Bitcoin Death Preparation

Pre-Death Custody Arrangement and Verification

This memo is published by CustodyStress, an independent Bitcoin custody stress test that produces reference documents for individuals, families, and professionals.

The Testing Paradox

Bitcoin death preparation involves arranging custody so that heirs or executors can access Bitcoin after the holder dies. The holder wants to verify their arrangement will work. Verification requires testing. Testing creates new vulnerability surfaces that did not exist in untested custody.

People search for bitcoin death preparation when they realize their Bitcoin might become inaccessible upon their death. The search reflects awareness that standard estate planning may not address Bitcoin custody mechanics. The question asks what preparation looks like and when it happens.

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The Testing Paradox

Testing custody survival requires simulating the holder's absence. The heir attempts to access the Bitcoin as they would after a death. This simulation means providing the heir with access information, showing them where components are stored, or letting them practice recovery. Each of these actions exposes the custody to risks the holder designed it to avoid.

Untested custody has one failure mode: the heir cannot access it after death. Tested custody has two failure modes: the heir cannot access it after death, or the heir accesses it before death. Testing trades unknown post-death failure for known pre-death exposure.

The holder faces a choice. Accept uncertainty about whether the arrangement will work, or accept exposure to immediate access risks. Neither choice is obviously superior. The testing paradox is that preparing for death requires creating conditions that resemble the theft scenarios the holder designed custody to prevent.

Someone gives their spouse the seed phrase to test whether the spouse can successfully recover the wallet. The spouse now has complete access to the Bitcoin. The holder intended to test death preparation. The result is that the custody design's protection against single-point compromise has been removed. The test succeeded in exposing whether the spouse could access the Bitcoin. It also succeeded in making the custody less secure during the holder's life.

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Information That Cannot Be Shared Safely

Death preparation requires sharing information that the holder kept isolated for security. The seed phrase lives in one location. The PIN lives in another. The documentation lives in a third. This separation prevents anyone from having complete access. Testing requires assembling this information for the heir.

Once assembled, the information cannot be un-shared. The heir now knows where everything is. They know how it fits together. The holder can ask the heir to forget. The heir cannot actually forget. The knowledge exists permanently outside the holder's control.

This creates a time-based risk problem. Before testing, the information was isolated. After testing, it is assembled in the heir's knowledge. The holder remains alive for years or decades. During this time, the assembled knowledge represents a standing exposure. The heir might be trustworthy today. Circumstances change. Financial stress emerges. Relationships deteriorate. The assembled knowledge persists through all these changes.

A parent tests death preparation by walking their adult child through the recovery process. The child is shown where the hardware wallet is stored, where the seed phrase is written, and what the PIN is. The test succeeds. The child can now access the Bitcoin whenever they want. The parent intended to prepare for death. The outcome is that the child has complete access during the parent's life. The temporal gap between test and actual death is twenty years. The access exists for all twenty years.

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When Testing Requires Moving Components

Some death preparation tests require moving custody components to verify heir access. The holder stores the seed phrase in a safe deposit box. They want to confirm the heir can access the box. They give the heir a key. They accompany the heir to the bank. The heir successfully accesses the box. The test succeeds.

The test also creates a new vulnerability. The seed phrase has now been exposed in front of the heir. The heir saw where it is stored and potentially saw the seed phrase itself. The holder can return the seed phrase to the safe deposit box. The heir now knows what is there and how to access it.

Moving components for testing also creates transportation risks. The seed phrase leaves its storage location. It travels to the testing location. It travels back to storage. Each movement is an exposure opportunity. Someone might see it during transport. It might be photographed by security cameras. A copy might be made.

An executor is given access to a home safe to test death preparation. The safe contains the hardware wallet and documentation. The executor successfully opens the safe and views the contents. The test confirms access. It also means the executor has seen the custody components and knows exactly where they are stored. If the executor's financial situation changes, they know where to find valuable assets. The preparation testing created information that persists.

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Partial Testing Versus Complete Testing

Partial testing attempts to verify some steps without exposing the complete custody. The holder shows the heir where the documentation is without revealing the seed phrase. The holder confirms the heir can access the safe without showing what is inside. Partial testing reduces immediate exposure but leaves uncertainty about whether the complete process will work.

