Two things have to survive you for your vault to help your family: they need to know it exists, and they need a key. Everything below follows from that.
When the time comes, your beneficiary goes to mynestvault.com/claim and submits a death certificate and their government-issued ID. Every claim is reviewed manually — no automated approvals — cross-referenced against the beneficiaries you named in your vault, with a response within 48 hours. If approved, they receive setup instructions to take over the vault under their own credentials.
Approval opens the door; it cannot decrypt anything. NestVault never has your vault password or recovery code, so we cannot unlock your data for anyone — including an approved beneficiary. During claim setup, your beneficiary must enter your vault password — so your vault password is what belongs in your estate documents: a sealed letter with your attorney, a fireproof box, wherever your will lives.
No automatic release exists — no dead-man’s switch, no inactivity timer. If you’re expecting that, read the honest answer on automatic release.
The preparation takes about fifteen minutes and is the highest-leverage thing you can do in this product: Preparing your beneficiary.