Topic: Bitcoin is private and decentralized, ok but what if someone dies? (Read 409 times)

This is a difficult topic, we know that almost no one wants to think about the day they will die and that is completely understandable but it has to be done because even if you are young and strong you never know what it is going to happen, just look at 2020, it seemed like just another year and suddenly we were in the presence of one of the worst pandemics we have ever seen and even if the elderly were the most affected ones many young people still died so we need to have everything in order in the case of a sudden death.

This is a very important topic that I have actually discussed here before.  Although this is related more toward the "Collectibles" board, it still applies in any situation when one passes an wants to leave their bitcoin and or cryptocurrency behind to their loved ones.  Here is my write up.  I think you will find it helpful, or at least hope you do https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.50703294

the most important thing is that you can find the password or private key and access to the laptop or computer. I think that's the only way. because security in crypto storage is not easy for anyone to open except the owner, but if the owner dies that's all that can be done unless your brother gives access to someone else before he dies

I think that 99% of people who are engaged in investment do not think about it today. Who even thinks about inheritance and his heir when he is young or at least at the age of maturity. I am sure there are few such people, but the question that is understood here seems interesting and important to me. Such a thought should sooner or later be realized in some kind of mechanism that will insure the risks and there will be a way to get around the problem. For example, teach your children what blockchain is and how to use wallets.

My dream when i have a lot of coins or maybe it is a big amount of money, i will tell my family about it. When I read in some post that said if no one know our private key, it means it will gone forever if we dead. Almost like when we lose Private key of our wallet although we're still alive. it will stay in that address and no one can't touch it. I don't want that thing happen. When my friend dies because of disease, fortunately he give his exchange account to 1 of his friend already, so they can withdraw it and give his money to his family.

If I remember correctly exchanges already have something like that in place so if you like to keep your coins in exchanges, something I do not recommend long term, then your family members have a chance to recover your coins if you at least tell them that you are holding some bitcoin, however we must remember that we are our own bank and if you are holding your coins yourself then you are the one that needs to put those measures in place if you do not want your coins to be lost when you die.

If someone dies with holding some bitcoin in his/her wallet then his/her bitcoin will kept in that wallet till someone get access the wallet and send it or sell it. If that person write down the access key or put somewhere that can be found by his relative then his/her bitcoin can be used. Otherwise his/her bitcoin will kept forever.

most people will still say wills is one of the keys if one day the main holder dies. well, I think so, but the will can be easily accessed by the heir if one of the heirs is not proficient in accessing the personal data of the bitcoin holder.
due to the nature of the main holder who can fully control. Another way is to represent an adult as a trust to manage data to be inherited. many of us have seen this phenomenon, such as assets that have hired advisors / lawyers as intermediaries to convey to the heirs in writing.

There are many services related to cryptocurrency management and inheritance that have been fueling the building idea over the last few years. Bitcoin's decentralization and privacy have created user trust.

We need to accept the truth about cryptocurrencies and prepare ourselves a backup solution so that similar unexpected events happen no longer a concern. Each of us has a responsibility to our families and those close to us that deserve to receive in return the property we leave behind.

In the case of your brother's death in a traffic accident, find a way to get his mobile device and computer back and look at them little by little. Maybe he left his possessions behind in some secret file that you can reach.

Telling a family member about private information about a bitcoin wallet is very simple but I don't think they can easily use it as simple as we do every day because this personal data is constantly updated, from exchange wallets, email accounts to verification, it's a very long cumulative process to get used to such information. So to avoid these situations, we should be more concerned about regular health checks and besides, converting bitcoin into cash and giving information to family, a bank account is easier to access than a bitcoin asset

If we have someone who we really trust, for example, our husband or wife, we can trust them and let them know about the data. And probably we can use the data for our children. In some exchanges, there are also heritage data in which we can get the assets to our children or whoever that we give the data so that the assets can be someone else someday.
However if about private wallet, well, if someone dies without anyone other knows about it, the assets may be gone.

I think, for now, the only solution to make sure BTC or other crypto is inherited is just to look ahead and do everything beforehand, and this includes not only showing your relatives where you keep the password and the seed phrase but explaining and showing several times how to use it, exchange, etc. as well.
Don't give up. It's 100% that your brother kept his private key somewhere, look into his notebooks, txt files on the PC, and alike. It would be a pity if this money was lost due to the inability to access the wallet...

