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    What Happens to Online Accounts After a Death

    How to memorialize a Facebook profile, set up a legacy contact, and request account removal for a deceased person's social media and email accounts.

    4 min read · 5 steps · Checked April 2026

    1. Step 1. Set up a Facebook Legacy Contact now

      Log into Facebook. Click your profile picture in the top right, then select Settings & PrivacySettingsYour Facebook InformationMemorialization Settings. Choose a trusted person as your Legacy Contact and decide whether you want your account memorialized or deleted. This takes about two minutes.

      Quick Tip

      Tell your legacy contact that you have named them and what your wishes are. A surprise notification at the time of death is harder to process than prior knowledge.

    2. Step 2. Configure Google's Inactive Account Manager

      Go to myaccount.google.com/inactive-account-manager. Sign in with your Google account. You can set a period of inactivity (3, 6, 12, or 18 months), designate up to 10 people to be notified, and choose whether to let them download specific types of data (Gmail, Drive, Photos, YouTube). You can also instruct Google to delete your account entirely.

    3. Step 3. Request memorialization or removal for a deceased person

      For Facebook: go to facebook.com/help and search "memorialization request." You will fill out a form and may need to upload a death certificate or obituary. For Instagram: go to instagram.com/help, search "deceased," and follow the form. Processing usually takes several days to a few weeks.

    4. Step 4. Handle email accounts

      For Gmail: go to support.google.com and search "deceased user." Google will walk through an identity verification process before granting any access or closing the account. For other email providers, processes vary — search the provider name plus "deceased account" for their specific process.

      Warning

      If a loved one's email is needed to reset other accounts (banks, utilities), prioritize getting access to it. Contact the email provider's support line directly and explain the situation — be prepared to provide a death certificate.

    5. Step 5. Include digital accounts in your estate plan

      Work with your estate attorney to include digital accounts in your will or trust, specifying your wishes for each. Keeping a secure list of your account logins with your estate documents makes sure your executor or family can act quickly and avoid the lengthy verification processes platforms require.

    When someone passes away, their digital life does not automatically disappear. Social media profiles, email accounts, and other online services remain active unless someone takes action — and the process for handling each platform is different.

    Knowing these processes in advance — either to plan for your own accounts or to help manage a loved one's — saves confusion and distress at an already difficult time.

    Facebook

    Facebook offers two options for a deceased person's account: memorialization or removal. A memorialized account is converted to a tribute page where friends can still share memories. The word "Remembering" appears before the name. To request memorialization, go to facebook.com/help and search for "memorialization request". You will need to provide proof of death.

    Facebook also allows you to designate a "Legacy Contact" while you are alive — a person who can manage your account after you pass (change the profile photo, pin a tribute post, respond to friend requests). Set this up in SettingsYour Facebook InformationMemorialization Settings.

    Instagram

    Instagram allows memorialization of accounts or removal upon request from a verified family member or representative. Like Facebook, it requires documentation of the death. Go to instagram.com/help and search for "deceased person."

    Google (Gmail, YouTube, Google Photos)

    Google has an "Inactive Account Manager" feature that allows you to plan what happens to your account if you stop using it. You can designate a trusted person to receive a notification and potentially access your data, or instruct Google to delete everything after a period of inactivity. Set this up at myaccount.google.com/inactive-account-manager.

    After a death, family members can also submit a request to access content or close a Google account through Google's deceased user process at support.google.com.

    Email accounts in general

    Email is especially important because password reset links for other accounts are sent there. If you cannot access a loved one's email, recovering their other accounts becomes extremely difficult. Ideally, email login details should be part of a digital access plan.

    Quick Tip: The most thoughtful thing you can do today is designate a Facebook Legacy Contact and set up Google's Inactive Account Manager. Both take less than five minutes.

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