How does succession work?

Updated 5 Oct 2026 · 3 min read

A vault successor is the person who should take over your family's vault if you die or can't be reached. Nothing moves on its own. Your successor files a claim, and the ViamOne team reviews every claim by hand before anything changes.

Only the vault owner can name a successor. Everyone in the vault can see who it is.

Name your successor

Sign in at viamone.com and click People under Family in the left menu.
Find Vault successor and click Set successor, or Change if one is set.
Choose Existing member and pick them from the list, or choose Not in this vault yet and enter their full name, email and, if you like, phone.
Pick their relationship to you.
Click Save.

Important: For someone not in your vault, enter their email. They need a ViamOne account with that email to file a claim.

You can change your successor at any time. To remove one without naming anyone else, open Change on the web and click Remove. This doesn't change who owns the vault today.

How your successor makes a claim

They sign in to ViamOne. A member of your vault uses their own account. Someone outside it signs in, or creates an account, with the email you entered.
They open the claim page. A vault member clicks Believe the owner is unreachable? Claim succession on the People page. Someone outside the vault goes to viamone.com/succession/claim.
They enter the Vault owner's email, their relationship to you and any notes that help the review.
They click File claim.

Claims are made on the web. The claim shows under Your filed claims as Pending review until the ViamOne team decides. Your successor gets a notification when it's Approved or Not approved.

Security: A claim only works for the person you named, signed in with the account or email you entered. Keep your successor's email up to date if it changes.

What happens when a claim is approved

Your successor becomes the vault owner, with everything in it. The previous owner's account becomes a viewer, so it can still read the vault but not change it. Only one claim can be waiting for a vault at a time.

If you're well and want to hand over now

Succession is for when you can't respond. To hand the vault to someone today, use Transfer ownership on their entry in People. They have to accept before anything changes.

Didn't work?

It says they aren't the designated successor

They must be signed in with the exact account or email the owner named. If the owner left out an email, the claim can't be matched to them.

It says no vault owner was found with that email

Use the email address the owner signs in to ViamOne with.

It says no successor has been designated

The owner never named one, so a claim can't be filed for that vault.

The successor already owns their own vault

The claim can't be completed while they own another vault. They'll need to hand that vault to someone else first.

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