Access Instructions for Your Family: What to Include

Good access instructions for your family run to a few pages that someone with no crypto knowledge can read. A person who has never held a hardware wallet knows after reading them what to do on the first day, in what order, and when to stop and call for help. Below you’ll find a template, a list of what we leave out, and a way to check that the instructions work.

The instructions are one of two things your family needs after your death. The other is a succession document from a notary or court. We cover the whole picture in the pillar crypto inheritance.

What the instructions are for, and what they aren’t

The instructions answer one question: what should your family do to reach the funds? A succession document says they have the right to them. The document alone won’t open the wallet, and the instructions alone give no right to the estate. Your family needs both.

The instructions are not a will and have no legal force. They don’t decide who inherits, and they don’t get around taxes or formalities. Their strength is practical: they save your family months of searching and the mistakes that end in lost funds. If you’re not sure your crypto would even work as part of an estate, start with the guide what happens to your bitcoin when you die.

Template: eight sections for the instructions

The instructions don’t need more than eight sections. Each answers one question the reader will ask themselves under pressure, in grief and without technical knowledge.

Section	Reader’s question	What to write
1. What this is	Does it matter?	Two sentences: you have crypto, it matters, and there’s no rush
2. Where it is	Where is it?	Names of exchanges, type of wallet (hardware, app), where the device physically is
3. Whom to call	Who can I discuss it with?	Name and phone of a trusted person, the notary’s details, details of a technical person (for example us)
4. What you need	What do I gather?	A list: the device, software, documents, where the keys are kept
5. Step by step	What do I do, in what order?	A numbered procedure from opening the envelope to the transfer to a new address
6. What not to do	What should I avoid?	Don’t type the words into websites, don’t send them, don’t take photos, don’t trust “helpers”
7. When to stop	When do I ask for help?	Situations where something doesn’t match the instructions
8. Updates	Is this still current?	The date of the last update and the date of the last test

Section 1: what this is

One short section at the start. Your family should understand straight away that the device they found isn’t junk and that there’s no rush. Something like this works well: “I have cryptocurrency. A description of how to get to it is below. Take your time, nothing will run away. Read it all first.”

Without this section, the device from the drawer goes in the bin with the old chargers. It also needs a nudge not to type any words into any website. That’s the most common way a family loses crypto, because scammers are happy to “help” at moments like this.

Section 2: where it is

List where you hold crypto, but give no amounts. For example: “An account on exchange X (email address Y, password in the password manager, the case needs succession documents). A Trezor hardware wallet in the safe in the bedroom wardrobe. A wallet app on my phone.” For each place, say who could help and what it’s called.

Distinguish an exchange account from a wallet of your own. With the first, your family contacts the exchange with documents. With the second, they work with keys. The difference is explained in the glossary entries custodial and self-custody, and the exchange procedure in the guide exchange account after death.

Section 3: whom to call

Write down three people: a trusted person from family or friends, a notary (or a lawyer who will run the estate case) and a technical person who knows your setup. For each, a name, a phone number and one sentence on what they do.

The technical person doesn’t have to be us. It can be a friend who works in IT. What matters is that they know they’re named in the instructions and understand that they don’t get the seed, they only help your family go through the steps. If you’d rather it were us, we describe that on the page For your family.

Section 4: what you need

A list of what your family has in front of them before they start. Typically: the device (a hardware wallet), a computer with the software installed (the program’s name and a link to the maker’s site), a clear space on the desk, two quiet hours. And where to get the keys: “envelope in the safe”, “plate in the bank’s safe-deposit box”.

Name exactly what there is to pick up: “a steel plate with engraved words” rather than “backup”. A person who has never seen it won’t recognise a thing from a vague name.

Section 5: step by step

The heart of the instructions. A numbered procedure written so that it can be followed without understanding what’s going on. A sample skeleton for a wallet restored from a seed:

1. Gather the succession documents and check that the estate case is closed.
2. Open the envelope with the key at the place described in section 4.
3. Install the program from the maker’s site. The address is below. Don’t look for the program in a search engine.
4. When restoring, type the words by hand, in the order on the paper, on the device or in the program you were pointed to.
5. Check that the address you see matches the address written in the instructions.
6. Move the funds to a new address given by the technical person or adviser.