You would really need to let them know if you do want for them to benefit out on what you had left once you die unexpectedly.Life is temporary and anything could happen.
Some people do even put up some will that those things will be opened once they die, some do store up on a ledger and giving out instructions on how to open it.
It is just that friend of his did really forget or intended not to let know his loved ones about his holdings and this is one of the cons if you dont
make out some back up that your loved ones would able to open it out.Its just a matter on how you do mind of the possibilities.

Sorry for your loss . It's unfortunate to hear that he was a crypto enthusiast who might have had some assets that can't be accessed since his passing. While Bitcoin solved plenty of financial problems, it has a few downsides of its own. Since everybody can essentially be their own bank, they're tasked with keeping these accounts secured and backed up for majority of the time. The best way to handle situations like this is to make them aware that you've a crypto portfolio and that they should ONLY access it in an event that you're unable to. That's it.

I think the initial solution is, you save all your data in fashdisk and make a will for it if anything happens in the future, but sometimes we are often negligent and forget to do everything, so while you can still remember do something useful for people who  you will leave

I have a fire safe, actually a floor safe sunk in concrete. If you don't have one, you should get one for those important things, and even stuff that you can replace, but would be a pain, like your automobile certificate of ownership. If you rent, get a portable one, and if you can't trust your roommates, use a safe deposit box.

In my safe I have an envelope with "Bitcoin" written on it. Today, everybody knows what Bitcoin is, and when the safe is opened when you die, your heirs will find the Bitcoin envelope and the will hand it to whoever is the most techie.

In that envelope I have the backup words for the wallet on my phone, another with the backup words for the other wallet that I use for alt-coins, another with the backup words for my Trezor, and several paper wallets with various amounts of Bitcoin. If I haven't spent these when I die, my heirs should be able to extract them, and since it doesn't require paperwork, they can be quietly excluded from any inheritance tax.

The worries you are expressing now is because you are alive because a dead man does not worry, he is gone and gone for ever. Therefore, to avoid these kind of worries for the living after the dead was gone is to write a will as the first thing to secure what you have. The worries about family members or trustees not understanding, knowing or have knowledge about bitcoin is inconsequential because when the time comes, there will be the solution on it but if you don't put down a will and die intestate, that is bigger problem. So you need to prepare a will about how your hodlings should be handled. To die testate is to write a will. The thread below also dealing with this kind of topic.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.56772859

Its not a flaw of bitcoin itself but rather this one talks about being neglected by the owner of the coins itself that if he had able to let them know about his earnings or holdings
then those coins wont really come to waste in case he dies and he should remember that life is just temporary.

We don't know on what would happen tomorrow or in next second because nothing can be known ahead in terms of our own lives.So its not bad to always consider
on setting up things about inherit of holdings.

Try to look for some USB or files on his own pc and you might possibly finding off some hints or accounts that shows on his storage.

I guess that just one of the disadvantages when it comes to bitcoin or being decentralized because for sure you can't open it anymore if your dead or your family doesn't know your password or private key.

If you think about it there are people who want centralization like banks because they just don't want to have that responsibility, like for example you lose your password or private key you cant recover that account anymore if it's decentralized but if it's in the bank, you could just call the bank to tell them that you forgot or lose your password and then they could just give you a new one.

So both centralized and decentralized are great but also have their advantages and disadvantages, it just depends on what you want and how are you going to manage it.

Yes, we can't blame him, but we also can't blame bitcoin for being designed the way it is.

It was that man's choice to keep his investment a secret from his wife and kids.

If he had a lot of money and buried it somewhere in the garden, would it be the money's fault or his? Usually people doesn't hide money from closest family.

OP, check your brother's computer. Maybe you will find some hints and traces that can help you get his money. Check if he had accounts on bitcoin exchanges and send them his death certificate. It's possible that they'll reset his passwords and give you access to his accounts. At least you'll know if he held anything there and how much he bought.

There is such a system "included" with Bitcoin since Satoshi conceived it, it is called "Locktime". Basically it is a feature that gives access to the value of a Bitcoin transaction after a period of time you define. You can send such a transaction to a trusted family member so the BTC become accessible for them after e.g. 1 year. Before the year has passed, you transfer the BTC to another address, so the old Locktime TX becomes invalid - and you simply send a new Locktime transaction from the new address where the Bitcoins are now.

