What happens to my Bitcoin if something happens to me?

CustodyStress models how your Bitcoin custody system behaves under stress scenarios including death, incapacity, device loss, coercion, and forced relocation. It produces structured reference documents that can be interpreted by spouses, executors, or professionals without the original author.

Does CustodyStress connect to my wallet or require my private keys?

No. CustodyStress uses a structured, scenario-based questionnaire. No accounts are connected, no private keys are shared, and no sensitive data is collected. All inputs are processed locally in your browser. The site loads fonts from Google Fonts and offers optional translation via Google Translate, both subject to Google's privacy policy.

What does CustodyStress produce?

A completed assessment produces a survivability profile, inheritor opening document, custody system overview, coordination notes, estate-custody alignment summary, coordination worksheet, role participation by scenario, and input snapshot — each with integrity verification.

Who is CustodyStress for?

For anyone who holds Bitcoin — in an app, exchange or brokerage account, hardware wallet, multisig setup, or managed by a service — and wants to know what happens to it if something happens to them. Also used by estate planners, lawyers, and fiduciary advisors working with clients who hold Bitcoin.

CustodyStress

Bitcoin Custody Stress Test

What happens to your Bitcoin if something happens to you?

A custody stress test with print-ready reference documents designed to be read cold without explanation by family or professionals.

For anyone who holds Bitcoin in an app, exchange, hardware wallet, multisig setup, or managed by a service, and wants to understand how their setup behaves when normal assumptions no longer hold, because access cannot be assumed. Answer simple questions about how your Bitcoin is set up. Not keys. Not balances. Not locations.

Diagnostic only. Non-advisory. Vendor-agnostic.

Sample what the assessment produces

$179 · 12-month access · Unlimited assessments

Most assessments take 20–40 minutes, depending on complexity. No accounts required. No private keys shared.

What the assessment distinguishes

Who has legal authority and who can move the Bitcoin
How the system works in normal conditions and how it behaves under stress
Partial access and complete access
What is written down and what can actually be done
Independent recovery and coordination-dependent recovery

What the assessment produces

An evaluation of how your Bitcoin custody setup behaves across seven stress scenarios, and reference documents designed to be read cold — by someone who has never seen the setup and may not understand Bitcoin.

CustodyStress

Bitcoin Custody Survivability Profile

Date: 2026-01-12·Reference: SAMPLE-CS-7K4R v1.0

Modeled Survivability State

Custody Constrained

Modeled outcome only. Describes system behavior under stated assumptions. Not a guarantee.

Assessment Assumptions

The Person Responsible is unavailable
No new information can be added to the system
Stress and confusion are present among recovery participants
Cooperation from all parties is not guaranteed

What Happens Under Common Scenarios

Legend

• Survives: Access and control remain viable under stated assumptions.

• Constrained: Access remains possible but depends on conditions, timing, or coordination.

• Compromised: Access and control do not remain viable under stated assumptions.

Scenario	Modeled Outcome
Death / Absence What happens if the original owner is no longer available to assist or provide information.	Survives
Device Loss What happens if all primary devices and any information stored at home or work are lost or destroyed.	Survives
Physical Coercion What happens if the owner is forced to act under immediate threat and attackers can access the premises.	Constrained
Cognitive Failure What happens if the owner cannot recall details, passwords, or instructions.	Constrained
Legal Seizure What happens if authorities can search all physical locations and seize any keys or phrases found on the premises.	Survives
Forced Relocation What happens if the owner must relocate internationally on short notice without access to banks, offices, or storage locations.	Constrained

Where Stress Shows Up First

Shows which modeled stress condition limits recovery earlier than others — not an overall failure.

Most sensitive scenario:Physical Coercion

What happens if the owner is forced to act under immediate threat and attackers can access the premises.

Indicates relative sensitivity, not a point of failure.

Key Stress Factors

Liquidity

Partial access under stress

This examines how reliably access can be executed or verified during disruption.

Dependency

Conditional external dependency

This examines how much access depends on specific people, services, or organizations remaining available.

Durability

Moderately time-sensitive

This examines how much time the system can tolerate before access becomes harder or limited.

Observations That Influenced This Assessment

One recovery path relies on a collaborative custody service holding one of the required signing keys. If that service becomes unavailable, unresponsive, or discontinues operations, that particular recovery path would be blocked. Alternative recovery paths exist using only owner-held keys, which limited the overall impact.

The person who legally inherits the Bitcoin is different from the person who can technically perform the recovery. These two people would need to coordinate: one has the legal authority to act, the other has the technical knowledge and access. If they cannot communicate or cooperate, recovery may be delayed or blocked.

Access credentials for two of the three signing keys are stored in a single password manager. If access to that password manager is lost — because the master password is forgotten, the account is locked, or the provider changes its recovery process — the owner would still hold the physical devices but would be unable to use them to sign transactions. This creates a hidden dependency where a 2-of-3 structure behaves as if a single point of failure exists at the credential layer, even though the keys themselves are geographically separated.

SAMPLE-CS-7K4R | 2026-01-12 | v1.0

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Sample Bitcoin Custody Survivability Profile (mock data).

View all sample reference artifacts

Scope and Boundaries

Applicable situations

A survivability assessment of Bitcoin self-custody systems under stress
A model of redundancy, backup paths, and operational continuity
A test of sequencing, documentation access, and human coordination
A model of immediate, delayed, partial, or third-party–assisted custody access
A point-in-time assessment conducted under explicit stress assumptions

Out of scope

Financial, technical, legal, or estate-planning advice
Setup guidance, instructions, or recommendations
Wallet, coordinator, or inheritance-product comparisons
A formal security audit or certification
A guarantee of safety, recoverability, or correctness
A reassurance or confidence-scoring product

Recorded fields include:

what apps, devices, or services are involved in holding the Bitcoin
who is allowed to act and who must agree
what the system depends on (people, services, or things)
what delays can affect access
conditions that prevent access to the Bitcoin
assumptions that require someone else to cooperate

Assessment process and reference records

Describe what exists — People, devices, credentials, documentation, and dependencies.

Apply defined scenarios — Loss, unavailability, coercion, and operational disruption.

Review outcomes — A survivability profile describing how the custody system behaves and print-ready reference documents.

The record may be run again if wallets, recovery paths, or the people involved in custody change.

Print-ready reference documents

A completed assessment produces a set of print-ready reference documents designed to be read cold — by someone who has never seen the setup and may not understand Bitcoin.

Reference documents produced

Survivability Profile

How your custody system behaves under stress.

Inheritor Opening Document

Plain-language starting point for a first-time reader.

Custody System Overview

Wallets, devices, credentials, backup paths, and dependencies.

Custody Coordination Notes

Companion page for handwritten notes.

Estate–Custody Alignment Summary

Where legal authority and custody access align or diverge.

Custody–Estate Coordination Reference

Discussion aid for roles, authority, and access.

Role Participation by Scenario

Which roles must act and where recovery can be blocked, per scenario.

CustodyStress Input Snapshot

Frozen record of your declared inputs.

Click any document to view a sample populated with mock data.

Download all sample artifacts as a single PDF.

One Page Assessment Summary (PDF)

Each document includes a reference ID, assessment date, and methodology version. The Survivability Profile and Input Snapshot include a deterministic integrity digest.

Privacy and data

All assessment data is processed locally
No responses are retained for training or analytics
No accounts required
No assessment data shared with third parties

Details

The assessment does not request: Seed phrases, private keys, wallet addresses, wallet types, device locations, passwords, PINs, recovery codes, or personal identifying information.