How do I get my bitcoin to my family when I die? A simple bitcoin inheritance plan

Short answer: your bitcoin does not pass to your family on its own. If it’s in your own wallet, nobody can move it without the keys (River). To get it to your family you need two things: the legal right (a will, trust or beneficiary plan that says who inherits) and the practical ability to access it (they can find your backup and know what to do with it). In practice that means: write down what you have, leave clear instructions, tell someone the plan exists, use a beneficiary or inheritance feature where your wallet or exchange offers one, and talk to an estate attorney about the legal side. Never put your seed phrase in your will.

This guide walks through why it matters, what a basic plan looks like, the main ways to set it up (including multisig services and Bitkey’s inheritance feature), what happens to bitcoin on an exchange, the legal side, and the mistakes that lose coins. It is education, not legal advice.

What happens to your bitcoin when you die?

It depends on where it is. On an exchange, a company holds it and has a process for families (more on that below). In self-custody, the coins can only be moved with your keys. River puts it plainly: if inheritance isn’t set up properly, there is a very high chance nobody will ever be able to access the bitcoin, and it will be lost (River). Even if relatives find a seed phrase while going through your things, they may not recognize it or know how to use it without putting the funds at risk.

Most people haven’t planned for this. In a 2019–2020 online survey of 1,150 crypto holders by the Cremation Institute, only 23% said they had a documented plan for passing on their crypto, even though 89% worried on some level about it (CoinDesk, July 2020). And people already struggle with their own keys while alive: in Kraken’s 2025 survey of 789 U.S. crypto holders, 24% said they had forgotten or misplaced private keys, and 48% were more worried about losing crypto to their own mistakes than to theft (Kraken, 2025). Your family will be dealing with this on the worst day of their lives, without you to ask.

Your family needs two things: the legal right and the access

Unchained, a bitcoin financial services company, describes inheritance as matching legal title with key possession, and says plans fail when people solve only one half (Unchained). Its inheritance protocol notes that bitcoin is generally treated like other intangible property (similar to stocks and bonds) in an estate plan, and that your estate planner must be licensed in your state because property and probate laws differ (Unchained Inheritance Protocol).

Beneficiary features don’t replace that legal side, either. Bitkey says naming someone as a beneficiary in its app does not guarantee legal ownership, which may be governed by a will or other legal documents (Bitkey). River says the opposite direction can happen on its platform: its transfer-on-death registration can override a will or trust (River). Either way, your documents and your wallet setup need to agree. That’s a conversation for an estate attorney.

Is your bitcoin on an exchange? Check its beneficiary option

If some of your bitcoin sits on an exchange, the company holds the keys, so your family deals with the company, not a seed phrase. The process differs a lot between companies:

• Strike added a beneficiary plan in July 2026 (Strike). U.S. personal accounts and sole proprietorships (except Louisiana) can name up to 15 beneficiaries, including a trust, and split assets by percentage. You can’t set contingent beneficiaries yet, and any open loan or line of credit must be paid off before the collateral can go to a beneficiary (Strike).
• River lets you name individuals, trusts or organizations as beneficiaries, which sets up a transfer-on-death registration. River says this typically keeps those assets out of probate, but that it isn’t a substitute for a full estate plan (River). With a plan in place, a beneficiary needs a death certificate and photo ID; without one, River pays only the estate’s executor, who needs a Letter of Testamentary (or Letter of Administration) naming them (River).
• Coinbase says it doesn’t currently support naming a beneficiary on individual accounts. Your estate documents or state law decide who gets the account, and the person named in probate documents files a claim with a death certificate, probate papers, ID and a signed letter (Coinbase).

If you already use Strike or River, setting up the beneficiary plan is one of the easiest wins in this whole guide. I buy my bitcoin on Strike, and I also have a River account. If you don’t have an account yet: Strike This is my referral link. If you sign up, I may earn a reward at no cost to you. · River This is my referral link. If you sign up, I may earn a reward at no cost to you.

