<p>What's the most foolproof way to ensure your bitcoins can be passed on safely to your heirs in the event of your death? Note this question has two levels of difficulty: </p>

<ol>
<li><p>safely passing on bitcoins to someone and </p></li>
<li><p>passing them on according to the terms of your will, which may
split the "bitcoin estate" two or more ways, and not necessarily in
the same proportion.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Point 2) implies giving control of the wallet to a Trustee in a sufficiently transparent way that the heirs can check the wallet amounts to ensure they receive all the bitcoins available. </p>

<p>A complication I'm aware of is that as I'm using my bitcoin wallet, any transaction wipes the existing key and transfers the balance to a new key. So storing a paper wallet is not really an option unless I intend to never touch the bitcoins in it during my lifetime.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-27T13:41:58.753Z
See https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/38692/estate-planning-how-can-i-ensure-my-bitcoins-are-inheritable?rq=1 which answers at least part of this.  You may wish to edit your question to focus on what remains.
Nate Eldredge
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-27T13:42:30.130Z
Are you familiar with HD wallets? This avoids the "transfer to new key" issue.
Nate Eldredge
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-27T15:31:07.637Z
Thank you for the pointers Nate Eldredge - I'm a bit new to the deeper issues involved so I'll read around some more. Bitcoins are interesting but require significant investment of brainpower....
realbernie
<backup>
Passing bitcoins on to heirs
realbernie
# Passing bitcoins on to heirs

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-09-27)

What's the most foolproof way to ensure your bitcoins can be passed on safely to your heirs in the event of your death? Note this question has two levels of difficulty:

1. safely passing on bitcoins to someone and
2. passing them on according to the terms of your will, which may
   split the "bitcoin estate" two or more ways, and not necessarily in
   the same proportion.

Point 2) implies giving control of the wallet to a Trustee in a sufficiently transparent way that the heirs can check the wallet amounts to ensure they receive all the bitcoins available.

A complication I'm aware of is that as I'm using my bitcoin wallet, any transaction wipes the existing key and transfers the balance to a new key. So storing a paper wallet is not really an option unless I intend to never touch the bitcoins in it during my lifetime.

**Tags:** backup

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: See https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/38692/estate-planning-how-can-i-ensure-my-bitcoins-are-inheritable?rq=1 which answers at least part of this.  You may wish to edit your question to focus on what remains.  
> **username_1**: Are you familiar with HD wallets? This avoids the "transfer to new key" issue.  
> **username_0**: Thank you for the pointers username_1 - I'm a bit new to the deeper issues involved so I'll read around some more. Bitcoins are interesting but require significant investment of brainpower....  

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