Crypto inheritance planning checklist

This is the printable version of the crypto inheritance planning guide. It turns the plan into tick-off actions for owners: what exists, where it is, how access is handed over, and when to review. Print it, work through it once, and keep the completed copy with your estate documents.

PDF: Download the planning checklist to print or fill in. The secret-free estate map template is the companion form.

The one rule before you start: this checklist tells your family what exists and where. It never contains the secret material itself, no seed words, no keys, no passwords. Anything secret stays out of every document you fill in here.

1. Inventory, what exists

• Exchange accounts, one line per platform and the account identifier (never the password)
• Self-custody wallets you use or manage, such as software, hardware and paper wallets; note for each wallet how access or recovery is arranged
• Hardware devices, which devices exist (make and model are fine) and where they are kept
• Recovery material, where it is stored: a safe, a bank box, a trusted person (the location, never the words)
• DeFi positions, staking, lending, liquidity pools, governance tokens
• NFTs and other tokens, collections and marketplaces used
• Mining or validator setups, equipment, pool accounts, rewards addresses
• Crypto held by others on your behalf, custodian, adviser, family member, company
• Crypto debts and collateral, loans backed by crypto, margin positions, locked balances

The inventory is the same document an executor would build after a death; see the crypto estate inventory for the format.

2. The map, where it is

• A written map exists, with your lawyer or notary, or in a place your trusted people can reach
• First contacts listed, who to call per category (exchange support, adviser, custodian), with names and contact details
• Device locations recorded, including off-site storage and bank boxes
• Recovery-material locations recorded, locations only, never contents
• Checked whether a wallet uses, besides recovery words, an extra passphrase or another separate access element, and if so: a safe handover route is set for it
• Account list per exchange, without passwords or login details
• 2FA situation noted, which accounts use an authenticator app, and where the recovery codes are kept (location only)
• A trusted person knows the map exists, and how to reach it after you cannot

3. Handover, how access passes

• If applicable: exchange inheritance procedure known, check each platform’s official process for accounts after a death or its estate/beneficiary options
• If applicable: will updated, crypto is mentioned in your estate documents; see crypto in a will
• If applicable: will vs trust considered, compare honestly in crypto will vs trust
• If you use or consider multisig: recovery and succession procedure documented, for large or long-held balances; see bitcoin multisig inheritance
• If your password manager is part of the access plan: emergency/recovery procedure checked, so a trusted person can request access under defined rules, without anyone holding your master password today
• If you use professional storage: current access and release arrangements checked, if a professional holds part of the access chain, the agreement is written down
• The person or persons who will settle the estate know that crypto exists and where the secret-free information can be found. If an executor has been appointed, make sure they are informed

For the full menu of mechanisms, compare the options in options for passing on crypto and crypto inheritance tools.

4. The safe-documentation rules: check before filing

• No seed words, private keys or passwords appear anywhere in this checklist or the map
• No photographs of recovery cards or printed keys exist in the estate documents
• No secrets were sent by email, messaging or cloud notes
• If professional storage of secret material is deliberately chosen: check first whether the party concerned actually offers this service and clearly record security, access, succession and release conditions
• The completed checklist contains no secret access information, but it can contain sensitive financial and operational information, such as platforms used and locations of devices or recovery material. Therefore only share the checklist with people who actually need this information for planning or settlement

5. Review, keep the plan true

• A review date is set (a practical regular reminder), pick one recurring date (for example, with your annual tax filing)
• Triggers listed, update the plan after: a new exchange account, a new wallet or device, a move, a divorce, a death in the family, or a change of trusted person
• The plan is tested, preferably with a dry run, a test wallet, limited amounts or a procedural walkthrough; a test does not have to give a third party current unilateral access to production assets.
• Reviewed on: ___ / by: ___, date and name each review

What this checklist is not

It is not a place for secrets, and it does not replace the legal steps: who is entitled is determined by the applicable law and valid estate-planning or legal documents; have the chosen structure reviewed locally where needed. It is also not investment advice, the goal is that your crypto reaches the right people, not that it grows. For the reasoning behind every item, read the full crypto inheritance planning guide. For what happens if you cannot act before death, see crypto and incapacity.