What to do when a Casa account holder dies
After an account holder at Casa dies, accounts with beneficiary designations or trust ownership transfer to the designated recipients without probate. Solely-owned accounts require the estate's representative to contact Casa with the proper legal authority documents.
The claim process can be initiated by phone or by sending documentation to help@team.casa. Have the account holder's full name, account numbers, and the death certificate available when making initial contact.
Death claim process
To file a claim after an account holder's death, here is what Casa requires:
Filing a claim
- In the Casa app, open the Inheritance tab, select the deceased owner's vault and tap "Request Vault Access".
- Casa requires no death certificate or proof of death to start the request, and does not verify the death of the vault owner.
- A six-month verification period follows. Casa sends the vault owner monthly notifications, and the owner may reject the request at any point.
- Casa states the period is fixed at six months and court paperwork does not shorten it. Its Inheritance Terms allow a longer or shorter period the owner elects.
- If the owner does not reject it, Casa emails the Recipient that access is granted. Only then can the Recipient see the vault balance.
- The Recipient signs with the shared keys and requests a Casa Recovery Key signature, which takes 7 days on a 3-key vault and 2 days on a 5-key or 6-key vault.
- On a 3-key vault, a Recipient who holds the deceased owner's hardware device and knows its PIN can sign with two keys and skip the Recovery Key wait.
- The Recipient then sends to any address, with no cap on amount or number of transactions. On ETH vaults send stETH, USDC and USDT before ETH; on BTC vaults send each subaccount separately.
- The Recipient uses the help or concierge button on the Account tab of the Casa app and submits the vault owner's death certificate.
- Casa accepts only a death certificate issued by a United States jurisdiction, and the Recipient represents that the documents provided are true and accurate copies.
- Casa validates the death certificate against the government-issued IDs both parties supplied at setup.
- On approval the Recipient takes control of the assigned vault or vaults with no six-month wait.
- Under Section 11 of the Terms of Service, Casa transfers the account to the Recovery Custodian against the documents listed below.
- Casa assists in recovering BTC, ETH, USDT and USDC if the custodian can produce the items in the inheritance envelope assembled earlier.
- Email help@team.casa or open a support ticket and ask for Account Access by Third Parties under Section 12.
- Send a written request for access, a certified death certificate, and a certified copy of the letter of appointment, small-estate affidavit or court order, as Casa chooses.
- Verify the Casa account information and provide any other information Casa requires.
- Casa "may require your estate representative to pay Casa service fees for such access."
- Access is at Casa's discretion, case by case. The service "is not offered for members who are not Premium or Private Client Account holders."
- Schedule a call with Casa and provide a notarized death certificate, a new personal email address for the account, and government-issued ID.
- The Client Advisor registers the death certificate, notes the new email, and sends a confirmation email acknowledging the request.
- After a one-week waiting period the advisor changes the account email and resets the recovery photo.
- The surviving member then takes a selfie in the Casa app to register a new recovery photo, which completes the conversion.
- Locate the deceased member's hardware devices and the Sovereign Recovery instructions, which Casa emails at each new keyset and caches in the app.
- Rebuild the vault in Sparrow Wallet 1.8.0 or later (Multi Signature, Nested Segwit, 2 of 3 or 3 of 5) from the vault's public keys and current derivation paths, or the Wallet Descriptors QR code.
- Signing needs enough private keys to meet the threshold without the Casa Recovery Key: two of three on a Standard vault, three of five on a 5-key vault.
- The keys typically come from hardware devices or an exported mobile seed phrase. If too few keys survive, the bitcoin may be permanently unreachable.
Required Documents
- Death certificate issued by a United States jurisdiction, for Enhanced Verification (Private Client members who are US residents)Casa validates it against the US government-issued IDs both parties provided at setup.
- Certified copy of the death certificate, for Inheritance Classic, or for estate representative access (Premium and Private Client)
- Photo identification matching the name on the Inheritance Application, for Inheritance ClassicCasa also verifies the email address on the Inheritance Application.
- The items in the inheritance envelope assembled earlier, for Inheritance ClassicCasa assists in recovering BTC, ETH, USDT and USDC if the Recovery Custodian can produce them.
- Written request for access from the estate representative, for estate representative access (Premium and Private Client)
- Certified copy of the letter of appointment, small-estate affidavit or court order, for estate representative access (Premium and Private Client)Casa chooses which, in its sole discretion. It also verifies the account information and may ask for other information.
- Notarized death certificate, for a surviving shared-account member converting the account to a personal account
- New personal email address and government-issued ID of the surviving member, for a surviving shared-account member converting the account to a personal accountCasa collects ID from both members at enrollment.
What happens to each kind of account2
- Crypto account
Casa holds one key to the member's multisignature vault and never holds a balance, so it cannot pay one out. It cannot move funds on its own.1
- Joint account with survivorship
On a shared account, the surviving shared-account member has sole rights, and "Casa will not grant access to your Account to any other person on account of your death, including but not limited to your estate representative."2
What Casa's agreement and guidance say3
- Fees
If the shared keys were not health-checked and have failed, Casa may charge a recovery fee that may be percentage-based and set off against the assets recovered. Casa "is not required to provide any asset recovery assistance."3
If the deceased member's membership fees lapse, a Recipient's access "may require payment of additional fees of up to the amount set forth for other recovery services."1
- Disputes between claimants
Casa's Inheritance Terms state that access to a key "does not indicate lawful ownership of the contents in a vault" and that the parties are responsible for compliance with law respecting asset ownership.3
- Powers of attorney
During a Premium or Private Client member's incapacity, Casa grants account and Recovery Key access to an agent under a valid power of attorney, against a written request, the original power of attorney and the agent's certification under penalty of perjury that it is in effect.2
The power of attorney must give specific authority over the Casa account or general authority to act, and Casa may require the agent to pay service fees for the access.2
Not in Casa's published guidance2
- A mailing address for claim documents
- Phone number
Request Access: six months from the request, then 7 days for the Casa Recovery Key signature on a 3-key vault, or 2 days on a 5-key or 6-key vault.
Casa can be reached by email at help@team.casa for questions throughout the claims process.
Sources
Data sourced from Casa primary sources (19 pages reviewed). How we research.
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