money in your bank, than no, it would still go to your legal heirs. (In my case, that would mainly be my siblings according to Austrian law)

[turvarya]

Just keep your paper wallets in the same place where your other important/valuable papers are.

That is what I am currently doing. I  think, that somebody who would look through it, wouldn't recognize it as something valuable and would just throw it away.
I showed my paper wallets to my girlfriend once and told her how much they are worth, but she just asked me, if I would put that money into a bank.
I couldn't really bring my self to telling her, what to do, with them in case of my death, since she already worries enough about the future.

Keeping cold wallet with other important papers is useless if it's encrypted. And if it's not, it's very risky (burglars etc).

There are always some traditional ways like notary or bank deposit box. But I wonder if it's possible to create some sort of decentralised contract, ie that sends specific email to the relevant person, when there's no activity on particular address for 6 months or year...


Anyway, thanks for bringing up this subject, it's worth discussion. I reckon that in 20-30 years there will be quite significant amount of bitcoins lost because of deaths, unless there are some easy solutions available.

That's exactly my concern: On the one hand you want your money safe from the government and banks and on the other hand, you want your beloved once to get your Bitcoin, if something happens to you. There is also always the danger of a foul player. 1-2 years ago, there was a case, where a notary forged last wills in Austria.

One is possible, but get two right is not that easy.

[Bananana]

Thats why you should always let your love one know all the important stuff like bank account, loan, property, investment and including BTC wallet password.

Tell her now just to be safe then sorry...

[raganius]

Just keep your paper wallets in the same place where your other important/valuable papers are.

That is what I am currently doing. I  think, that somebody who would look through it, wouldn't recognize it as something valuable and would just throw it away.
I showed my paper wallets to my girlfriend once and told her how much they are worth, but she just asked me, if I would put that money into a bank.
I couldn't really bring my self to telling her, what to do, with them in case of my death, since she already worries enough about the future.

Keeping cold wallet with other important papers is useless if it's encrypted. And if it's not, it's very risky (burglars etc).

There are always some traditional ways like notary or bank deposit box. But I wonder if it's possible to create some sort of decentralised contract, ie that sends specific email to the relevant person, when there's no activity on particular address for 6 months or year...


Anyway, thanks for bringing up this subject, it's worth discussion. I reckon that in 20-30 years there will be quite significant amount of bitcoins lost because of deaths, unless there are some easy solutions available.

That's exactly my concern: On the one hand you want your money safe from the government and banks and on the other hand, you want your beloved once to get your Bitcoin, if something happens to you. There is also always the danger of a foul player. 1-2 years ago, there was a case, where a notary forged last wills in Austria.

One is possible, but get two right is not that easy.

If the idea is to keep the knowledge of your bitcoins away from the claws of the government, instead of the notarial service will, you could adapt Aswan's great idea of giving "someone an nTimeLock Transaction that will be valid in 1-2 years. If you are still alive by then, send the coins to another address before the nTimeLock Tx can be cashed. Repeat until you die and the nTimeLoc Tx will get cashed." (to be better yet) you should combine the nTimeLock to the MultiSig, so that three conditions will be necessary to gain access to your bitcoins: your death, the nTimeLock term, and the use of the MultSig keys of each beneficiary.

The ideas of simply trusting someone with the knowledge and powers to control your bitcoins (for instance, to let a family member or friend know your private key+password) is dangerous (trust is dangerous) I am not saying that the person will betray/deceive you (although it is possible), but it is possible that the person will be forced/coerced to do your loss. (Especially in violent countries like the one I live in - Brazil - this is a real concern.. people are kidnapped here for US$1000.00 or even less... )

[Trance]

It stays there forever, sorta like the Bitcoins on a wallet I forgot about on a Macbook that was stolen in 2010!

I would be a millionaire if I never had that laptop stolen!

[DeckardKain]

I got a book full of Passwords in my locker.
My best People know about it, and they know that they can use it if i should die.

thats my solution.
- yup i trust those People totally -

[RodeoX]

In my safe deposit box is a USB with all the instructions and BTC.
Definitely good to have a plan for this.

[CoinCidental]

It stays there forever, sorta like the Bitcoins on a wallet I forgot about on a Macbook that was stolen in 2010!

I would be a millionaire if I never had that laptop stolen!

and the thief probably doesnt even know he had millions of dollars in his hands at the time as well lol
probably some crackhead swapped it for a $100  since btc was worth hardly anything and nobody really knew about it in 2010

[cr1776]

You could put it into your will at a notary.

Have been thinking about this, not only for bitcoin, but all the digital things, like email, a lot of documentation is within mails and the digital domain, it should be convienient if people can access your digital documents should you pass away.

In the US, at least, using a notary is a bad idea. They generally have no capacity to store documents safely and securely. A larger law firm storing it with your Will and/or Trust in their vault would be much more prudent.

Safe deposit boxes, perhaps, but there is risk there.

[seriouscoin]

Just remember:
You could easily be hit by a truck today: No time to tell anybody about your secret stash of Bitcoin stamped on a piece of metal buried in your garden. No time to tell anybody the password to your bip38-encrypted paper wallet.

Where it is nice, that your Bitcoin are safe from the government and banks, it would be really sad, should you suddenly die and the Bitcoin are just lost, instead of supporting your own children.

So, I am less interested in theoretical ways to solve that problem, but more if somebody here actually did something to solve it.

This question has been asked way to often.

Here is my answer: Satoshi make sure blockchain will scoop all your bitcoins when you're dead and distribute them to your children. Just tell your children to create a wallet with a secret key. Read the source code and you will understand.

[Bitcoinexp]

Maybe a future invention? Conditioned multi-sig?

[turvarya]

Maybe a future invention? Conditioned multi-sig?

I think, you mean smart contracts. They are already working on it
e.g. https://www.ethereum.org/

[seriouscoin]

Maybe a future invention? Conditioned multi-sig?

I think, you mean smart contracts. They are already working on it
e.g. https://www.ethereum.org/

lol thats not doing anything.

[M28MmickT]

There are smartcontracting multisig wallets for this scenario   joint account between you and your kids/wife each has a private key but none can remove funds without atleast 2 of the keys.

I am new to smartcontracting but lets assume i set up a contract for upon my death/ill health the other 2 private keys will activate and release the coins without the need of mine.

I am still learning but  take a look at BitHalo. BlackHalo very interesting what can be done, take care and stay ALIVE  

[data_teks]

it would be really sad, should you suddenly die and the Bitcoin are just lost, instead of supporting your own children.

That is what LIFE INSURANCE is for and it will pay out way more than any BTC you have (least 99.9% of people and anyone in this thread).

[thejaytiesto]

it would be really sad, should you suddenly die and the Bitcoin are just lost, instead of supporting your own children.

That is what LIFE INSURANCE is for and it will pay out way more than any BTC you have (least 99.9% of people and anyone in this thread).

What would that do? unless you leave it writen somewhere that you want to give your BTC to someone else, then the BTC are lost.

[avatar_kiyoshi]

it would be really sad, should you suddenly die and the Bitcoin are just lost, instead of supporting your own children.

That is what LIFE INSURANCE is for and it will pay out way more than any BTC you have (least 99.9% of people and anyone in this thread).

Really??
What life insurance name who accept bitcoin? They have a big potential to scam?

[stellar1]

Will a paper wallet kept alongside the family gold (so only the next of kin sees it) solve this problem ?

[turvarya]

Will a paper wallet kept alongside the family gold (so only the next of kin sees it) solve this problem ?

Not if somebody steals your gold(and your paper wallet)