For a 2-of-3 wallet the steps are different: your family collects two of the three keys and the configuration file and signs the transaction in a program such as Sparrow or Nunchuk. The design is explained in the guide 2-of-3 multisig wallet: who is it for. If you use an extra password, the instructions must say so outright, and the password itself is kept somewhere other than the seed. The glossary entry passphrase explains this.

Section 6: what not to do

A short list of prohibitions, one line each:

• Don’t type the words into any website or any chat.
• Don’t send the words to anyone, including someone who introduces themselves as “technical support”.
• Don’t photograph the paper or the plate, and don’t scan it.
• Don’t trust anyone who contacts you first and offers help with recovery.
• Don’t move everything at once. Send a small test transfer first.

Section 7: when to stop

A list of situations where your family should stop and call the technical person: the address doesn’t match, the device asks for a code nobody knows, the program shows an error, the balance looks different from the instructions. It helps to put one sentence next to each: “don’t try any further, call”.

Section 8: updates

The date of the last update, the date of the last recovery test and who ran it. That way a family that finds the instructions knows whether they’re holding a document from last year or from five years ago.

What not to put in the instructions

The instructions are a document that someone will find one day, perhaps by accident. So they can’t contain anything that could be used to do harm.

Don’t write	Why
Seed phrase (recovery words)	Whoever has it can empty the wallet without any document. Details: the entry seed phrase
Exchange account password, PIN, passphrase	Outsiders shouldn’t get these together with the instructions
Amounts and values	Your family doesn’t need them for the first steps, and someone could misuse them (a burglar, a scammer, a relative in trouble)
Wallet addresses you associate with your identity	They can be tracked on the public network

Instead of the seed, write where it is: “envelope in the safe in the bedroom wardrobe, my wife knows the safe code”. Instead of an amount: “the value is significant, so take your time”. The instructions lead to the keys. They don’t replace them.

More on protecting the keys themselves is in the guide seed phrase: how to store it and in the pillar how to secure crypto.

Where to keep the instructions

Keep the instructions in two places, so that one event (a fire, a burglary, a flood) can’t destroy both. The simplest setup:

1. A folder of important documents at home, where your family looks for contracts and policies.
2. A copy with a trusted person, in another town or another home.

A Polish notary can also take a document for safekeeping, including in a sealed envelope (Article 106 of the Polish Notaries Act), and when accepting it draws up a protocol stating to whom and on what terms it’s to be released (Article 107). That suits people who want to be sure the instructions reach the right person after their death. Settle the details and costs with the notary. Other EU countries have their own rules, so check locally.

The instructions don’t sit next to the keys. If someone finds an envelope with the seed and the instructions beside it, they have everything they need. Separating the places adds a layer of protection, because both have to be found.

How to test the instructions with someone close

Instructions nobody has rehearsed are a hypothesis. The test takes about two hours: a close person goes through the document from start to finish without your hints.

1. Prepare a test wallet: an empty hardware wallet with its own seed unrelated to your funds, or a setup that lets you restore access without risk.
2. Ask the person who would read the instructions after your death. A regular family member, not a technician.
3. Give them only the document and the place where the envelope with the test key is. Say nothing.
4. Note where they stop, what they ask and what they do differently from what you assumed.
5. After the test, fix the text, not the person.

The result can be surprising. To someone who has never seen a hardware wallet, “restore the wallet” sounds like “start the reactor”. The test finds those places before a real situation does.

How to update the instructions

Instructions age faster than you’d think. Programs change their look, exchanges change their terms, and your life changes. Update them every year and after any of these changes:

• you change exchange, wallet or software,
• you move the keys to another place,
• the trusted person, the notary or the technical person changes,
• you change how things are protected, for example moving to a 2-of-3 wallet or adding a passphrase.

It’s best to combine the update with the yearly recovery test. You then check at once that the document is current and that the key backup itself works.

If you want someone to do it with you

You can write the instructions yourself from the template above. It needs you to be sure the setup you describe really works, and not everyone has someone to ask for a test. We prepare access instructions for your family with you: we write down the setup, lay out the steps and test the document with a person you choose. We describe this on the page For your family. The service costs roughly 200–500 €. We never see your keys and have no access to your funds.

Our work stops at the instructions. A notary, a lawyer and a tax adviser handle the will, the estate case and tax. This is not legal or tax advice. For your own case, ask the people qualified to give it. What to write in a will about crypto is covered in the guide crypto in your will.

Accurate as of 19 October 2026.