Assigning Household Roles to Wallets
How couples and multi-generational families decide who holds which key — and how we document those roles in the archive index.
Before we photograph a single device, we ask each household to answer one question: what is this wallet for? Not which coins it holds — that changes — but what role it plays in the family’s day-to-day life.
Common role categories
Daily spending. One person usually carries this device or keeps it in a home office drawer. The archive notes who can authorize transactions and where the device sleeps at night.
Long-term savings. Often held by a different household member. We record whether both partners must co-sign or whether one person has sole access.
Designated purpose funds. Education, property deposit, family gift pool. These wallets benefit most from a written role because they are the ones forgotten during estate conversations.
Joint property. Couples who co-own real estate sometimes maintain a separate wallet for related transactions. The archive index links this role to the property address, not to asset values.
When roles overlap
A household with five wallets and three adults may assign backup authority differently from signing authority. We document both: who can spend, and who can recover if a device is lost. These are not always the same person.
Updating roles after life changes
Marriage, a child reaching adulthood, or a relative moving abroad all affect wallet roles. We recommend a brief household meeting once a year — even fifteen minutes — to confirm the index still matches reality.
Book an inventory walkthrough if you are unsure whether your current roles are documented.