Why Trustees Need a Device Inventory Before Accepting Custody
When a trustee is named in a trust instrument that mentions “digital assets,” they often receive legal authority before receiving practical information. The gap between those two moments is where custody documentation matters most.
The inventory gap
In our experience across forty-three engagements since 2019, the most frequent discovery during an on-site inventory session is a device the family did not know existed. A spare Ledger in a desk drawer. A Coldcard purchased years ago and never mentioned in conversation. A paper backup envelope mislabelled as “tax records.”
Incoming trustees who skip the inventory step inherit signing authority over devices they have never seen. When a recovery event occurs — illness, death, relocation — they must locate hardware they cannot describe.
What an inventory records
A proper device inventory captures:
- Model and manufacturer of each hardware wallet
- Serial number and firmware version (read from the device screen, never from a connected computer)
- Physical condition and any tamper-evident seal status
- Exact storage location within the premises
- Date of inventory and name of the documentarian who performed it
It deliberately excludes seed phrases, PINs, and passphrases. The inventory answers “what exists and where,” not “how to access.”
When to commission one
We recommend an inventory session in three situations:
- Before a trustee accepts signing duties — so they know what they are agreeing to manage
- After any device purchase or replacement — so the record stays current
- Before a geographic move — so storage locations are verified before boxes are packed
Cost of skipping it
We documented one estate where the successor trustee spent eleven weeks locating a Coldcard that the deceased had stored inside a hollowed book. The trust instrument authorised access; the trustee had no map. An inventory session would have taken four hours.
The inventory is not the binder itself — it is often an appendix. But without it, the recovery procedures in sections 4 and 5 of a custody binder reference devices that nobody can find.
Schedule an inventory session or contact us to discuss your arrangement.