This feature is unfortunately not well known, and the person wanting to use it for inheritance must use it actively. This means, be in contact with his family and/or an attorney who is in charge.

The two big advantages are, however, that 1) it is totally trustless and 2) you can send a Locktime transaction to a wallet which is totally prepared, you don't have to guard keys in vaults or do some "obfuscation" to hide them. Simply install a Bitcoin wallet in the computer of a trusted family member and send the Locktime transactions regularly to it, e.g. each year, or each time you move your BTC.

There is a tutorial from LoyceV: Using Locktime for inheritance planning, backups or gifts. I don't know if there is an easy to use software for that, but definitively there should be one!

It is too late for the OP's particular problem, but I think everybody who holds significant amounts of BTC should know about this possibility. In fact, I am a bit disappointed that it wasn't mentioned in the whole thread.

Its always sad to think about this things happening but it is inevitable and this feature is somewhat already being researched on. I believe that there was a recent post regarding this and most users engage on it with bright ideas. One idea that was memorable for me was using a wallet that would transfer all your assets into someone you personally know if the balanced is unused or if the account is not opened for at least a year or years. Its a great idea but creating things like this would require the time because it involves great unforeseen assets.

If that happens, or if someone died with possession of bitcoin, it is just luck if he was able to leave his private keys (mostly hard drives) so he can pass his wealth to his family. Unfortunately, I never heard of companies with services with these types of concerns. Haven’t seen any insurance company that is focused on cryptocurrency. Also, a trustee firm where we can file our last will so just in case we die, our family could claim our wealth.

I'm actually hoping that someone will establish the said service. It’s just that right now, it’s not yet very much feasible. Let’s just wait for bitcoin to be massively accepted then we will see these services being offered.

This is another alternative, many couples whether they are married or not have joint accounts, they have their money pooled together in a single account which both can access, if you have someone like that in your life then this is very easy, you share that information with your loved one and train them on how to recover the coins and even teach them how to make a few transactions and once they are comfortable with it then you know that in the case of something happening to you there is always someone that can recover your coins no matter what.

How did i miss the "BItcoin is Private" part.
Is Bitcoin really private or Public ?

Well,it's actually  a Public network. A true Public Network for that matter. A true Public Network would typically be Opened to the public without much restrictions. Bitcoin is open to all and its principles like permissionless/trustlessness, transparent, censorship resistance etc prove it's Public.
I guess what op meant by private is the keys and other info own by private individuals on the Public Network

Sorry to hear that, OP.
There are still a pinch of hope though if he holds those coins in an exchange or an online wallet. You can reach up to support team, but it might take a lot of effort for them to convince that you two are related.
Only thing to worry is if he holds it into a desktop wallet or anything where he holds the private key as that is the only key for you to access his wallet.

we don't know when death will come, it would be better if we tell one of our closest relatives (who we believe) that we have cryptocurrency assets, make a will s or similar records regarding your assets in cryptocurrency.

Think of it as inheritance, instead of just staking away in a wallet and no one being able to use it, right?

it would be better if we already have a life partner, husband / wife. share with him related to what you do in the crypto world, invite cooperation and guide him. this will be very fun, you will get a mate and a friend to work with.

If the person who owns Bitcoin passed away without any letter or something like last will to his love ones I think those Bitcoins will be lost forever. That is why we are going to give our loved ones an idea on what we are doing and what they are going to do if something bad will happen.

We can't actually blame the person because he already died and we don't know his reason why he kept it from his family and I also believe that he doesn't expect that the unexpected thing would happen to him. Let's just take it as a lesson learned to trust one of the family member, your wife, your eldest son or daughter that you know can already understand the transactions you have in crypto or even make a note and jotted it down all the important details of your account and whatsoever. I do hope that OP can find a way to retrieve his brother's BTC, his family, his children deserves what he has been working in crypto.

It's not actually the system's fault, it's your brother's fault to keep it secret even to his own family. When it comes to finances, family or trustworthy relatives should have access to your money or you should at least let them know where you were spending your own money, So I think we consider such possibilities like this to avoid getting in a situation like losing your BTC just simply because no one knows about it other than you.

That is the least of their worries and if they didn't prepare for the inevitable then their bitcoin will be gone in the void forever. And we should thank them because they are the people that will contribute to the continuous increase of the prices of bitcoin because they will be considered as lost coins if they didn't prepare for your bitcoin inheritance.

