Dead Man's Switch
An automated inheritance trigger built into your smart contract vault. If you stop checking in, your heirs can claim your assets — no lawyers, no courts, no seed phrases shared.
What Is a Dead Man's Switch in Crypto?
A dead man's switch in crypto is a smart contract mechanism that automatically triggers an inheritance process when the wallet owner fails to check in within a set time period. The owner periodically sends a transaction to confirm they are still active. If they miss the deadline — due to death, incapacitation, or loss of access — the contract enters a grace period, after which designated heirs can claim the assets. No seed phrases are shared, no third parties are involved, and the entire process runs on-chain.
How It Works
Set Your Interval
Choose how often you want to check in — 30 days, 90 days, 180 days, or any custom period. This defines how long your vault waits before allowing claims.
Check In Periodically
Send a simple on-chain transaction to confirm you're active. One click from the HeirVault dashboard, or call the contract directly from any block explorer.
Claim Window Opens
If you miss your deadline, heirs become able to initiate a claim. You can still check in to reset the timer, and guardians can extend the deadline before execution.
Heirs Can Claim
A designated heir initiates the claim, which starts the configurable grace-period deadline. If multisig is configured, the required number of heirs must sign before withdrawals are unlocked.
Why a Dead Man's Switch?
Over $400 billion in Bitcoin is estimated to be permanently lost in inaccessible wallets. Most of these losses aren't from hacks or scams — they happen because the owner dies, becomes incapacitated, or simply loses access, with no succession plan in place.
Traditional solutions require sharing seed phrases (a security disaster), trusting third-party custodians, or relying on legal processes that weren't designed for digital assets. A dead man's switch solves this by automating the trigger condition: if you stop proving you're alive, the inheritance process begins.
HeirVault's core dead man's switch logic lives on-chain in the vault contract itself. Even if HeirVault as a service disappears, users can still inspect and interact with the vault through wallets or block explorers.
Advanced: Death Oracle
Automated Trigger via Death Oracle
Beyond manual check-ins, Premium users can configure a Death Oracle — an optional automated system that monitors public death registries and can trigger the inheritance process without relying solely on missed check-ins.
Three provider modes are supported: SSDI (US Social Security Death Index), GRO (UK General Register Office), and Manual (death certificate upload with hash verification). When a match is confirmed, the vault can automatically initiate the claim process for heirs.
Death Oracle is an optional layer — your vault's dead man's switch works independently regardless of whether a Death Oracle is configured.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a dead man's switch in crypto?
A dead man's switch is an automated mechanism that triggers an action when the user fails to perform a regular check-in. In crypto, it activates an inheritance process when the vault owner misses their scheduled check-in, allowing designated heirs to claim the assets.
How does HeirVault's dead man's switch work?
You set a check-in interval (e.g. 90 or 180 days). Periodically confirm you're active by sending a check-in transaction. If you miss the deadline, heirs can initiate a claim through the smart contract; that claim starts the grace-period deadline before execution.
Can I customize the check-in interval?
Yes. You can set any interval from 1 to 365 days. Common choices are 90 days, 180 days, or 365 days. You can also change the interval at any time while the vault is active.
What if I'm temporarily unable to check in?
You can appoint Guardians — trusted parties who can extend the check-in deadline by up to 90 days per active claim, within a 180-day lifetime cap, without being able to access your funds. This covers scenarios like travel, illness, or temporary inaccessibility.
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Set Up Your Dead Man's Switch
Deploy a vault with automated inheritance in under two minutes.
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