Where seed phrases should not live in an inheritance folder

An inheritance folder that also holds a full seed phrase is convenient until the folder is copied, photographed, or left with the wrong relative. Desktop vault overview work treats the map and the keys as different objects.

What belongs on the open sheets

Venue names, account labels, custody type (exchange, software wallet, hardware device), and who currently holds access. Enough for an executor to know where to begin without reconstructing your trading life from memory.

What belongs elsewhere

Recovery phrases, PINs, and password managers master secrets. Those need a location the executor can learn from the open record (“sealed envelope with solicitor,” “bank safe deposit — see cover letter”) without the secret itself sitting in the same PDF.

A practical habit

During Family Desktop Vault Overview sessions we refuse to type seed material into the same document as the segmentation map. Households sometimes push for “one file to rule them all.” That request is understandable and still refused. The mild inconvenience of two locations is cheaper than a single leak.

If your current folder mixes both, a Record Refresh Visit can split them without rebuilding the entire inventory from scratch.