Inheritance only allows for one beneficiary. If you already have a beneficiary you will need to remove them before you add another beneficiary. Adding or removing a beneficiary can be done at any time by following the steps below:
To add a beneficiary
Designating a Bitkey wallet beneficiary does not guarantee your beneficiary ownership of the funds in your wallet, only that they will be able to access the funds. Ownership of the funds in the wallet may be governed by a will, or other legal document which may take precedence over the beneficiary designation. We suggest you speak with an estate attorney or another licensed professional familiar with the legal requirements in your jurisdiction.
Before you begin, we recommend you notify your intended beneficiary that you have selected them for this role as they will need their own Bitkey wallet (Bitkey hardware device and app) to accept their beneficiary invitation.
IMPORTANT: Inheritance is NOT set up until your beneficiary accepts their invitation and you activate Inheritance.
- From the Bitkey app Home Screen select
Settings
- Tap
Inheritance
- On the Beneficiaries tab, select + Add
- Add your beneficiary’s name and Continue
- Bitkey only allows for a single beneficiary at this time. If you already have a beneficiary, you will need to remove them before you can add another beneficiary.
- To learn more about the beneficiary requirements, see Who can be a beneficiary?
- If you haven’t already done so, enable critical alerts, and Continue
- See What are critical alerts and how do I update how I’m notified about them? for more information.
- We strongly recommend you enable all available communication channels. At a minimum, email is required.
- Select Save beneficiary and confirm using your hardware device
- Select Share invite and then share the invitation with your beneficiary
- When you see You’re all set, select Continue
- Let your beneficiary know you sent them a beneficiary invitation and ask them to accept it.
- Your beneficiary will need to follow the steps in How do I become an Inheritance beneficiary? to accept the invitation.
If your beneficiary did not receive their invitation or cannot find it, see How do I resend a beneficiary invitation? - If your beneficiary’s invitation expired before they accepted it, you will need to remove them as a beneficiary and add them again.
- Your beneficiary will need to follow the steps in How do I become an Inheritance beneficiary? to accept the invitation.
Note: When your beneficiary accepts their invitation, you will receive a notification of their acceptance. You must reopen your Bitkey app to activate Inheritance. Once activated, their name will appear in the Beneficiaries tab with Active as their status. If you do not activate Inheritance, your beneficiary will not be able to file an Inheritance claim to access the funds in your Bitkey wallet. See How do I see the status of my beneficiary? to confirm you have an active beneficiary and your Inheritance plan has been activated.
To remove a beneficiary
- From the Bitkey app Home Screen select
Settings
- Tap
Inheritance
- On the Beneficiaries tab, select Manage next to the name of the beneficiary you would like to remove
- If you are unable to find the name of the beneficiary that you would like to remove then there is no current beneficiary / benefactor relationship and no beneficiary to remove. If this doesn’t look right, see Why did the name of my beneficiary / benefactor disappear?
- Select Remove beneficiary and confirm using your hardware device.
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- If the status is Pending, select Cancel invitation. This will cancel the previously created beneficiary code and prevent them from accepting your invitation.
- If the status is Invite expired, select Cancel invitation. This will cancel the previously created and expired beneficiary code and allow you to add a beneficiary again.
- If the status is Active, this will terminate the beneficiary / benefactor relationship.
- If the status is Claim pending, this will cancel the existing claim and terminate the beneficiary / benefactor relationship.
- If the status is Claim approved:
- Transfer funds will be visible if your beneficiary has not yet initiated the inheritance fund transfer. If you are trying to remove your beneficiary as a way to stop them from initiating an inheritance funds transfer, see The inheritance claim has been approved. How do I retain control of my funds?
- Remove beneficiary will only be visible if your beneficiary has initiated the inheritance fund transfer to move the funds from your wallet to theirs. Because one of your keys has been shared with your beneficiary, your wallet is now considered compromised. If you are still alive and wish to continue using your Bitkey wallet, we strongly recommend creating a new wallet with a completely new set of keys, rather than removing your beneficiary. For instructions on setting up a new wallet, please see How do I set up a new Bitkey wallet if I already have an existing Bitkey wallet?
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Note: Once you have removed your beneficiary, their name will no longer appear on the Beneficiaries tab. Additionally, your beneficiary will receive a notification informing them that they have been removed, and they will no longer see your name listed as a benefactor.