One catch: a beneficiary plan only covers what’s on that exchange (River). Anything you’ve moved to your own wallet needs the plan below.

How do I make a bitcoin inheritance plan? The basics, step by step

This is the part for coins in your own wallet. None of it requires sharing your seed phrase with anyone today.

1. List what exists. Every wallet, hardware device, app and exchange account. Not balances or secrets, just the map. Your family can’t recover what they don’t know about.
2. Write a letter of instructions. Plain words a non-technical person can follow: what kind of wallet it is, which app or device restores it, how many words the backup has, whether a passphrase is involved and where that record is, who to call for help, and a warning to never type the words into a website or give them to anyone offering “recovery help.” Bitcoin Well’s checklist suggests the first page say exactly that, plus “send a small test before moving the rest” (Bitcoin Well).
3. Decide where the instructions live. One way is leaving them alongside your backup, so whoever finds the backup also knows what it is and what to do. The trade-off: that one spot then holds everything. Bitcoin Well suggests the other way: an instructions layer and a secrets layer that aren’t normally kept together (Bitcoin Well). Pick the one your family can actually follow, and protect that spot accordingly.
4. Make sure someone knows the plan exists. A perfect plan nobody can find is the same as no plan. They don’t need the words today, just to know there is a plan and roughly where to start.
5. Make the backup last. An inheritance plan may need to work decades from now. Trezor lists the risks of paper as tearing, fading, or being destroyed by fire, water or corrosion (Trezor). If you use Trezor’s metal plates, match your backup length: the Trezor Keep Metal 20-word or the Trezor Keep Metal 24-word (affiliate links; I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you). Trezor describes them as stainless steel and resistant to water, corrosion and extreme temperatures (Trezor, Trezor). How to write and store a backup is in how to back up your seed phrase.
6. Test it. Bitcoin Well suggests having your heir do a dry run with a small-value wallet using only your instructions, so you find the confusing parts while you’re still around (Bitcoin Well).
7. Update it. Every time you move coins to a new wallet, the old instructions point to an empty wallet. Bitcoin Well recommends reviewing at least yearly and after big changes (Bitcoin Well). Moving wallets safely is covered in how to move your bitcoin to a new hardware wallet.
8. Do the legal part. A will or trust names who inherits; an estate attorney licensed where you live makes sure your documents and your setup agree (Unchained).

Ways to set it up: five options compared

1. Instructions plus your own backup

The simple version from the steps above. It costs nothing and keeps you fully in control. The weak spots are the ones River lists for any plan without a third party: an inexperienced heir can type the seed into bad software or ask the wrong person for help, and anyone who gets access early could take the coins (River).

2. A multi-share backup

Some wallets can split the backup into shares, where a set number (say 3 of 5) is needed to recover. Trezor says that by spreading shares between locations or trusted people, losing one or two doesn’t lose the wallet, and fewer shares than the threshold falling into the wrong hands doesn’t expose it (Trezor). The cost is complexity: your instructions must explain how many shares exist and how many are needed.

3. Collaborative multisig with a service

In a 2-of-3 multisig, the owner holds one key, the heir another and a service provider the third. After the owner dies, the heir and the service can move the coins together, but neither can do it alone (River). Companies offer this as a paid service. Casa, for example, gives a recipient access to a key only after a claim and a six-month inactivity check (Casa), and Unchained offers an inheritance protocol written so an executor can recover bitcoin without technical expertise (Unchained). Downsides: ongoing fees (check their current pricing) and relying on the company still being around. They’re named here as examples, not recommendations.

4. A wallet with inheritance built in (Bitkey)

Covered in detail in the next section.

5. An exchange beneficiary plan

The easiest for heirs: they contact the company with a death certificate and ID. The trade-off is that a company holds your coins while you’re alive, and it only covers what’s on that exchange (River). See the exchange section above.

