Destroyed in fire — hardware wallet (2025)

Constrained

Case description

A 2025 Florida probate case described by a digital estate planning attorney involved a deceased holder who had been meticulous about documenting their Bitcoin custody—but had stored all documentation in a password-protected file on a laptop that was damaged in a house fire. The laptop was physically intact but the storage drive had corrupted sectors covering the section where the documentation was stored. A data recovery specialist was able to restore approximately 70% of the file, which was sufficient to identify the wallet addresses on-chain and the approximate seed phrase—but three words were unrecoverable. A seed phrase recovery specialist was engaged to brute-force the three unknown positions using the known 21 words as anchors.

Custody context

Stress condition	Owner death
Custody system	Hardware wallet (single key)
Outcome	Constrained
Documentation	Unknown
Year observed	2025
Country	United States

Structural dependencies observed

Single point of failure

What this illustrates

There was only one way in. When that path was gone, so was access. Whether full access was ultimately possible is unclear, but significant delay or outside intervention was involved.

Outcome interpretation

Access remained possible, but only with delay, dependence, or significant difficulty.

Source

Privately Reported

Evidence type

News article

Evidence link

https://skatoff.com/florida-probate-lawyer/how-to-recover-bitcoin-for-an-estate/

Related cases involving owner death

119 cases involve owner death 274 cases involve hardware wallet (single key) View archive statistics →

This archive documents observed custody survivability failures. It does not attempt to document all Bitcoin losses or security incidents. Submit a case

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Framework references

Where Bitcoin Custody Intersects Legal and Fiduciary Authority

Where custody creates gaps in estate planning, fiduciary duty, and professional responsibility.

Professional Scope Boundary Matrix

What each professional or product covers, what they do not, and where gaps form between them.

The Independent Assessment Layer in Bitcoin Custody

How independent diagnostic layers emerge when multiple parties depend on shared infrastructure.