Social & Digital Accounts After a Death: Memorialize or Delete

Most people's lives are partly digital: a Facebook profile with a decade of photos, a Google account holding email and Drive, an X/Twitter history, a LinkedIn network. This guide explains the two paths (memorialize to preserve, or delete or transfer) and the platform tools that exist for each.

When to use this guide

Use this when the deceased had social media or cloud accounts and the family needs to decide what happens to them.

What you'll need

• Certified death certificate (nearly every platform requires it)
• Proof of your relationship, or that you are the executor or next of kin
• A list of the accounts (HeirloomFile entries store the platform, the handle or identifier, and where to contact support)

Key platform paths (verify current policies; these change)

• Facebook / Instagram (Meta): "Memorialize" an account (locks it, adds "Remembering" to the name, keeps the profile for friends to post tributes) or request removal. A legacy contact the deceased chose can manage the memorialized profile.
• Google (Gmail, Drive, Photos): Inactive Account Manager lets a user pre-authorize a trusted person to receive data after a period of inactivity. Without it, the family can request access via Google's process with a death certificate, and in some cases a court order.
• Apple: Legacy Contact: a person the account holder named can request access to the account's data (photos, mail, notes) after death using an access key.
• X (Twitter): deactivates accounts of deceased users on request and provides an archive of public posts.
• LinkedIn: memorializes on request.
• Microsoft and others: each has a next-of-kin or account-closure process requiring the death certificate.

Step-by-step

1. Inventory the accounts. Platforms, handles, and any legacy-contact settings the deceased configured. Check for two-factor authentication: if 2FA used the deceased's phone, account recovery gets harder and provider support becomes the path.
2. Decide: preserve or remove. Ask the family what serves them. A memorialized Facebook profile can be a source of comfort and photos; a business LinkedIn is better removed or transferred.
3. Use the in-life tools first. If the deceased set up a legacy contact or inactive manager, that person can act with far less friction than a cold support request.
4. Request access or closure. Go through each platform's "deceased user" form with the death certificate and your proof of authority. Expect weeks, not days, for each.
5. Download what matters. Before closing any account, download photos, messages, and documents the family will want. This is the actual heirloom: preserve it in more than one place.
6. Watch the email. The email account is the master key to every other account. If the family cannot access it, password resets for banks and subscriptions become much harder. Prioritize it.

Common pitfalls

• Deleting accounts before downloading the photos and messages that mattered.
• Assuming "the will says so". Platforms follow their own deceased-user policies, not the will, unless a court orders otherwise.
• Forgetting work accounts (email, cloud, social run by an employer). Those are the employer's, and HR should handle them.
• Noticing identity theft too late. Deceased-person files are prime targets: monitor credit and close accounts promptly.

⚠️ Verification note: platform policies and required documents change frequently. Always check the provider's current deceased-user or legacy process before sending documents.

Record platforms, handles, and which in-life tool to use in a HeirloomFile entry before it matters, so the family knows the legacy contact from the password reset.