When you add a beneficiary through Bitkey’s Inheritance feature, they cannot view, access, or control your wallet while you're alive. You retain full control, and you can remove or change your beneficiary at any time.
The only action a beneficiary can take is to initiate an inheritance claim if they believe you’ve passed away. Once a claim is initiated, a six-month waiting period begins. During that time, critical alerts are sent to your registered email and any other enabled channels, giving you the opportunity to cancel the claim if it was started in error or fraudulently.
Your encrypted App Key is not shared with your beneficiary during this waiting period. It is only released to their Bitkey app after the claim has been approved — that is, after the full six-month period has passed without it being canceled or contested. When the beneficiary initiates the fund transfer, their app decrypts the App Key. Along with the Block server key, this allows the funds to be securely moved from your wallet to theirs.
🔐 Security tip: Once an inheritance claim is approved and your encrypted App Key is released, your wallet should be considered no longer secure. If you are still alive and the claim was processed unintentionally or maliciously, we strongly recommend that you stop using the wallet immediately and create a new wallet with a new set of keys to protect your funds.
👉 See How do I set up a new Bitkey wallet if I already have an existing Bitkey wallet?