How do I initiate an inheritance claim?

An inheritance claim can only be initiated by a beneficiary in Active status. If you are not sure of your beneficiary status see How do I see if I successfully accepted my beneficiary invitation?

After the death of your benefactor, you can initiate an inheritance claim by following the steps below: 

1. From Bitkey app Home Screen select Settings
2. Tap Inheritance
3. On the Benefactors tab, select Manage next to the name of the benefactor you wish to initiate a claim for 
4. Select Start inheritance claim and then Continue
5. If you have not previously set up critical alerts you will be prompted to do so. 
   • Your claim will require action from you at certain points during the process. Enabling critical alerts ensures you receive important communication during the process. 
6. Select Submit claim and confirm using your hardware device. 
   • If you started a claim in error, see How do I cancel an inheritance claim?
   • If you are unable to submit your claim and see the message Claim submission failed, it means your benefactor did not complete setting up their Inheritance by activating it. Without activation, you will not be able to start a claim or gain access to the funds in your benefactor’s wallet. Your benefactor must complete setup and activate Inheritance before you can proceed.
7. An Inheritance claim submitted screen will appear letting you know the claim has started, and the date the funds will be available for transfer. Select Done. 

IMPORTANT: There is a six month mandatory waiting period that must be completed before you can confirm your inheritance transfer which moves the funds from your benefactor’s Bitkey wallet to your own Bitkey wallet.  During this time:

• The benefactor’s funds remain in the benefactor’s wallet and under their control.
• Bitkey will repeatedly notify the benefactor that an inheritance claim has been started for their funds. If they are still alive, they can decline and cancel the claim.
• The claim can be canceled at any time. If a claim is canceled both parties will be notified. A canceled claim can not be restarted. If the cancellation was done in error, you will need to follow the steps above to initiate a new inheritance claim.

To check the status of a pending claim, including how much time remains see How do I see the status of an inheritance claim? To complete an inheritance claim, see How do I complete an inheritance claim after the six month waiting period and transfer funds to my Bitkey wallet?