There are only two scenarios with this kind of event if it's gonna happen to someone whom they didn't have some relatives to take care of their crypto assets after they suddenly passed away. The two scenarios are either the crypto assets will be lost forever or someone will inherit them. that's just the way it is. So far, I never heard someone found some buried crypto assets by someone. Like I said, either of those two will become possible if that's gonna happen to you in the middle of your long time holding.

Bitcoin is a completely online based virtual currency even though there is no documentation.  If someone writes down the password of a wallet in a document and gives it to someone at the time of death, then that lost coin can be recovered by someone of the next generation.  If this is not possible then Bitcoin will be lost forever after death.

Bitcoin is, of course, a well-known decentralized currency.  Bitcoin can be controlled by any organization but it cannot be controlled by any country alone.  However, it seems that Bitcoin will be recognized as one of the most widely used currencies in the world.  Currently the use of coronavirus has increased so much that it is now completely decentralized.

The ability of anyone knowing that you had money/knowing what you have depends on you. If you really want them to know, you'd have told them before you passed. This is actually a realistic topic that we face in the crypto space. But like I said, whatever that happens depends on you (even though I know I'm guilty of not really telling no one an indepth extent to what I own...).

That's where Multisig comes in. You can try making a 3-of-4 Multisig and give two of your children one of the keys each and a lawyer the other, making a total of 3. You can include it in your will so they'll be able to spend if after your death.

An automated system to automatically do so is insecure by nature and would be difficult to implement in the first place. Using Multisig for something like this would be simpler.

The solution is to write your bitcoin address and private key on paper or digitally and have someone you trust to hold it so when the owner died unexpectedly, someone can take care of it.

But the problem is when the owner hasn't shared his/her private key to someone he trusts then suddenly die. There is no way that we can retrieve or open his Bitcoin wallet. That's how Bitcoin wallet is really a secured one.

Many good suggestions in here and thanks for the replies.

We already tried checking the computer and phone, he had a newly Samsung smartphone with a password and face-ID. It was really difficult to try and open it for many reasons. 1) The privacy of my brother and his image. After all his private stuff/secrets need to go with him with respect, this is just my view. However, I tried to open it but it was really hard with the password. I needed to hack his phone but this also was not an easy thing to do, ethically nor technically. The new smartphones are very difficult to crack open even with very good technician guys trust me.

His computer is also the same story, it had a password and I couldn't open it.

So I guess that's it, It's all gone! The issue is he moved all of his money into bitcoin, all of the money that he gathered throughout his career was put it which means his family/kids lost the man who provided for them + his money.

I did not like the idea that you must teach the family how to use bitcoin + give them the secret wors and private keys. I do not think this is a smart solution to the issue. There are many problems associated with this method which I can discuss even further but some of the people above already mentioned them. You'd be surprised at this day and age there are many people who are not really good with technology and computers, I know a man who doesn't know how to register an email. I personally can attest to this, my father isn't good with smartphones or computers, he still living in the past and it is impossible to teach him bitcoins or how to open up a private key and then transfer the bitcoins. This will be impossible. And same with my wife.

An automated way to give all heritage to the family is a must-implementation I think, just like what happens in banks. A guy dies, the court decides who inherits what and at what percentage, then you take the papers to the bank and get the money, simple as that. I'm sure if Satoshi is around he'd find a clever brilliant system to make this work.

We have already discussed many times on how to inherit bitcoin and we had received very interesting methods of inheritance.

In what way you’ll inherit Bitcoin to your loved ones?
When Bitcoin Must Be Inherited
Bitcoin inheritance
[Tutorial] Making your crypto inheritible
Leaving Bitcoin as inheritance

As for the bitcoins your brother had, he would be definitely having something on his phone or computer which should lead to his coins.
Just check out his phone and computer thoroughly and also check his mails and cloud storage and external storage.
Also, ask his friends if he had invested anything in crypto to be sure of the same.

Ever since I got into Bitcoin I convinced some of my family member into it and teach them about it,
So I don't have any problem like what OP has discussed since they could just retrieve it and use it after I'm gone.

