Inherited wallet
Recovering inherited cryptocurrency requires technical material and proven legal representation.
Is this your case
Situations we assess
01
The family found a Ledger or Trezor, with or without the recovery sheet, and nobody knows the PIN or the passphrase.
02
There is a computer or drive of the deceased with Bitcoin Core, Electrum or another wallet installed and the password is unknown.
03
There are notes with words that look like a seed phrase, but they are incomplete, out of order or mixed with other notes.
04
Statements, emails or tax returns show that cryptocurrency existed, but nobody knows where it was held.
05
The estate proceedings are under way and the lawyer needs a technical assessment of whether the assets can be accessed.
Materials
What we need to assess the case
Nothing is sent through the form. The initial call can take place with the estate administrator, an heir or the family's lawyer.
- An inventory of the technical material found: devices, computers, drives, papers, safes and password managers of the owner.
- Documents proving representation: letters of administration or the Brazilian equivalent (termo de inventariante), a court order (alvará judicial), a deed of partition or a notarial estate deed.
- Evidence of what existed: tax returns listing crypto assets, exchange statements, confirmation emails, conversations about the purchases.
- Addresses or transactions the family can identify, to confirm the wallets found.
- The owner's habits: known passwords from other services, language, note taking patterns, because this guides the password and passphrase search.
Process
How we handle an inheritance case
The technical path is the same as in other cases, with a documentation step before the work and extra care in the final transfer, made to a wallet under the control of the administrator or the heirs according to the partition.
Step 01
Tell us what the family found
Complete the form with the type of material and the status of the estate. Do not send any secret or document at this stage.
Step 02
Speak with a specialist
In the free 30 minute assessment we map the material, the technical hypotheses and the documentation needed. The family's lawyer is welcome.
Step 03
Receive the preliminary assessment
Understand the viability of each item found, what is still worth searching for at home and the next steps.
Step 04
Prove legal representation
Before any work, we verify the requester's identity and the estate documentation or court order authorising access to the assets.
Step 05
Authorise the technical work
With the contract in place, we request only the necessary material, handled offline on equipment controlled by Vault.
Step 06
Pay only if we recover
When successful, the assets are transferred in an assisted session to a wallet controlled by the administrator or the heirs, and the fee is paid on the value recovered.
Viability
What determines viability
Inheritance cases combine a technical problem (password, passphrase, seed or file) with a documentation problem. Both need a path.
- Material from the owner
- A hardware wallet with its recovery sheet, a computer with a wallet installed or a backup file are viable starting points. Statements and addresses alone do not allow access to be rebuilt.
- Documentation
- Letters of administration, a court order or a notarial estate deed listing the crypto assets are the usual documents. Vault does not start technical work without proof of representation.
- Knowledge about the owner
- Without the owner to remember the password, the search depends on their patterns: passwords from other services, password managers, notes. The more the family knows, the higher the viability.
- Exchange custody
- If the assets were held at an exchange, recovery is not technical: it is a procedure with the company, using the estate documents. We can guide you, but it is not a wallet case.
Service limits
What we cannot do
- We do not start technical work without proof of legal representation, even at the request of close relatives.
- We cannot recover assets when no material from the owner exists: addresses, statements and tax returns do not allow keys to be rebuilt.
- We do not provide legal advice. We explain which documents are usually accepted, but the estate proceedings are led by the family's lawyer.
- We do not guarantee recovery: viability depends on what was found and on what is known about the owner's habits.
Security and confidentiality
Your data is treated as the most sensitive asset in the process.
We minimize data collection for every case. Recovery attempts are performed offline on equipment controlled by Vault, with access restricted to the specialists responsible.
Never send a seed phrase, private key or password to someone who contacts you without your request. Always verify Vault Recovery's official channels.
01
No secrets are requested in the initial form.
02
Work begins only after identity, ownership or legal authority is verified.
03
We request only the material required for the specific case.
04
Recovery attempts take place in a controlled offline environment.
05
You participate in moving the assets to a new wallet under your control.
06
Sensitive files and data are permanently deleted after the case is concluded.
Commercial model
A fee only on the value recovered
The assessment is free. If access is recovered and the assets are transferred to the administrator's or heirs' wallet, the fee follows the brackets below, based on the value recovered. Without success, there is no fee.
No recovery commission if recovery fails
- Recovered value
- 01Up to USD 100,000
- Success fee
- 20%
- Recovered value
- 02Over USD 100,000 up to USD 200,000
- Success fee
- 17.5%
- Recovered value
- 03Over USD 200,000
- Success fee
- 15%
Cases that require device shipping, replacement parts or laboratory work may involve operational costs disclosed in advance and charged separately from the success fee.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions about this case.
The same questions and answers visible here feed the structured data of the page.
Related cases
Other situations that often combine with this one.
If your case involves more than one obstacle, the assessment considers them together.
02
Bitcoin Core wallet.dat
File with a forgotten password, corrupted or from an old Bitcoin Core version.
03
Forgotten wallet password
You have the file, app or backup but cannot remember the password that unlocks it.
Free assessment
Inherited cryptocurrency without access? Let us map the material and the legal path.
Book a free 30 minute call with the estate administrator, an heir or the family's lawyer. A specialist assesses the material found and explains the documentation needed, without asking for any secret.
Free assessment · English or Portuguese · No secret is requested at this stage
Step 1 of 3
Initial case assessment
Share only what is necessary so we can direct the conversation to the right specialist.
Never enter a seed phrase, password, passphrase, private key, or sensitive file in this form.