Creating a Will

This guide walks you through creating a complete digital will in BAP, from initial setup to sealing it for activation.

Prerequisites

Before creating a will, ensure you have:

• A verified BAP account
• At least one connector configured (email, SMS, WhatsApp, or Telegram)
• At least one storage backend connected (Google Drive, Dropbox, S3, or FTP/SFTP)
• At least 2 survivors added with contact information

Will Creation Flow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    WILL CREATION FLOW                            │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                  │
│  1. Start New Will                                             │
│         │                                                       │
│         ▼                                                       │
│  2. Upload Documents                                           │
│         │                                                       │
│         ▼                                                       │
│  3. Configure Settings                                          │
│         │                                                       │
│         ▼                                                       │
│  4. Seal Will                                                  │
│         │                                                       │
│         ▼                                                       │
│  5. Active - Liveness Checks Begin                              │
│                                                                  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Step 1: Start a New Will

1. Log into the Host Dashboard
2. Navigate to Will → Create New Will
3. You'll see a checklist showing:
   • ✅ Connectors configured
   • ✅ Storage connected
   • ✅ Survivors added (minimum 2)

If any item shows ❌, complete that setup first.

Step 2: Upload Documents

Supported File Types

Type	Extensions	Notes
PDF	.pdf	Most common for wills
Word	.doc, .docx	Microsoft Word documents
Text	.txt	Plain text files
Images	.jpg, .jpeg, .png	Scanned documents
Other	.odt, .rtf	OpenDocument, Rich Text

File Limits

• Per file: 50MB maximum
• Total will: 500MB maximum
• Number of files: No hard limit (practical limit based on size)

Upload Process

1. Click "Select Files" or drag and drop
2. Browse to select files or drop them into the upload area
3. Files are uploaded and encrypted immediately
4. You can see upload progress for each file
5. Once uploaded, files appear in your document list

Document Organization

• Documents are listed with filename, size, and upload date
• You can reorder documents (affects display order for survivors)
• You can delete documents before sealing

Step 3: Configure Settings

Before sealing, review and configure:

Threshold Settings

• Number of survivors: X
• Minimum to access: K (must be ≤ X and ≥ 2)

Example: With 3 survivors and threshold 2, any 2 survivors can access.

Storage Selection

• Choose which connected storage to use
• Select the folder/directory for will documents
• Verify storage is connected and accessible

Liveness Settings

Review your liveness check configuration:

• Check interval (HCIT): How often you confirm you're alive
• Response time (HCRT): How long you have to respond
• Retry attempts (HCRAC): Missed checks before activation

See Liveness Settings for details.

Step 4: Seal Your Will

When ready, click "Seal Will" to activate:

What Happens During Sealing

1. DEK Generation: A unique 256-bit encryption key is generated
2. Document Encryption: All documents are encrypted with the DEK
3. SSS Splitting: The DEK is split into shares using Shamir's Secret Sharing
4. Share Distribution: Each survivor receives an encrypted share
5. Storage Upload: Encrypted documents are uploaded to your storage
6. Activation: Liveness checks begin

Sealing Confirmation

Review the summary:

Will Summary
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Documents: 5 files, 12.4 MB total
Storage: My Google Drive (/BAP/Will)
Survivors: 3 with threshold 2-of-3
Liveness: Every 30 days, 48hr response, 3 retries
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

⚠️ Once sealed, you cannot modify documents
⚠️ Liveness checks will begin immediately

After Sealing

• Documents cannot be modified (must create new will)
• Liveness checks start
• You can view will status anytime
• Backup codes become critical to distribute

Managing Your Will

View Will Status

Navigate to Will → View Status to see:

• Current status (Draft, Active, Pending Transfer, Accessible)
• Last liveness check result
• Next scheduled check
• Document list

View Liveness History

Will → Liveness History shows:

• Date/time of each check
• Response status (Confirmed, Missed, Escalated)
• Response time

Re-sealing

If you need to update documents:

1. The existing will is archived
2. A new draft will is created
3. Upload new/modified documents
4. Seal the new will
5. Old encrypted documents remain in storage

Important: Only one will can be active at a time.

Best Practices

Document Checklist

Include essential documents:

• Last Will and Testament
• Life Insurance policies
• Bank account information
• Investment account details
• Property deeds
• Passwords/instructions
• Medical directives
• Funeral instructions

Organization

• Name files clearly (e.g., "Insurance_Policy_2024.pdf")
• Put most important documents first
• Include a master document listing all others

Security

• Don't include plaintext passwords for critical accounts
• Consider using a password manager and including its master key
• Keep physical backup codes secure

Troubleshooting

"Not enough survivors"

You need at least 2 survivors to create a will. Add more survivors in Survivors → Add Survivor.

"No storage connected"

Connect at least one storage backend in Settings → Storage.

"Threshold exceeds survivor count"

The threshold (K) must be ≤ number of survivors and ≥ 2.

"Storage connection failed"

Verify your storage credentials and try reconnecting in Settings → Storage.

Next Steps

• Adding Survivors — Managing survivor details and thresholds
• Connecting Storage — Storage backend setup
• Liveness Settings — Configuring check intervals
• Configuring Connectors — Notification setup