The gap between partial and complete testing is where bitcoin death preparation fails. Partial testing confirms the heir can access one component. It does not confirm they can access all components or that they understand how the components connect. The holder avoids full exposure. The heir lacks complete information.

Complete testing removes this uncertainty by exposing everything. The heir practices the entire recovery process from beginning to end. They know where everything is and how it works. Complete testing confirms survivability. It also maximizes pre-death exposure. The choice between partial and complete testing is a choice between uncertainty and exposure.

A holder tests death preparation by giving the heir a sealed envelope containing the seed phrase. The heir is told the envelope exists and where it is stored. They are instructed to open it only after the holder's death. This is partial testing. It confirms the heir knows where the envelope is. It does not confirm the envelope contains a usable seed phrase or that the heir will understand what to do with it. The holder dies. The heir opens the envelope. The seed phrase is there but the format is unclear. The wallet software required is not specified. Partial testing revealed some information. It did not reveal whether recovery would succeed.

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Trust as a Prerequisite

Bitcoin death preparation testing requires trusting the person being tested. The holder must trust them not to steal the Bitcoin during the holder's life. This trust requirement exists before testing. Testing makes the requirement explicit.

Many custody designs attempt to avoid requiring trust. Multisignature arrangements require multiple parties. Geographic distribution limits single-point access. Time locks delay unauthorized use. These designs recognize that trust can fail and attempt to build custody that survives trust failure.

Death preparation testing removes these protections temporarily or permanently. Testing a multisignature arrangement means assembling the required number of signatures. Testing geographic distribution means providing access to multiple locations. Testing time locks means revealing how to bypass them. Each test removes the protection it attempts to verify.

The holder trusts their spouse completely today. Testing bitcoin death preparation reveals that the custody design does not actually require that trust. It requires the trust to persist until the holder's death. Exposing the custody components to test them creates a period where the trust must hold. The holder might trust the spouse for this test. They cannot know whether they will trust the spouse in five years when circumstances have changed.

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The Documentation Problem

Death preparation often involves creating documentation that explains how to access the Bitcoin. This documentation is itself a security object. It contains or references information needed for access. The documentation must be findable by the heir after death but not discoverable by others before death.

Testing whether the documentation is findable means revealing where it is stored or how to locate it. The heir is shown where the documentation lives. They are walked through how to interpret it. The test succeeds if the heir can find and understand the documentation. Success means the heir now knows where critical information is stored.

Documentation also ages. Instructions written today might become outdated as software changes or as custody components are moved. Testing documentation means confirming it still works. Confirmation requires following the instructions. Following the instructions means exposing the custody to the testing process.

A holder writes detailed recovery instructions and stores them in a specific location. To test bitcoin death preparation, they show the heir where the instructions are. The heir confirms they can access the location and read the instructions. The holder updates the instructions every year. Each update requires deciding whether to tell the heir about the update or let the heir potentially find outdated instructions after death. Testing created a commitment to maintaining communication about changes or accepting that the tested knowledge might become stale.

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Rehearsal Without Real Conditions

Death preparation testing happens under controlled conditions. The holder is present. They can answer questions. They can correct mistakes. The heir practices recovery in a supportive environment. This rehearsal does not match actual recovery conditions after death.

After death, the holder cannot answer questions. Documentation might be incomplete. Heirs might be stressed or grieving. Software might have changed. The rehearsed recovery succeeded because the holder was there to guide it. Real recovery must succeed without that guidance.

This gap between rehearsal and reality means testing provides false confidence. The heir successfully completes the recovery during testing. They believe they understand the process. When actual recovery occurs, new problems appear that the rehearsal did not include. The testing seemed comprehensive. It was comprehensive under ideal conditions that do not exist during actual stress.

An heir practices recovery while the holder watches. The heir successfully restores the wallet. They feel confident. The holder dies years later. The heir attempts recovery. The wallet software has updated and the interface has changed. The hardware wallet firmware requires an update before it will work. The documentation does not mention these steps because they did not exist during the rehearsal. The rehearsal created confidence that actual conditions undermined.