I don't think it'll be that difficult to create a decentralized inheritance system that transfers wealth to loved ones when the owner of the wealth dies. It could be automatic or manual system, or both. I believe there are decentralized systems that can be used to do this already. People could even provide such service for fees... and it should be possible to include your love ones for inheritance transfer once you open your decentralized account.
   Why not get the ones he trusted most go through his stuff and search for the keys/passwords to his funds? Sorry for your loss

Those coins will forever be lost, I expect a lot of this in the future. It will just increase the scarcity thus increasing the price. The day will come when very few people actually have an entire coin. Fractions of a coin will be the norm.

The issue is that who will I trust to disclose my private keys in case something happens tomorrow. When it comes to something that involves a huge amount of money someone gat to be careful about whom to access his or her access tomorrow.
I don't want a situation where someone will access my private keys without my permission or before my time

There's no way to implement inheritance on a protocol level, just like any other features that would require human decisions, like chargebacks, freezing illegal funds and so on. It's just like strong encryption - if you don't have the key, there's no way around it. A person could have some digital possesions, like family photos or unpublished works, but if they have encrypted them, their family won't be able to inherit it too.

This is not fault of Bitcoin, but the owner of Bitcoin and all you need to do is to write a letter with simple instructions how to recover your funds and use your private key or seed words, and before that you should try to educate your family members about Bitcoin.
You are responsible for your own Bitcoin and only you are responsible for passing your wealth to your family members when you are gone one day, so you should think about it on time.
Think about Bitcoin in the same way like you think what happens to all off your other assets in case of your death and it will be just fine.


It is not gone forever and he must be keeping his backup phrase somewhere at his house or his work place, because it's the only way he can be sure to recover funds for himself or his family members.
You should be looking at his stuff for words written on paper, hardware wallets or maybe in his computer for software wallets he was using.


Interesting that you purchased Bitcoin in 2014 but you are now talking about your dead brother who talked about Bitcoin all the time.

It may well be a wild goose chase, but if you’ve got access to his emails, you can try starting to determine the wallets that he may have had. i.e. going over the emails you may find a reference to purchasing a hardware wallet (Ledger, Trezor), or using a certain Exchange.
Some Exchanges actually do have a running protocol for these cases, providing you determine that there is an account to retrieve there (see for example Coinbase’s procedure here: https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/managing-my-account/other/how-do-i-gain-access-to-a-deceased-family-members-coinbase-account). Additionally, the laptop or phone may still contain a wallet software (Electrum, etc.).

The above is just a preamble to an unlikely recovery, but trying to determine what wallets may have been used, and where, is the first stepping stone (alongside any 12 or 24 word piece of paper that may be hidden somewhere around the house, with a mnemonic that can be used for retrieval).

Yeah, it also once come to my thoughts that what if I'm gone and there is no one will benefit from all of my hard work earings. Anyway, our Bitcoin will more likely get stuck in there in our wallet and no one will benefit from it unless your family does know significant information to access your Bitcoins.

You could have just started to write up or list your private key though, you don't need to wait until you get old because no one knows how long we will last in this world. In this case, better if you will put all necessary information in one place and put a password in that at least one of your family members knows it. I agreed that they might not computer savvy to access all this information but I believe there is one person at least who is capable of learning and can access these holding of yours. Being not computer savvy is not an excuse because everything can now be learned especially all the information you need to know is not published online.

Bitcoin is private as well ad the private keys of each wallet accounts of the bitcoin holders. If the bitcoin holder died then the coins or tokens on his wallet will not be able to recover, unless the person who dies has someone that he/she tells about his private keys or password in each wallet that they have but if it doesn't have then it would be sad to say that the money or coins and tokens in the wallets will be remain there and no one will be able to recover or have an access to it.

I agree. Unless you have someone you can trust to tell them where they can find the private key, the issue of death and loss of all your beloved crypto is as valid as any other.

Rather than this being a fault in the system, I think it rather has to do with you, your boundaries and your life. You can choose to take certain precaution steps to avoid being in this dilemma and those steps of course depend on you as an individual, but I reiterate that it has nothing to do with crypto - crypto needs to be secure! There are ways around this, so make sure you prepare for the worst.

do not underestimate your password and private key...
It has been repeatedly discussed so that you prepare yourself to save your password and private key in a safe so that your family can find it when you die because if you don't then your Bitcoin will be nobodies.

This is the common issue that we may encounter about cryptocurrency, what if we die? then probably your bitcoin or assets will just be stored in your wallet and no one in your family and friends can use it. Maybe the solution for this is you have to give some of your wallet details to one of your family or to the one who you trust, it will lessen the possibility to waste all the hard work you have spent on earning your bitcoin.

