To prepare your BitBox wallet for inheritance, leave confidential instructions that identify your wallets, explain which recovery guides to follow, and describe how your heirs can obtain authorized access to the required backups and any optional passphrase. Keep those instructions separate from the wallet secrets.

The aim is to let your loved ones recover access if you die or can no longer help, while protecting your funds during your lifetime. This guide covers the technical preparation. Discuss legal authority, inheritance rights and access to storage locations with a qualified professional in your jurisdiction; a recovery plan does not replace those arrangements.

Understand what your heirs will need

A checked microSD backup or a complete copy of your recovery words can restore a BitBox wallet without the original device or its device password. If you used an optional passphrase, the exact same passphrase is also required for the wallet it protects. It is separate from the device password and is not included in either backup.

Your plan therefore needs to cover both finding the right recovery material and obtaining authorized access to it. A letter stating that access is allowed only after your death does not technically prevent someone who already has the required secrets from spending the funds.

1. Make a confidential wallet inventory

Start with the wallets you want your heirs to be able to find. Use a separate entry for each distinct wallet, including any wallet protected by an optional passphrase. Multiple accounts within the same wallet can be listed together.

For each wallet, record:

• Device and software: the hardware wallet model, how to identify it, and the applications you use, such as the BitBoxApp or Sparrow.
• Assets and accounts: the assets and networks used, account names, and any additional accounts or special configuration needed to find them. A balance alone is not a reliable inventory because it changes over time.
• Backup identification: whether you use a microSD backup, recovery words on paper or steel, or both. Record enough non-secret information to distinguish the intended backup, such as a backup name and ID when available.
• Passphrase requirement: whether this wallet requires an optional passphrase, without writing the passphrase itself.
• Access arrangements: where the required records are held and how an authorized person can obtain them. Keep the passphrase record separate from the wallet backup.

Treat the inventory as confidential even though it contains no wallet secrets: it reveals financial information and may identify valuable storage locations. If you also hold assets on exchanges or with other custodians, identify those services separately and refer to their official inheritance process.

2. Check the backups your plan depends on

While you still have access to each wallet, check the backup you intend your heirs to use. Follow the guide for that backup type:

• Verify a microSD backup on your BitBox. During normal checking and recovery, insert the backup card only into the BitBox, not a computer or phone.
• View and verify recovery words on your BitBox to compare every word and numbered position with your paper or steel copy.

These checks apply to the backup and device you actually compare. They do not verify a separate optional passphrase or every other copy. If the backup is unreadable or does not match, keep the working wallet and existing backups, then resolve the problem through the relevant guide. Do not reset your device to test the inheritance plan.

If you need to create or add a backup, start with BitBox backup options. If you already use an optional passphrase, keep a reliable offline record of its exact spelling, capitalization, spaces and symbols. Review how a passphrase works to understand why the backup alone cannot recover that wallet.

3. Arrange protected, authorized access

Choose storage arrangements that protect the recovery material from theft and damage while allowing your heirs to obtain it when legally authorized. Follow how to store recovery words securely for physical protection, extra copies and separate passphrase storage.

For each storage location, establish who can grant access and what happens if you are no longer able to assist. For example, do not assume that a relative can open a bank safe deposit box simply because they know it exists. Check the provider's requirements and align the arrangements with your legal plan. Cover the separate passphrase record too, if your wallet needs one.

Keep the plan simple enough for someone else to follow. Do not split recovery words into pieces, rearrange them or invent a code to hide them. Adding a passphrase, multisignature wallet or secret-sharing scheme introduces different recovery requirements; it is a separate security decision requiring a carefully documented and reviewed plan.

For background on more advanced inheritance arrangements, the BitBox Blog explores how Liana and Miniscript can combine family keys with time-delayed recovery paths. These setups need their own backup documentation and ongoing maintenance; review their requirements carefully before changing your wallet.

4. Write instructions your loved ones can follow

The BitBox Blog article Prepare your bitcoins. For your heirs. explains the idea of a confidential “letter to loved ones”. Use it for planning context; follow the backup checks and storage precautions in this KB guide rather than the older blog's backup-splitting suggestions.

Use the inventory and access arrangements to write a confidential letter. Explain that you hold digital assets and where the inventory can be found, then give the reader a clear starting point:

• Who to contact: name trusted people who understand hardware wallets, with current contact details and an alternative if someone is unavailable. Helpers can explain the process without seeing, copying or taking custody of wallet secrets.
• How to obtain authorized access: refer to the arrangements for the backup and any separate passphrase record. Do not put the secrets themselves in the letter.
• Which recovery route applies: link to restoring from a microSD backup or restoring using recovery words, as appropriate. Include any additional wallet software or account configuration from the inventory.
• When to stop: if a backup cannot be identified, the expected accounts are missing, or anyone asks for wallet secrets, stop and seek guidance before resetting a device, entering secrets elsewhere or moving funds.

Keep the letter somewhere private where the designated person will know to look, separately from the recovery material. Date it and explain where the current version is kept. A helper's availability or possession of the letter does not give them authority to control the funds.

5. Walk through the instructions and keep them current

Review the letter with the person you expect to rely on it, without opening the backups or revealing secrets. Ask them to explain which wallets exist, which recovery guide applies, whom they would contact, and how they would obtain authorized access to every required record. Correct unclear or missing information.

The preparation is complete when the intended backups have been checked, access arrangements cover every required record, and the designated person can follow the instructions without relying on your memory. This walkthrough checks the clarity of the plan; it does not prove a complete restoration or the legal effectiveness of your arrangements.

Review the plan periodically and after changing wallets, passphrases, account configurations, storage locations, trusted contacts or family circumstances. Update the date and make sure the designated person can find the current version.

If you are unsure about a BitBox backup or recovery step, contact BitBox Support with the device model, software versions, the step you are unsure about and any non-sensitive error text. Do not send the inventory, storage locations or wallet secrets. Support can explain product recovery steps, but cannot recover a missing backup or passphrase or determine who is legally entitled to the funds.