The Co-Founder Problem

You trust your co-founder... while you're alive. You sit on the board together, you vote together, you balance each other out.

But what happens when you die?

• Your voting shares might sit in probate for months • Your co-founder now has majority control of the board • They can dilute your family's equity, change compensation, redirect company assets • Your spouse doesn't understand the cap table, the shareholder agreement, or the bylaws

By the time your estate lawyer figures out what happened, the company you built has been restructured in someone else's favor.

This isn't paranoia. This is corporate governance 101. Power vacuums get filled — fast.

Conditional Delivery Is Not Escrow

ZeroLatch is not an escrow agent and does not execute legal wishes, validate signatures, or transfer voting rights. It can preserve encrypted copies of instructions and contact details for an authorised estate attorney, spouse, adviser, or board representative.

Use the account's supported check-in interval and safety period, and align the delivery with valid corporate documents and formal succession authority. Ask counsel whether pre-signed instruments are lawful and effective in the relevant jurisdiction, and keep authoritative originals with the appropriate custodian.

Beyond Death: The Incapacitation Scenario

Death is clean — legally speaking. You're declared dead, the will is read, the estate is processed.

Incapacitation is worse. You're alive but unable to vote, attend meetings, or protect your interests.

A medical emergency, a stroke, early-onset dementia — you're still a shareholder, but you can't exercise your rights. And without a pre-arranged power of attorney or automated succession mechanism, your shares sit frozen while others reshape the company around you.

ZeroLatch uses missed check-ins and a safety period, not a death certificate or a determination of incapacity. The service attempts release only after its checks pass. It does not execute corporate approvals, change voting rights or establish the recipient’s authority.