Most of the Bitcoin users are in their 20s and 30s and they don't take this possibility seriously. There are two options - first one is to keep the backup to your Bitcoin wallet to yourself and thereby eliminate the possibility of some of your friends or relatives stealing the coins from you. In this case, if something happens to you, then the coins will be lost forever. The second option is to inform your most trusted friend, or a relative about the backup. But in such case there is always a possibility of this person trying to steal the money from you (although it is a very remote possibility).

You know, Bitcoin is decentralized for a reason... It gives you FULL control over your own wealth ..and with that come a lot of responsibility. Now, people have to take the responsibility to make provision for their own estate and how it will be handled.

Now this is an example of how it could have been handled. The Crypto owner can split the private key into two sections.. the one section can be stored with a lawyer and the other with a relative that he can trust. Not one of the parties can do anything with the section of the private key that they have.

The executor of the Will, then have to get access of both sections of the private key and they then have to import that into a wallet and convert it into fiat. (Make sure that the executor of the Will know something about Crypto currencies and how to sweep bitcoins to a new address/wallet)  

I am so sorry to hear about your loss.
This isn't the first key of loosing Bitcoin private key. The only thing I can recommend you is trying to look for a piece of paper or notebook or USB drive in your brother's staff. I think he kept a copy of his pass-phrase in a secure place.

It isn't. It seems unfair because you "feel" that you lost out on something, but in reality, crypto is your own bank, meaning you literally manage everything on it. And everything means EVERYTHING. No one would be able to let you access your funds unless you let someone else access it, so if you mismanage it or you die and no one else can access it, that's it. Heritage, will, or what not, nothing of those matters if you don't leave a way for someone else to access it. I repeat, it is not unfair, that's just what it means to have your "own" bank.

There are already a lot of solutions for this. I recalled before, a website or tool that is able to send an email for a specific period of time, and before that, it is kinda reminding you months/weeks/days before sending the email, just like you have a pending email that will be sent to particular email address.

I read before some people who already using this, just like if incase they will leave this world and have some notes for their love ones, so we can also use this to tell our family about our wealth on Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencis.

I encourage you to get positive with bitcoin^-/*/-and that if there is any cryptocurrency in investment by your deceased brother, you will get it.

You only have to do social engineering with the technological and social habits that your brother had, in the first instance you should know and be sure, but completely sure (100%) that you have "important" investments to make this asset search "trip" worthwhile, as it can be quite fast or it can take a long time.

If you have access to privileged information, I assure you that your "trip" will take you to the point of obtaining the necessary information to really know the value of those assets and to be able to use them.

Please avoid third parties who want to help you, especially anonymous or even acquaintances but who are not trusted, try it yourself in the first instance and require only the help of recognized companies.

Finally there is something that you can know a priori and I repeat it, studying the financial income and consumption habits of your brother can determine if it is worth doing that search, if someone talks about bitcoin or if they are expected to have a large amount of money in the bank and it doesn't exist, it not means  that your brother made investments in bitcoin, this comment may sound shocking and disorienting but I'm just being objective.

______
-/*/-

You are making your Family Stupid for having no capacity to Understand Bitcoin when you die?

Why not start teaching them clearly for how it works so whenever you die they have idea and knowledge about your remaining cryptocurrency.

Know what ? you are just making the issue worst when the truth is , you are the one who must be responsible to handle and share this to them.

---

Mine? i have teached my Wife and Children about how to claim all my crypto assets when there is unexpected things happen.

Give the access to your bitcoin (through private keys or mnemonic seeds) to the person you believe in, deeply love and want to give him or her the inheritance right for your bitcoin.

It can be done in your family. If you are a husband, a father and do love your wife, your children, you will want to give them information to get access to your bitcoin wallet. Just in worst case you suddenly pass by.

Make sure to train them which wallet to use, how to import a bitcoin private key/ mnemonic seed to a wallet. If you don't train them, when you pass by, they can ask someone else and probability to ask bad people is not low.

Therefore, first of all, you need to carefully inspect the workplace of the deceased brother, and then everything where he lived and worked. However, before that, you need to familiarize yourself with the private keys of bitcoin, how it is spelled, what letters and numbers it usually consists of, their number, in order to know what to look for. It is necessary to fully examine his records and possible hiding places, that is, in all unusual places. Of course, as already indicated here, also inspect his computer and all similar devices on which he could work.
Anonymity is a feature of cryptocurrency and therefore only we are responsible for the safety of our wallets and private keys to them. Nothing can be changed here.

