This is the companion checklist to our full bitcoin inheritance guide — a printable one-pager to work through, then repeat annually. A downloadable PDF version is coming soon.
Not legal advice; bring this to your estate planning attorney.
One-time setup
- ☐ Inventory: list where bitcoin exists (wallets, any remaining exchange balances) — amounts optional, locations essential
- ☐ Confirm your seed phrase backup is on metal, legible, and stored separately from the device
- ☐ Write the no-secrets letter: what exists, where backups are, who can help, and the warning against “recovery help” scammers
- ☐ Decide the access path: who gets the seed location, how, and when
- ☐ If you use a passphrase: design its separate handoff explicitly
- ☐ Tell your attorney bitcoin exists; keep secrets out of the will itself
- ☐ Name the technical helper your heirs should call, and confirm they are willing
- ☐ Run one recovery drill with your spouse/executor using only what they would actually have
Annual review (set a calendar reminder)
- ☐ Backup still legible, still where the letter says it is
- ☐ Letter still accurate: locations, people, holdings
- ☐ Named helper still alive, willing, and trusted
- ☐ Life changes since last year (marriage, divorce, moves, births, deaths) reflected in the plan
- ☐ Wallet software/firmware changes that would confuse an heir noted in the letter
The one-sentence version
If you did nothing else: put a sealed, secret-free letter where your executor will find it, telling them the bitcoin exists and who to call. Discovery, not documentation, is where most inheritances die.