<p>I'm sorry for your loss.</p>

<p>If your husband is keeping bitcoin at a big name bitcoin exchange, you may want to contact the exchange administrator to inquire about the procedure.</p>

<p>If the bitcoin is outside an exchange, then accessing it requires knowing a very long password or a very large number, possibly starting with "0x" (meaning hexadecimal). It would probably be written somewhere on paper, but may also be hidden in a password-protected file or stored in a special USB or other crypto device.</p>

<p>If you have reason to believe your husband may have significant money in this, you should really find a knowledgeable friend whom you trust to help you find the access credentials for the money. Unless you are pretty tech savy yourself, you should strongly consider immediately selling the bitcoin for "real money".</p>

<p>On the other hand, if you have no evidence that your husband had money in bitcoin (other than, as you said, "a link that said Bitcoin") you may want to understand that there are a lot of people with interest in Bitcoin who do not hold a meaningful amount of Bitcoin.</p>

<p>Lastly, as said already, <strong>do not trust</strong> anyone on the internet. Do not give anyone any passwords or any numbers you do not fully understand until you get help from a knowledgeable friend or have educated yourself very carefully. It is extremely easy to steal Bitcoin, it is nearly instantaneous, and it is almost completely outside of legal protections.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-27T03:32:03.347Z
2019-11-27T03:32:03.347Z
Bill Huneke
<p>Your question caught my attention I would like to try and give you some answers. First of all, I want to say that I'm sorry for your loss. You ask if there is any chance for you to regain access to the bitcoin so that you can transfer them. In short, my answer would be yes, it is likely that you can - if you have some essential information. You don't mention in your question if you have found any wallet files, passwords, words, or other leads that can help you. But if you have any of these things there is still hope. If you can't find the wallet file but have access to the computer of your husband, it's likely they are on there and there is help to get to find them. If you are tech savvy yourself, it's possible for you to start the process from home. What would hold you back would be the processing power of your home PC, since they don't have the power to test many passwords at the same time, the process can be very long, longer than you can possibly wait.</p>

<p>If you know anything about the password, for example, - Password span (how many characters) - Password language - Any numbers or special characters used - Did your husband usually make passwords by combining words or how did he usually come up with them?</p>

<p>Every detail will narrow the possibilities and shorten the search time. Some of the free softwares out there that you could use are John the rippers or Hashcat. You can read up on them online. Recovering passwords is something I do for a living so that's why I know one or two things about it :)</p>

<p>Also, as some people above have already warned you, don't hand out any information about your bitcoin to strangers, bitcoin is unfortunately easy to steal if sensitive information gets in the wrong hands. Good luck!</p>

<p>// Isabella</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-09T12:53:31.140Z
2020-05-09T12:53:31.140Z
Isabella 
<p>My husband passed away a few weeks ago and he had a bitcoin account. Is there any way that I can recover that and transfer it?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-26T03:45:54.923Z
I'm sorry to hear of your loss. It may be possible to recover your husband's BTC, but the answer will entirely depend on how and where you husband stored them: it may require you to locate a piece of paper with 12/24 words written on it, or find a hardware device that he stored them on, or to open a certain application on his computer or phone, or log in to a certain service online, etc. Try searching his email/computer/personal files for words like bitcoin, wallet, btc, blockchain, crypto, etc, to see if you can find any clues.
chytrik
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-26T03:49:10.993Z
Additionally, if you happen to find his wallet/stash **DO NOT** share the 12/24 word phrase, private keys, or wallet file with anyone online. Anyone with this information will be able to spend his coins (ie, rob you). Anyone legitimate that is offering help will not ask you for this information. I highly recommend moving slowly and being sure of what you are doing, before doing it. There should be no rush, best of luck.
chytrik
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-26T14:00:10.100Z
Possible duplicate of [My husband died, I have lots of codes and words... help](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/89841/my-husband-died-i-have-lots-of-codes-and-words-help)
RedGrittyBrick
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-27T01:05:32.157Z
I have never posted on here so it is not a duplicate. I have nothing but a link on his browser that says bitcoin.
Colleen Wallace
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-27T11:18:25.903Z
@ColleenWallace What does the link go to? How do you know he actually held bitcoin (or do you)?
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-09T22:26:36.180Z
Sorry for your loss. There are answers to a similar question here that can be relevant: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/89841/my-husband-died-i-have-lots-of-codes-and-words-help/89898#89898
Steven Hatzakis
<wallet-recovery><inheritance-plan>
Needing to recover husband's bitcoin account
Colleen Wallace
# Needing to recover husband's bitcoin account

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-11-26)

My husband passed away a few weeks ago and he had a bitcoin account. Is there any way that I can recover that and transfer it?

