What the document is for
An executor's job is to identify and secure estate assets, deal with tax, and distribute to beneficiaries. For Bitcoin, step one usually fails - they cannot identify what they cannot see. The briefing solves discovery and process, and nothing else.
Keep it strictly on the existence layer. If a stolen copy of this document lets someone move coins, it is drafted wrongly.
What to include
A plain-English statement that the estate includes Bitcoin. A list of wallets by nickname and type (for example 'family 2-of-3 multisig', 'exchange account at X'), with public addresses or extended public keys so holdings can be valued without any spending power. Named contacts: solicitor, accountant, custody adviser. A step-by-step recovery sequence in ordinary language. A glossary. The date of last review.
Also include what the executor must not do: do not enter any recovery words into a website, do not rush a transfer, do not accept help from anyone who contacts them first.
What to leave out
No seed words. No passphrases. No PINs. No safe combinations. No precise physical locations of key material. Those live in the access layer, released only through your documented multi-party process on death.
Do not attach the briefing to the will itself. A will can become a public document through probate, and the ATO, courts and beneficiaries all get access to estate paperwork in ways you may not anticipate.
Where to store it and who holds copies
Give a copy to your executor, your solicitor and your custody adviser, and keep one at home. Version them - stale copies are how executors follow instructions to a house you sold three years ago.
If you use an encrypted digital copy, ensure decryption does not depend on a device only you can unlock. Recovery must not require the deceased.
Rehearse it with the executor
Walk your executor through the document while you are alive. Ask them to explain the first three steps back to you. Any hesitation is a defect in the document, not in them.
Where a professional signing partner is involved, ask them to confirm in writing what they will require from the executor on death - typically a death certificate, grant of probate and identity verification - so nothing is a surprise. Executors can find general guidance on their duties through their state Supreme Court probate registry, for example the NSW Supreme Court probate registry.