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Third Party Involvement

Bitcoin death preparation sometimes involves third parties. An attorney drafts estate documents. An accountant reviews tax implications. A technical consultant helps design the custody. Each third party learns information about the custody as part of their involvement.

Testing with third parties present multiplies exposure. The heir learns the custody details. The attorney sees the arrangement. The consultant knows the technical setup. Information that was previously held by one person now exists in multiple minds. Each additional person is another potential exposure point.

Third parties also create record-keeping complications. Attorneys take notes. Consultants write reports. These records exist in files and systems the holder does not control. Testing death preparation while involving professionals creates documentation trails that persist beyond the testing session.

A family hires an attorney to help with bitcoin death preparation. The attorney interviews the holder and the heir. The attorney creates a written plan describing the recovery process. This plan is stored in the attorney's files. The plan contains detailed information about where custody components are stored. The attorney's files are subject to legal discovery in unrelated matters. The holder's office management procedures might make the plan accessible to other staff. Testing created records that exist in multiple locations beyond the holder's control.

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Timing and Urgency

Holders often delay bitcoin death preparation until health concerns arise. The diagnosis of a serious illness triggers urgency to arrange succession. This timing creates pressure to test quickly. Rushed testing increases error rates and exposure risks.

Health-driven urgency also affects the holder's decision-making capacity. Cognitive decline, medication effects, or stress impair judgment. The holder might make testing decisions they would not make under normal conditions. They might share more information than intended or trust people they would normally question.

The urgency-testing pattern means bitcoin death preparation often occurs under the worst possible conditions. The holder faces mortality. The family faces stress. Technical decisions must be made quickly. This combination increases the chance that testing will create problems rather than solve them.

A holder receives a cancer diagnosis. They immediately arrange a meeting with their children to explain the Bitcoin custody. The meeting is emotional. The holder wants to ensure the children can access everything. In their urgency to communicate completely, they reveal all custody components simultaneously. The children have complete access from that day forward. The holder recovers from the cancer and lives another fifteen years. The urgency-driven disclosure created a fifteen-year exposure that would not have existed if testing had occurred under calmer conditions.

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The Undocumented Middle Ground

Many holders choose an undocumented middle approach to bitcoin death preparation. They tell heirs some information but not everything. They hint at where components are without being explicit. They provide partial instructions with the intention of revealing more later. This approach attempts to balance preparation with security.

The middle ground creates its own problems. Partial information might be worse than no information. Heirs know enough to know they are missing something but not enough to succeed at recovery. The holder dies before completing the communication. The heir has fragments that do not assemble into working knowledge.

This pattern appears when holders are uncomfortable with both full exposure and total non-preparation. They want heirs to have some capability but not complete access. The result is often confusion rather than prepared succession. The heir knows the Bitcoin exists and knows approximately how to access it but lacks critical details.

A holder tells their executor, "There's a paper in my desk with important information, and you'll need to find the device that goes with it." This provides a starting point but not a complete path. The executor knows to look in the desk. They do not know what the paper looks like, what information it contains, or what device they are searching for. The holder intended to provide helpful guidance while maintaining security. The outcome is that the executor has a puzzle with missing pieces rather than clear instructions or complete uncertainty.

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Summary

Bitcoin death preparation creates a testing paradox. Verifying that custody will survive the holder's death requires simulating the holder's absence. Simulation exposes the custody to risks it was designed to prevent. The holder must choose between uncertainty about post-death access and exposure to pre-death compromise.

Testing requires sharing information that was previously isolated, moving components that were previously stored securely, and trusting people with complete access for periods that might span decades. Partial testing reduces exposure but leaves uncertainty. Complete testing provides confidence but maximizes vulnerability. Rehearsal under controlled conditions provides false confidence about performance under actual stress conditions.

Understanding bitcoin death preparation means recognizing that preparation itself creates new failure surfaces. The untested custody might fail after death. The tested custody might fail before death. Both outcomes represent custody failure, occurring at different times for different reasons.

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System Context

Examining Bitcoin Custody Under Stress

Bitcoin Inheritance Verification Checklist

Bitcoin Inheritance Simulation

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