**Tags:** wallet-recovery, inheritance-plan

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I'm sorry to hear of your loss. It may be possible to recover your husband's BTC, but the answer will entirely depend on how and where you husband stored them: it may require you to locate a piece of paper with 12/24 words written on it, or find a hardware device that he stored them on, or to open a certain application on his computer or phone, or log in to a certain service online, etc. Try searching his email/computer/personal files for words like bitcoin, wallet, btc, blockchain, crypto, etc, to see if you can find any clues.  
> **username_1**: Additionally, if you happen to find his wallet/stash **DO NOT** share the 12/24 word phrase, private keys, or wallet file with anyone online. Anyone with this information will be able to spend his coins (ie, rob you). Anyone legitimate that is offering help will not ask you for this information. I highly recommend moving slowly and being sure of what you are doing, before doing it. There should be no rush, best of luck.  
> **username_2**: Possible duplicate of [My husband died, I have lots of codes and words... help](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/89841/my-husband-died-i-have-lots-of-codes-and-words-help)  
> **username_0**: I have never posted on here so it is not a duplicate. I have nothing but a link on his browser that says bitcoin.  
> **username_3**: @username_0 What does the link go to? How do you know he actually held bitcoin (or do you)?  
> **username_4**: Sorry for your loss. There are answers to a similar question here that can be relevant: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/89841/my-husband-died-i-have-lots-of-codes-and-words-help/89898#89898  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2019-11-27. Score: 1

I'm sorry for your loss.

If your husband is keeping bitcoin at a big name bitcoin exchange, you may want to contact the exchange administrator to inquire about the procedure.

If the bitcoin is outside an exchange, then accessing it requires knowing a very long password or a very large number, possibly starting with "0x" (meaning hexadecimal). It would probably be written somewhere on paper, but may also be hidden in a password-protected file or stored in a special USB or other crypto device.

If you have reason to believe your husband may have significant money in this, you should really find a knowledgeable friend whom you trust to help you find the access credentials for the money. Unless you are pretty tech savy yourself, you should strongly consider immediately selling the bitcoin for "real money".

On the other hand, if you have no evidence that your husband had money in bitcoin (other than, as you said, "a link that said Bitcoin") you may want to understand that there are a lot of people with interest in Bitcoin who do not hold a meaningful amount of Bitcoin.

Lastly, as said already, **do not trust** anyone on the internet. Do not give anyone any passwords or any numbers you do not fully understand until you get help from a knowledgeable friend or have educated yourself very carefully. It is extremely easy to steal Bitcoin, it is nearly instantaneous, and it is almost completely outside of legal protections.


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### Answer by username_6 on 2020-05-09. Score: 0

Your question caught my attention I would like to try and give you some answers. First of all, I want to say that I'm sorry for your loss. You ask if there is any chance for you to regain access to the bitcoin so that you can transfer them. In short, my answer would be yes, it is likely that you can - if you have some essential information. You don't mention in your question if you have found any wallet files, passwords, words, or other leads that can help you. But if you have any of these things there is still hope. If you can't find the wallet file but have access to the computer of your husband, it's likely they are on there and there is help to get to find them. If you are tech savvy yourself, it's possible for you to start the process from home. What would hold you back would be the processing power of your home PC, since they don't have the power to test many passwords at the same time, the process can be very long, longer than you can possibly wait.

If you know anything about the password, for example, - Password span (how many characters) - Password language - Any numbers or special characters used - Did your husband usually make passwords by combining words or how did he usually come up with them?

Every detail will narrow the possibilities and shorten the search time. Some of the free softwares out there that you could use are John the rippers or Hashcat. You can read up on them online. Recovering passwords is something I do for a living so that's why I know one or two things about it :)

Also, as some people above have already warned you, don't hand out any information about your bitcoin to strangers, bitcoin is unfortunately easy to steal if sensitive information gets in the wrong hands. Good luck!

// username_6


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