Registered number: 10816512.
Registered office: Squiggle Consult Ltd, Suite 2069, Letraset Building, Wotton Road, Ashford, Kent, TN23 6LN
Squiggle Consult Ltd. is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Most of us now leave a significant digital footprint. Photos, emails, messages, social profiles, music collections, subscriptions, loyalty points, and money held in online accounts, these digital assets (anything with value or meaning that exists in digital form) have become a substantial part of what we leave behind. Some are sentimental; some have real financial value. All of them need dealing with as part of a person's estate.
This guide sets out how each major platform handles account closure or memorialisation after a death, explains what proof you will need, and suggests how to make things far easier for your own family when the time comes. Platform policies change often; always check the provider's own help pages for the latest requirements.
When someone dies, their executor (the person appointed in their Will to deal with their estate) or administrator (if there is no Will) has authority over the deceased's estate. But digital accounts operate under their own terms of service, and platforms are not always straightforward to deal with. Common problems families face include:
Dealing with all of this takes time and evidence. The common thread across every major platform: they need proof of death (usually a death certificate) and proof of your authority to act (usually a Grant of Probate, the court document confirming an executor's authority, or Letters of Administration for intestate estates).
The simplest way to make this manageable is to use the legacy tools the platforms themselves provide, but these only work if set up before death.
Facebook: You can nominate a Legacy Contact: a trusted person who can manage your memorialised profile after you die. They can pin a remembrance post, update the profile picture, and respond to new friend requests, but they cannot log in as you, read your messages, or access your private information. Alternatively, you can opt for your account to be permanently deleted after your death instead of memorialised.
Google: Google's Inactive Account Manager lets you nominate up to ten trusted contacts who can receive specified data from your account after a period of inactivity (between three and eighteen months, depending on what you set). You can choose which data to share with which contacts, for example, Gmail with one person, Google Photos with another. You can also opt to have your account deleted automatically. Set this up in your Google account settings under "Data & Privacy."
Apple: Apple allows you to add a Legacy Contact in your Apple ID settings. After your death, your Legacy Contact needs both the access key (generated when you set up the Legacy Contact) and your death certificate to unlock your iCloud data. Without the access key, even an executor may struggle to access iCloud content and may need a court order.
Setting these tools up takes less than an hour and saves your family an enormous amount of difficulty.
Facebook accounts can be memorialised (preserved as a tribute to the person's life) or permanently removed.
If you appointed a Legacy Contact, that person manages the memorialised profile. They can pin a remembrance post at the top of the timeline, change the profile picture, and accept or decline friend requests, but they cannot see private messages or log in to the account.
Without a Legacy Contact, an immediate family member or executor can request memorialisation or removal by submitting Facebook's "Special Request for Deceased Person's Account" form. You will need to provide proof of death (such as a death certificate, obituary or news article) and proof of your authority or family relationship. Facebook does not transfer account access or provide passwords in any circumstances.
Instagram (which is owned by Meta, the same company as Facebook) does not offer a Legacy Contact feature. Any person can request memorialisation of an Instagram account by submitting proof of death through Instagram's Help Centre. Memorialisation preserves the account with the word "Remembering" next to the name, and prevents anyone from logging in.
To request account removal, a verified immediate family member or legal representative must submit the death certificate and proof of relationship or legal authority (for example, a Grant of Probate) through Instagram's dedicated form.
LinkedIn allows any person to report a death and request that a profile be memorialised or removed. However, the process for a full account closure requires an authorised representative (an executor or administrator) to provide:
LinkedIn's bereavement reporting page accepts these documents online.
X does not offer any memorialisation option. The account cannot be preserved; it can only be deactivated and eventually deleted.
An estate representative or verified immediate family member can request deactivation by completing X's dedicated online form, then providing a copy of their own government-issued ID and the death certificate. X does not grant account access under any circumstances, even with a court order.
Pinterest does not offer memorialisation. A family member or authorised representative can request account closure by submitting:
Pinterest's Help Centre has a dedicated form for this request.
Snapchat does not offer memorialisation. An immediate family member or legal representative can request account deletion by contacting Snapchat's support team with proof of death and appropriate identification.
Squiggle can take on as much or as little of the estate administration as you wish, from arranging the Grant of Probate to handling everything end to end, while you focus on your family. Book a call with a consultant or call 01233 659 796.
Email accounts often contain sensitive personal and financial information, and they may be needed to access or close other accounts (since many platforms use email for password resets). This makes them among the most practically important digital accounts to deal with, and among the hardest.
If the deceased person set up an Inactive Account Manager, the process is straightforward: nominated contacts receive the data they were granted access to, as previously set.
Without an Inactive Account Manager, family members can apply through Google's deceased-user process. Google requires the applicant's own identification and the death certificate. Google will not provide passwords and is not obligated to grant access; data recovery is at Google's discretion, and the outcome is not guaranteed. For YouTube accounts with associated content or channel revenue, specific additional steps may apply.
This is an area where the process has significantly changed. Under Microsoft's current published policy, Microsoft no longer operates its previous "next of kin" email route. Microsoft now generally requires a court order before it will release data or close an account. Without a court order, families have very limited options.
