Inheritance Guide

Crypto Inheritance Planning

A step-by-step guide for distributing your crypto seed phrase to trusted people and locations using Shamir's Secret Sharing. Designed to be followed by humans or by AI agents assisting with setup.

1

Gather Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have the necessary hardware and software.

  • •seQRets Desktop App (recommended for smart card support and memory zeroization)
  • •Smart cards (1 per share you plan to write to a card)
  • •USB smart card reader
  • •Tamper-evident envelopes (optional — for physical distribution)
  • •Fireproof case (optional — for primary storage location)
  • •A trusted, malware-free device for the encryption process

Expected Outcome

All hardware in hand, desktop app installed and verified.

2

Plan Your Threshold

Choose how many total shares (N) and how many are needed to reconstruct (K).

  • •2-of-3: Simple setup for small families. Any 2 of 3 shares can reconstruct. Lowest redundancy.
  • •3-of-5: Recommended for most inheritance plans. Tolerates loss of 2 shares. Good balance of security and recoverability.
  • •4-of-7: High-security setup for large families or institutional use. Tolerates loss of 3 shares.
  • •Rule of thumb: set K high enough that a single compromised party can't reconstruct, but low enough that shares can realistically be gathered after your death.

Expected Outcome

A threshold (K-of-N) chosen based on your trust model and family structure.

3

Create and Encrypt Your Shares

Open seQRets, enter your secret, set a strong password, and configure the Shamir split.

  • •Enter your seed phrase or secret into seQRets
  • •Set a strong, unique password (this derives the encryption key via Argon2id)
  • •Optionally add a keyfile as a second authentication factor — a generated 256-bit keyfile makes brute-force infeasible regardless of password strength
  • •Configure the threshold: select K (minimum shares to reconstruct) and N (total shares)
  • •Generate the shares — seQRets encrypts with XChaCha20-Poly1305, splits with Shamir's SSS, and outputs QR codes (Qards)
  • •Optionally write shares to smart cards using the card writer in the desktop app
  • •The secret is destroyed from memory after generation (Rust zeroization in desktop)
  • •(Desktop App) If you have multiple secrets to protect (e.g., Bitcoin seed, master password, exchange key), the inheritance planner supports multiple Secret Sets — each with its own password, keyfile, Qard configuration, and distribution table — all in a single encrypted plan

Expected Outcome

N Qards (QR codes) and/or smart cards, each containing one share. The original secret exists nowhere.

4

Distribute Shares

Physically separate your shares across locations and trusted people.

  • •Never store K or more shares in the same location
  • •Use tamper-evident envelopes so you'll know if a share has been accessed
  • •Consider geographic distribution: different cities, safe deposit boxes, trusted family members
  • •Label shares clearly (e.g., 'Share 1 of 5') but do NOT include the password or threshold info on the share itself
  • •Store at least one share in a fireproof case
  • •Consider giving shares to people who don't know each other — this prevents collusion

Expected Outcome

Shares physically distributed across multiple locations and/or trusted holders.

5

Prepare Instructions for Beneficiaries

Your heirs need to know what to do — without knowing the secret itself. The Desktop App's inheritance planner includes dedicated sections for beneficiaries and incapacitation planning.

  • •Write a letter of instruction: what seQRets is, where to download it, and that K shares are needed
  • •Do NOT include the password in the same communication channel as the shares
  • •Consider: password in a sealed envelope with your attorney, shares with family members
  • •Include the seQRets website URL and GitHub repo URL so the tool can be found even if the website is down
  • •Save a copy of recover.html (the open-source seQRets Recover tool) alongside your shares — one HTML file, no install, no network, opens in any modern browser. Download from github.com/seQRets/seQRets-Recover. This guarantees recovery even if the main app is ever unavailable.
  • •Include the recover.html SHA-256 hash in your letter of instruction (published on each release page) so heirs can verify their copy hasn't been tampered with before using it
  • •(Desktop App) The fastest path: use the built-in Inheritance Planner — it guides you through beneficiaries, emergency access, asset assignments, and letter-of-instruction generation, then exports a single encrypted plan file that includes heir-facing restoration instructions automatically
  • •Alternatively, use the Inheritance Guide (PDF) from the shop as a template if you prefer to write your letter by hand
  • •Store a copy of the instructions with each share holder
  • •(Desktop App) Use the Beneficiaries section to document who should receive which assets — name, relationship, contact info, and assigned assets per person
  • •(Desktop App) Use the Emergency Access section to document what should happen if you're incapacitated — emergency contacts, trigger conditions, access procedures, and scope limitations so trusted parties know how to act if you're alive but unable to

Expected Outcome

Each beneficiary knows what to do and where to get help, but cannot act alone.

6

Test Recovery

Verify the entire process works before you depend on it.

  • •Gather K shares from your distributed locations
  • •Open seQRets and scan/import the shares
  • •Enter your password to decrypt
  • •Verify the reconstructed secret matches the original
  • •Also test recovery with seQRets Recover (recover.html) — the same independent tool your heirs will use. Open recover.html in any browser offline, paste in your shares, enter your password. If it reconstructs the secret correctly, you've confirmed your plan works even without the main app.
  • •Re-distribute the shares to their original locations
  • •Do this test at least once — do not skip this step

Expected Outcome

Confirmed: your inheritance plan works end-to-end. The secret was successfully reconstructed.

7

Maintain Your Plan

An inheritance plan is not set-and-forget. Periodically review and update. The Desktop App (v1.8.0+) includes built-in review reminders to help you stay on top of this.

  • •Check share condition regularly — QR codes can fade, envelopes can degrade
  • •Update your plan when circumstances change: births, deaths, divorces, moves
  • •If a share is compromised, regenerate all shares with a new password and redistribute
  • •Verify that your letter of instruction is still accurate and findable
  • •Consider rotating the password periodically (requires regenerating all shares)
  • •(Desktop App) Enable review reminders — choose 6, 12, or 24-month intervals. You'll see a home tab banner, a nav badge, and an optional OS notification when a review is due
  • •(Desktop App) After decrypting and verifying your plan, mark it as reviewed with one click to reset the timer — no re-encrypt required if nothing changed
  • •(Desktop App) Reminders are zero-knowledge: a small local sidecar file stores only a future date — no plan contents, no encryption material, no identifiers
  • •(Desktop App) Use Edit & Re-encrypt to update an existing plan without recreating it from scratch — modify beneficiaries, add new secrets, update Qard locations, then re-encrypt with one click

Expected Outcome

An up-to-date, tested plan that will work when needed — with automated reminders so it never goes stale.

8

Legal Considerations

How your inheritance plan interacts with the legal system.

  • •This is NOT legal advice — consult an attorney in your jurisdiction
  • •Consider adding a reference to your crypto inheritance plan in your will or trust
  • •A letter of instruction (separate from the will) can provide operational details without making them part of the public probate record
  • •Some jurisdictions have specific laws around digital asset inheritance — research yours
  • •Your executor or trustee should know that a crypto inheritance plan exists, even if they don't hold shares
  • •Consider a digital asset clause in your estate plan

Expected Outcome

Your legal documents reference the existence of the plan, ensuring your heirs know to look for it.

Need the hardware?

The Inheritance Bundle includes everything listed in Step 1 — smart cards, reader, envelopes, fireproof case, and the printed guide.

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