Setting Up LegacyLink: Crypto Inheritance Planning¶

Time Required: 15-20 minutes Difficulty: Intermediate Tier Required: Sovereign or HighRisk

LegacyLink ensures your digital assets pass to designated successors if you become incapacitated or die. Unlike traditional inheritance methods that expose credentials during your lifetime, LegacyLink activates only after a configurable period of inactivity, keeping you in full control while you are alive.

What You Will Achieve¶

By the end of this guide, you will have configured a system where designated successors can claim access to your vault, but only after you have been inactive for a period you specify. While you remain active, your successors have no access and cannot even verify that they have been designated.

Prerequisites¶

Before you begin, ensure you have completed the following.

You need an UnoLock Safe on the Sovereign or HighRisk tier. LegacyLink is available in both.

You need LockoutGuard enabled with a vault lifetime of at least 31 days. LegacyLink builds on LockoutGuard and requires this minimum duration.

You need to decide who your successor or successors will be. This can be a spouse, family member, attorney, or anyone you trust to handle your digital legacy appropriately.

You need uninterrupted time to complete the setup. Do not begin this process if you may be interrupted, as incomplete configuration could leave your inheritance plan in an undefined state.

Understanding the LegacyLink Model¶

LegacyLink operates on a time-delayed inheritance principle. Understanding this model helps you configure it appropriately for your situation.

The system monitors your activity through normal vault access. Every time you authenticate and access your vault, you reset an internal timer. As long as you continue accessing your vault within the configured period, the timer never expires and your successors have no access.

If you stop accessing your vault, the timer begins counting down. After the LockoutGuard period passes without activity, the LegacyLink trigger period begins. After the LegacyLink period passes, your designated successors can claim access using credentials you provide them.

The total time before successors can claim access equals the LockoutGuard period plus the LegacyLink period. If you configure LockoutGuard for 60 days and LegacyLink for 30 days, successors can claim access after 90 days of your inactivity.

This design provides protection against several failure modes. It prevents successors from accessing your vault while you are alive and active. It provides a buffer period where you can regain access if you were merely incapacitated temporarily. It ensures that genuine death or permanent incapacity eventually triggers inheritance without requiring death certificates or legal processes.

Step-by-Step Configuration¶

Step 1: Access LockoutGuard Settings¶

Navigate to your vault in the UnoLock application. From the main menu, select Configuration, then select LockoutGuard.

Verify that LockoutGuard is enabled. If it is not enabled, you must enable it before proceeding with LegacyLink setup. LockoutGuard is the foundation that LegacyLink builds upon.

Verify that your vault lifetime is set to at least 31 days. If it is set shorter, increase it before proceeding. The vault lifetime determines how long your encrypted data persists, and it must exceed your intended inheritance timeline.

Step 2: Begin LegacyLink Setup¶

Within the LockoutGuard settings, locate the LegacyLink configuration option. Click to begin the setup process.

The system will display information about how LegacyLink works and what you are about to configure. Read this information carefully even if you have read this guide, as the application may contain updated details.

Step 3: Configure the Trigger Time¶

You will be prompted to set the LegacyLink trigger delay. This is the additional time after LockoutGuard activation before successors can claim access.

Use the slider or input field to set your desired delay. Consider the following factors when choosing a duration.

Shorter delays mean successors gain access sooner after your incapacity, which may be important if they need to access time-sensitive assets like business documents or cryptocurrency during volatile markets.

Longer delays provide more buffer against false triggers. If you travel extensively, experience health issues that prevent vault access, or simply forget to access your vault regularly, longer delays reduce the risk of premature inheritance activation.

Common configurations range from one month to six months. One month provides relatively quick access for successors but requires you to access your vault at least monthly to prevent triggering. Three months balances access speed with buffer against temporary incapacity. Six months provides substantial buffer but may delay successors' access to needed assets.

After selecting your delay, click Next to continue.

Step 4: Reauthenticate¶

For security, the system requires you to reauthenticate before generating inheritance credentials. Complete authentication using your configured method, which may include fingerprint, facial recognition, or FIDO2 security key.

This reauthentication confirms that the person configuring inheritance is the legitimate vault owner and has current access to all authentication factors.

Step 5: Generate and Store Inheritance Credentials¶

The system will generate the LegacyLink credentials that your successors will use to claim access. This screen displays three components.

A QR code that successors can scan to initiate the claim process.

An access ID that identifies the vault being claimed.

A passphrase that authenticates the successor as a legitimate designee.

These credentials are critical. They are the only way your successors can claim your vault. If the credentials are lost, your successors will be unable to inherit your digital assets regardless of their legal rights.

The credentials are dormant until activated by your inactivity. They do not require your PIN and can be used by anyone who possesses them. This is intentional, as you may want to store them with an attorney or in a safe deposit box where the successor can retrieve them after your death.