The practical alternative: under Microsoft's current published policy, if the account is not accessed for two years, Microsoft closes it automatically. If there is urgent information in the account that the family needs, obtaining a court order may be the only formal route. This is an expensive and time-consuming process, which makes it a strong argument for using Microsoft's own legacy features (such as naming a trusted person who holds the account password) or storing a record of account details securely during your lifetime.
To request closure of a Yahoo account after a death, submit:
Yahoo does not provide access to the account; it closes it.
Amazon has a dedicated bereavement team for handling account closures after a death. To close an account, the executor or administrator should contact Amazon and provide:
Amazon can cancel Prime membership, close the account, and deal with any outstanding balances or refunds.
One important point: Kindle books and other digital purchases from Amazon are licences, not assets. They cannot be inherited. The deceased's Kindle library does not form part of the estate and cannot be transferred. Physical books and physical goods purchased through Amazon are of course different; they are owned assets.
If the deceased person had set up a Legacy Contact, that person uses their access key and the death certificate to retrieve iCloud content, photos, documents and other stored data.
Without a Legacy Contact, closing an Apple account generally requires legal documentation appropriate to your jurisdiction. In England and Wales, this typically means the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration. Under Apple's current published policy, in many cases, particularly if data access is needed rather than simply closure, Apple requires a court order, similar to Microsoft.
Apple's own terms of service state that accounts are non-transferable and that the right to use Apple services terminates on death. Digital purchases (music, apps, films) are licences and do not form part of the estate.
PayPal has a clear process for dealing with a deceased person's account:
The executor or administrator must submit to PayPal:
For larger balances, PayPal requires a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration before releasing funds; it will not release significant amounts on the basis of a death certificate alone. Smaller balances may be handled more simply. Contact PayPal's dedicated bereavement team for current guidance.
To close a deceased member's eBay account, you submit eBay's deceased member report form together with:
If there are recent, ongoing or disputed transactions on the account, closure can take up to 60 days. Any active listings or outstanding purchases will need to be resolved before the account can be fully closed.
This is worth emphasising because it surprises many families. A large proportion of "digital purchases" are not purchases in the traditional sense; they are licences, granting permission to use content under the platform's terms of service. When that licence holder dies, the licence typically ends.
This includes:
Physical books, CDs, DVDs and physical media are different; they are owned assets and can be bequeathed. The digital equivalents usually cannot. If a significant digital library is involved, it is worth taking legal advice on whether any value can be extracted.
The common thread across every platform is that they need proof of death and proof of authority, and none will give out passwords. But beyond the formal processes, the kindest and most practical thing you can do for your family is to leave an organised record of your digital life.
Squiggle LegacyVault is where you can keep your digital records, passwords, wishes and key documents. LegacyVault uses encryption and controlled-release processes designed to make your records available to the right people when needed. Call us on 01233 659 796 to add LegacyVault to your Will or LPA planning, and see our Starting Your Legacy Planning factsheet for how this fits into your wider estate plan.
One thing families often ask: "Can't we just use their password to log in and sort things out?" The short answer is: legally, you should not. Using someone else's login credentials, even with the best intentions, after their death, can breach the platform's terms of service and, depending on the circumstances, may also breach the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (which makes unauthorised access to computer systems a criminal offence). Executors in particular should be aware that using login details is not their legal authority to act; their Grant of Probate is. Wherever possible, use the official bereavement processes described in this guide.
Mistake 1: Assuming you can just use the password. Even if you have the password, logging in as the deceased person is not legally the same as having authority to manage their estate. Use official processes wherever possible.
Mistake 2: Not dealing with subscriptions promptly. Streaming services, cloud storage, software subscriptions and gym memberships can all continue charging after a death. In the first week after bereavement, check bank and credit card statements for regular payments and contact providers to cancel them.
Mistake 3: Assuming digital purchases can be inherited. Most digital content is licensed, not owned. Managing family expectations about a digital music or book collection is kinder than discovering the problem after the estate has been distributed.
Mistake 4: Losing access to important information. Some accounts, particularly email, may hold information needed to close other accounts, claim benefits or deal with financial matters. Do not close email accounts hastily; review them first.
Mistake 5: Never setting up legacy features. Facebook's Legacy Contact, Google's Inactive Account Manager and Apple's Legacy Contact exist precisely for this situation. Setting them up takes under an hour and makes a real difference to your family's experience.
Pick a time that suits you and your local Squiggle consultant will call you. No charge, no obligation. Book a call or call 01233 659 796.
Talk to Squiggle: 01233 659 796 | hello@squiggleconsult.co.uk | www.squiggleconsult.co.uk | Book a free call: meet.squiggleconsult.co.uk
Platform policies change frequently; verify current requirements with each provider.
This factsheet is general information for England and Wales, not legal, tax or financial advice. Last reviewed: June 2026.
Registered number: 10816512.
Registered office: Squiggle Consult Ltd, Suite 2069, Letraset Building, Wotton Road, Ashford, Kent, TN23 6LN
Squiggle Consult Ltd. is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
