Sentinel Digital Vault

The Problem#

• When someone dies, their digital life becomes immediately inaccessible — passwords unknown, two-factor authentication locked, cryptocurrency private keys lost
• Social media accounts cannot be memorialised, and cloud storage containing irreplaceable family photos is deleted after inactivity timeouts
• The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) gives executors legal authority to access digital assets — but exercising that authority requires knowing what accounts exist and what the deceased wanted done with each one
• Sentinel stores this information for 50,000 customers but currently has no structured format for sharing it with estate administrators

How They’d Use INHERIT#

• Digital assets are modelled as asset.json entries with category: "digital" — subcategories cover cryptocurrency wallets, social media, email, domain names, cloud storage, streaming subscriptions, and NFTs
• Wishes for each digital asset use wish.json with wishType: "digital" — options include memorialising a social media account, deleting it, or transferring it to a designated person
• proxy-authorisation.json is central: each customer creates proxy authorisations granting their executor scope: "full" or scope: "information_gathering" for specific digital platforms
• The consentRecord within the proxy authorisation documents informed consent, satisfying RUFADAA requirements
• organisation.json entries for each platform (with organisationType: "digital_platform") record inactive account policies and memorialisation procedures
• The us-estate extension captures federal estate tax implications for high-value digital holdings

The Integration#

• Export-focused: when a customer dies, Sentinel generates an INHERIT document containing all digital asset records, wishes, and proxy authorisations
• The document is delivered to the designated executor or estate administrator
• The executor’s solicitor imports the digital estate data alongside physical estate data from other sources, creating a complete picture

The Business Case#

• Executors currently recover only 40% of a deceased person’s digital assets — structured INHERIT data increases this to approximately 85%
• For cryptocurrency holdings alone (average value $12,000 among Sentinel customers who hold crypto), the difference between 40% and 85% recovery represents $5,400 per affected estate
• Across 50,000 customers with approximately 2,000 deaths per year, the total value protected is approximately $10.8 million annually
• RUFADAA compliance via structured proxy-authorisation.json records provides legal certainty that currently requires expensive bespoke legal work

Before / After#

Without INHERIT:

1. Customer dies — family has no idea what digital accounts existed
2. Executor spends weeks searching emails, browser history, and paper files for account information
3. Platforms refuse access without proper legal authority; two-factor authentication blocks recovery
4. Cryptocurrency private keys are never found — holdings are permanently lost
5. Cloud storage is deleted after the inactivity timeout; irreplaceable family photos are gone
6. Executor recovers approximately 40% of digital assets after months of effort

With INHERIT:

1. Customer dies — Sentinel generates an INHERIT document listing every digital asset, wish, and proxy authorisation
2. Executor receives the document immediately and knows exactly what exists and what the deceased wanted done
3. Proxy authorisations with RUFADAA-compliant consent records give the executor legal standing with each platform
4. Digital assets are recovered, memorialised, or transferred according to the deceased’s wishes — 85% recovery rate