FAQ

Is this a legal document? No. It's an organizational structure. Pair it with an actual will and, ideally, an estate attorney who knows the system exists.

Do I need Shamir's Secret Sharing specifically? No. Any threshold secret-sharing scheme works. The point is that no single custodian ever holds the full secret, and reconstruction requires a defined minimum number of participants.

What if I only trust two people, not three? Use a 2-of-2 or adjust the model to however many custodians you actually have. The principle (separate recovery and destruction, require unanimity for destruction) matters more than the exact numbers.

What if a custodian dies or becomes unreachable? This is exactly why recovery uses a threshold lower than the total custodian count (e.g. 2-of-3). Review and re-issue shares periodically, and replace a custodian if one becomes unreachable long-term.

Can I skip the destruction side and just do recovery? Yes. Not everyone has material they want destroyed. The recovery package and custodian structure stand on their own.

Where should the encrypted digital vault actually live? Anywhere durable that isn't solely under your own control at time of death: a password manager's emergency access feature, an attorney-held encrypted drive, or a safe deposit box are common choices. The vault's contents should still require the reconstructed secret to open, regardless of where the encrypted file physically sits.

This all sounds like a lot of process for a personal matter. Most of it is upfront work, not ongoing burden. Once built, it mostly just needs an annual review. The alternative, a single password protecting both "give my family everything" and "destroy everything else," is simpler to build and much riskier to rely on.