It may be too late for your brother, but for everyone else:

https://medium.com/@pamelawjd/inheritance-planning-for-cryptocurrencies-3-steps-in-3-minutes-83ebb3e916a2

This is the case because we are still so so early. While bitcoin holders right now could make early preparations like creating instructions to recover their wallet/s if it's the case that they die unexpectedly early, remember that all this is new tech. I think it's highly likely that some genius could create a better wallet recovery method than multisig sometime in the future.

If he was storing his bitcoin himself then he had to store the private keys somewhere. This isn't something for Bitcoin to take care of, this is something for owners of Bitcoin to take care of. It is unfortunate he didn't talk to his wife about how he was storing his Bitcoin.

People have been thinking about this kind of problem for some time but at least to me you are making too much trouble of something that can be solved, you could tell your family that a particular hard drive contains your fortune and give it to them but in order to avoid them to access those coins prematurely you encrypt the hard drive, then you contact a lawyer and in your will you write the password to the hard drive, that way when you die your family members get access to your coins and never sooner than that.

Unless he gave his private keys or Seed (12-24 random words in a piece of paper) the coins he had are lost forever.

Probably he has a paper with 12-24 hidden somewhere in his house. The only chance of recovering those coins is by recovering that piece of paper.

It is very important that you explain that to his wife, so she can look for it. Maybe it will take some years for her to find, but it is important that she understand that this piece of paper with random words written on it is valuable.

That is also a good warning for all of us here: We all need to give some information about our bitcoins to a close relative who we can trust, so when we die our coins are not lost forever.

Probably they might state in their will that they will give their family the coins they have and leave the private key somehow?

That is probably the concern for most of us that when you die you take your BTC to the grave when you didn't share your pass and privatekeys with your kids. Its sad that if suddenly you just don't wake up in the morning, your kids won't be able to get your coins.

Unfortunately, you can't trust anyone even the lawyers who you leave your will and testament. You might want to do is educate your kid about crypto instead as early as you can so they learn. Its possible now that adoption is clearly coming. Teaching them to learn how to trade I think will be better.

If you have access to his PC for sure you can recover those coins... Just look at the saved passwords and history and you will be able to trace those coins.

I'm really sorry for your brother, is hard to lose a member of the family and I totally agree with you, his kids deserves those bitcoins, but not all the crypto users thinks about what will happen to our coins if we have an accident. And we should worry more about this topic. How many coins will be lost until we understand the importance of backup the private keys with someone else?

Bitcoin is a lovely concept but I feel it failed to include a system that considers the wealth of someone who suddenly dies and inherits his money to his loved ones "Family". I've always thought about this in my head, what happens to my money when I die.

The idea in writing my private key or long word sentence in a well is a method but is not efficient.

Because young people like many of us think we're going to live forever and we don't normally write wells, let's be honest here. Think about banks and real-life situation, here many of us hate the centralization and how government work on things, however, there is some benefit to what they do. When a person dies there's a system that automatically inherits all of your assets and money to your kids, which is a good thing and a plus in my book.

Bitcoin does not consider this! maybe if I am old I will write my private key for my family, but then again what are the chances that they would understand how to get the money? There are so many people who aren't computer savvy, so even if we go the extra mile of writing the sentence or the key in the well, a good chance that family members will not know how to use it and take it for granted. They don't know how much bitcoin worth and will neglect it, of course, given you wrote a well. What if you didn't?

Now, why did I bring this up? My brother who is one year older than me, he's only 40 when he died in a car accident last year. He talks nonstop about bitcoin and crypto so this indicates to me that he was investing. We don't know how much he owns, where he owns it, and how to give it back to his kids as heritage. His kids deserve to get that money but it's gone forever I'm assuming? so don't you think this is unfair, as I said bitcoin has a flaw that needs to be fixed in that sense.

What if my brother owns 4 or 5 BTC which his kids deserve? we will never know! the kids already got all the heritage out of the bank which is why I said the banks and government are a plus in that kind of issues/problems.

P.S. Most of his money goes into crypto and stocks, which is why the kids and his wife did not get much out of the banks, so with this, I don't know where to go to find out. If someone got an idea pls let me know.