Store these credentials securely. Options include printing them and placing in a fireproof safe, storing in a safe deposit box with your successor listed as having access, providing directly to your successor with instructions to store securely, or giving to an attorney with instructions to provide to your successor upon your death.

Click Done after you have securely stored the credentials.

Step 6: Confirm Setup¶

Review the confirmation screen showing that the dormant credential has been created successfully. The screen will summarize your configuration including the trigger timeline and confirm that the credentials are now active but dormant.

Click Next to proceed.

A final notice will remind you to keep the credentials safe and to inform your designated successor about the inheritance process without necessarily giving them the credentials immediately. Click Next to complete the setup.

Providing Credentials to Successors¶

How you provide credentials to your successors depends on your relationship with them, your trust level, and your preferences about when they should know about their designation.

The simplest approach is providing credentials directly to your successor with instructions. You tell them about LegacyLink, explain that they can claim your vault if you are inactive for the configured period, give them the credentials, and trust them to use them appropriately. This works well for spouses or others you trust completely.

A more controlled approach uses an intermediary. You provide credentials to an attorney, executor, or other trusted third party with instructions to deliver them to your successor only upon your death or verified incapacity. This prevents successors from even knowing they can claim access until the appropriate time.

A hybrid approach informs successors about LegacyLink without providing credentials immediately. You tell them that inheritance provisions exist and that credentials will be available through specified means, such as in your safe deposit box or from your attorney, when needed. This prepares them to act when necessary without giving them premature access to the claiming mechanism.

What Successors Experience¶

When a successor attempts to claim access, their experience proceeds as follows.

They access the LegacyLink claim interface at the specified URL or by scanning the QR code you provided.

They enter the access ID and passphrase from the credentials you stored.

The system checks whether the inheritance trigger conditions have been met. If you have accessed your vault within the configured period, the claim is denied and the successor is informed that the vault owner is still active.

If the trigger conditions have been met, the system begins the claim process. Depending on your configuration, this may involve additional waiting periods or verification steps.

Upon successful claim, the successor gains access to the vault with the permissions you configured. This may be full access equivalent to your own, or it may be limited access if you configured inheritance restrictions.

Maintaining Your Configuration¶

After initial setup, maintain awareness of your LegacyLink configuration to ensure it continues meeting your needs.

Access your vault regularly to reset the inactivity timer. How often you need to access depends on your configured periods, but monthly access provides a comfortable margin for most configurations.

Review your configuration periodically, especially after life changes. Marriage, divorce, births, deaths, and changes in your relationship with designated successors may warrant reconfiguration.

Update your credentials if you change successors. The old credentials remain valid until you generate new ones, so complete the regeneration process before informing former successors that they are no longer designated.

Inform your successors if you change the configuration in ways that affect them, particularly if you extend timelines or change the claim process.

Troubleshooting¶

If you cannot find the LegacyLink option, verify that your Safe is active on the Sovereign or HighRisk tier. Also verify that LockoutGuard is enabled with at least 31 days vault lifetime.

If credential generation fails, ensure you have stable network connectivity and try again. If problems persist, contact support.

If you need to regenerate credentials, perhaps because original credentials were lost or compromised, navigate back to LegacyLink settings and initiate a new setup. This will invalidate previous credentials and generate new ones.

If a successor attempts to claim and is denied, verify that the inactivity period has actually elapsed. Claims before the trigger conditions are met will be denied. If conditions should have been met, contact support for assistance.

Security Considerations¶

LegacyLink credentials should be treated with the same seriousness as your vault credentials themselves. Anyone possessing these credentials can claim your vault once the trigger conditions are met.

Do not store LegacyLink credentials in the same vault they unlock. This creates a circular dependency where the credentials cannot be retrieved when needed.

Consider whether digital storage of credentials is appropriate. If credentials are stored digitally and that storage becomes inaccessible, successors cannot claim the vault. Physical storage in a secure location may be more reliable for this purpose.

Discuss your digital estate planning with your overall estate planning. Your attorney should know that digital assets exist, how they can be accessed, and how they fit into your broader estate plan.

Next Steps¶

After configuring LegacyLink, consider these additional inheritance-related configurations.

Configure LockoutGuard recovery to ensure you can regain access if you are temporarily incapacitated rather than permanently. See the LockoutGuard guide for details.

Review your Spaces configuration if you use compartmentalized storage. Different Spaces may warrant different inheritance configurations.

Document your digital assets for your successors. Even with vault access, they may not understand what assets exist or how to handle them. Consider storing a document within your vault that explains your digital holdings.

Consider configuring multiple successors if appropriate for your situation, providing each with credentials and instructions about their role in your digital estate.

For understanding the broader context of crypto inheritance challenges, see the Seed Phrase Security guide section on inheritance.

For configuring the LockoutGuard foundation that LegacyLink builds upon, see the LockoutGuard configuration guide.

For organizing assets that successors will inherit, see the guide on using Spaces for compartmentalization.