bitcoinafterlife
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96 lines
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96 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
# :material-script-text: An example of a proper succession plan with Bitcoin
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A concrete, start-to-finish walkthrough of how someone actually sets up a Bitcoin
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inheritance with BAL — and keeps it current for years without spending anything.
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## Step by step
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<div class="steps" markdown>
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<div class="step" markdown>
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**:material-shield-check: Start from Electrum.** You use [Electrum](https://electrum.org),
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a state-of-the-art Bitcoin wallet with one of the longest security track records in the
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ecosystem. BAL builds on it rather than reinventing the wallet.
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</div>
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<div class="step" markdown>
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**:material-usb-flash-drive: Add a hardware wallet (optional).** If you want, pair Electrum
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with a hardware device to raise the security of your keys even further. BAL works the same
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either way — Electrum still does all the signing.
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</div>
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<div class="step" markdown>
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**:material-account-heart: You have funds to protect.** You hold bitcoin in Electrum that,
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in case of an accident, death, or a lost seed, should reach your children — or simply a
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backup wallet of your own.
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</div>
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<div class="step" markdown>
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**:material-puzzle: Install the BAL plugin.** Add Bitcoin After Life to Electrum. See
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[Installation](getting-started/installation.md).
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</div>
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<div class="step" markdown>
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**:material-auto-fix: Set up the inheritance with the guided wizard.** BAL walks you through
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the whole thing step by step — see [Create your first will](getting-started/quick-start.md).
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</div>
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<div class="step" markdown>
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**:material-account-group: Add your heirs and their shares.** Enter how many heirs receive
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the funds and the share for each. *To avoid future disputes, equal shares for everyone are
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usually the wisest choice.*
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</div>
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<div class="step" markdown>
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**:material-calendar-clock: Choose the delivery date.** For example 5 or 10 years from now.
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</div>
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<div class="step" markdown>
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**:material-file-sign: The plugin builds the post-dated transaction.** It includes the fee
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for the miners and for the Will-Executors — the servers that hold the will until the chosen
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date and, on that day, broadcast it to the Bitcoin nodes that will accept the transaction.
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!!! success "Setting up and updating a will costs nothing"
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You pay no fee to create or update an inheritance. The fees exist only in the transaction
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itself and are paid **only if and when** the inheritance is actually executed.
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</div>
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<div class="step" markdown>
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**:material-refresh: Renew it once a year or two.** Mark it in your calendar. When you renew
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— adding an heir, changing shares — the plugin rewrites the inheritance transaction and
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re-sends it to the Will-Executors **dated one day earlier**, so you avoid an on-chain
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transaction and any mining fee. Renewing regularly brings two real advantages:
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- **More redundancy** — each renewal can pick up additional Will-Executors that will hold
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your will until the delivery date.
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- **Future-proofing** — a fresh time-locked transaction can incorporate future Bitcoin
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protocol upgrades, such as quantum-resistant security, as they arrive.
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</div>
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</div>
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## Using your wallet normally
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Setting up an inheritance does not freeze your wallet — you keep using Electrum as usual.
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If you **receive** or **spend** funds after the will is set up, the next time you close
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Electrum the BAL plugin checks your balance (by inspecting your UTXOs) and warns you if the
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inheritance needs updating.
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Here too the plugin **anticipates the date by one day**. So a will set to execute on
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**30 July 2031** is reissued for **29 July 2031** — with no need to write anything on-chain
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and no miner fee. This works because an *earlier* time-locked transaction automatically
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invalidates the later one it replaces.
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!!! info "Why anticipating is free, and postponing is not"
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Moving the date **earlier** (anticipating) is free, because the new transaction simply
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supersedes the old one. Moving the date **later** (postponing) is the one case that needs
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a real on-chain transaction, and therefore a small miner fee. For the full mechanics see
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[Keeping the will up to date](user-guide/updating.md#postponing-vs-anticipating).
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---
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!!! question "Still have a question?"
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The [FAQ](faq.md) answers the most common ones — costs, hardware wallets,
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privacy, and what happens if a Will-Executor disappears.
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