What Happens to Social Media and Online Accounts After Someone Dies

Organizing your passwords ahead of time solves half the problem. The other half is knowing what actually happens to each account once someone tries to close it, because Facebook, Google, and your streaming services all handle death differently, and most families find that out for the first time while grieving.

Here’s what actually happens to the accounts people ask about most, and what your family will need to do something about each one.

Facebook and Instagram

Meta lets you designate a “legacy contact” in advance for Facebook, someone who can manage a memorialized version of your profile after you’re gone: pinning a post, updating the profile photo, responding to new friend requests. They cannot log in as you, read your messages, or post as if they were you. Without a legacy contact designated ahead of time, a family member can still request memorialization or removal, but they’ll need to submit proof of death, and the process moves slower and gives your family less control over how it’s handled.

Instagram works similarly: accounts can be memorialized or removed with proof of death, but Instagram doesn’t currently offer the same legacy contact feature Facebook does.

Google (Gmail, Photos, Drive)

Google’s Inactive Account Manager is worth setting up now, not after. You choose a timeout period (three, six, twelve, or eighteen months of inactivity), and you can designate trusted contacts who get notified and given access to specific data, Gmail, Photos, Drive, whatever you choose, once that timeout hits. Without it set up in advance, your family has to submit a request to Google directly, which can require a death certificate, legal documentation, and weeks of waiting, with no guarantee of full access even then.

Apple ID

Apple has a Legacy Contact feature built into iOS settings that lets you name someone who can access your Apple ID data, photos, messages, files, after your death, using an access key you generate in advance and a death certificate. Without a Legacy Contact set up, your family generally needs a court order to access a deceased person’s Apple account, which is a significantly higher bar.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn allows a profile to be memorialized or removed by a family member or coworker who submits a request with proof of the person’s death and their relationship to them. There’s no advance designation feature; it’s entirely a reactive request process handled after the fact.

Streaming Services (Netflix, Spotify, and Similar)

These are the accounts families most often forget about, and the ones with the least formal process. Most streaming services don’t have a death-specific policy at all. In practice, families typically just cancel the subscription using the account holder’s login and payment information, which is exactly why having those credentials organized somewhere accessible matters more than people expect.

Email Accounts Beyond Gmail

Non-Google email providers vary widely. Some, like Yahoo, will close an account with proof of death but generally won’t grant access to its contents. Others require a court order. If a lot of your financial and personal life runs through a specific email account, and most people’s does, that account’s accessibility after death deserves the same planning attention as a bank account.

Why This Is Different From Just Organizing Passwords

Knowing the password isn’t always the whole solution. Some platforms flag and lock an account if someone unfamiliar logs in, even with the correct password, especially if the login pattern looks unusual. Built-in legacy tools, like Google’s Inactive Account Manager or Apple’s Legacy Contact, exist precisely because platforms want a documented, sanctioned way to hand off access, rather than relying on someone quietly logging in with a written-down password and hoping for the best.

What to Actually Do About This

Set up the built-in legacy tools that exist: Google’s Inactive Account Manager, Apple’s Legacy Contact, Facebook’s Legacy Contact. These take minutes and are the cleanest path for the accounts that offer them.

For everything else, keep a current, organized list of your accounts and how your family should handle each one: which to close, which to memorialize, which to simply let lapse. A list without instructions just adds one more decision for your family to make with no guidance.

Revisit the list. New accounts get created and old ones get forgotten constantly; a list built once and never updated will be missing half your digital life within a couple of years.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my family access my accounts just by knowing my password?

Sometimes, but it’s not reliable. Unusual login activity can trigger security locks, and using someone else’s login credentials without authorization can technically violate a platform’s terms of service, even for a family member acting in good faith. Built-in legacy tools are the sanctioned path where they exist.

What happens if nobody does anything with an old account?

Most platforms eventually flag long-inactive accounts, but policies and timelines vary widely, and some accounts simply sit untouched indefinitely. That’s not usually a security risk on its own, but it can mean subscriptions keep billing a card that’s still active, which is worth checking for.

Should I write down all my passwords somewhere?

Yes, somewhere organized and physically or digitally secure, alongside instructions for what should happen to each account. A password with no context still leaves your family guessing about whether to close, keep, or memorialize each one.

Does this apply to accounts with two-factor authentication?

It adds a step. Two-factor authentication tied to a phone number or device your family may not have access to can complicate things further, which is another reason built-in legacy tools, where available, are more reliable than relying on saved login credentials alone.

Passwords are only useful if there’s also a plan for each account attached to them. The Standard Kit gives your family a place to find both: your login information and clear instructions for what to do with each account. Find Your Kit →

Orderly Affairs helps families get their important documents in order before they are needed. We are not lawyers. Platform policies referenced above are accurate as of publication and can change; check each platform’s current help center for the latest process.