How Bitkey’s inheritance feature works

Bitkey is a 2-of-3 multisig wallet: a key in your phone app, one on the Bitkey hardware device, and one on Block’s servers (Bitkey). Its inheritance feature, launched in February 2025, lets you name a beneficiary without sharing a PIN or seed phrase (Bitkey). From Bitkey’s own pages:

• You invite one beneficiary from the app and approve it with your Bitkey device. Only one beneficiary can be active at a time (Bitkey).
• Your beneficiary needs their own Bitkey (hardware device and app) to accept (Bitkey).
• While you’re alive, they can’t see, access or control your wallet. You can change or remove them anytime (Bitkey).
• If they start a claim, a six-month waiting period begins and you get critical alerts. You can cancel during that time. If nobody does, the claim is approved, your encrypted app key goes to their app, and together with Block’s server key they can move the funds to their own wallet (Bitkey, Bitkey).
• Bitkey still recommends an estate attorney: a Bitkey beneficiary isn’t automatically the legal owner (Bitkey).

Honest limits: one beneficiary only, a six-month wait for your family, your beneficiary has to own a Bitkey too, and the alerts only protect you if they reach you, so keep the email and notification settings in the app current (Bitkey). Bitkey also says that if a claim is ever approved while you’re alive, you should treat that wallet as no longer secure and move to a new one (Bitkey).

The legal side: wills, trusts and an estate attorney

I’m not a lawyer, and this isn’t legal advice. A few things the sources agree on:

• Don’t put your seed phrase in your will. Bitcoin Well notes a probated will may become public or pass through many hands (Bitcoin Well), and Casa calls a seed phrase in a will a liability, since anyone who reads it can take everything (Casa). A will can say who inherits your bitcoin and that separate instructions exist.
• Beneficiary designations and your will can conflict. River’s TOD can override a will; a Bitkey beneficiary isn’t automatically the legal owner (River, Bitkey).
• Taxes vary. In the U.S. there can be federal and state taxes, so River suggests asking a local expert (River).
• Use an estate attorney licensed in your state (Unchained). They don’t need your seed phrase to advise you (Bitcoin Well).

Common mistakes that lose inherited bitcoin

• Nobody knows it exists. If nobody knows, nothing else in the plan matters.
• Seed phrase in the will or in an email, photo or cloud note.
• A passphrase only you know. Trezor says a forgotten passphrase has no recovery; it isn’t stored anywhere, and nobody can look it up or reset it (Trezor). If you use one, your instructions must say so and where the record is.
• Instructions for a wallet you no longer use. Update the plan every time you move coins.
• Never tested. If your heir can’t follow it on a calm day, they won’t follow it while grieving.
• Giving someone full access early. River lists the risks: their safety, honest mistakes, curiosity, and no way to prove who moved coins (River).
• Heirs falling for “recovery” scams. The FBI’s IC3 logged $9.3 billion in reported crypto fraud losses in 2024, with people 60 and over the largest age group (FBI IC3 2024 report). Put “nobody legit will ever ask for these words” at the top of your instructions.

Quick checklist

• ☐ I know every place I hold bitcoin (wallets, devices, exchanges)
• ☐ Beneficiary plan set on any exchange that offers one
• ☐ Letter of instructions written in plain words, with a scam warning on top
• ☐ Passphrase (if any) mentioned, and where its record is
• ☐ Backup in a durable form, stored somewhere safe
• ☐ Someone I trust knows a plan exists and where to start
• ☐ Dry run done with a small test wallet
• ☐ Will or trust done with an estate attorney; seed phrase NOT in it
• ☐ Plan updated after every wallet change, reviewed yearly

If the people who would inherit your bitcoin don’t really understand it yet, a book can help before the day ever comes. The one I’d hand a total beginner is Bitcoin Is for Everyone by Natalie Brunell. Not sure your own setup is solid? The Is My Wallet Safe? checker asks four questions and runs in your browser.

What this guide can’t tell you

It can’t tell you what your state’s laws require, how your estate will be taxed, or which setup fits your family. Exchange and wallet features change, so check each company’s current pages before relying on them. Talk to an estate attorney licensed where you live. Nobody from An Honest Node will ever ask for your seed phrase. This is not legal advice. Educational only, not financial advice.