When a person passes away today, they leave behind two distinct legacies: their physical possessions and a massive, active digital footprint. From active Facebook and Instagram profiles to secure Google accounts, cloud photo storage, and recurring streaming subscriptions, managing an online identity after death is a new hurdle for modern executors. If left unmanaged, these accounts pose identity theft risks and accumulate ongoing subscription fees. This guide provides executors with the precise procedures, direct compliance links, and documentation requirements needed to safely delete or memorialize a deceased person's online presence across major global platforms.
Use each platform's official deceased-person process. First identify the correct account, establish the person's wishes, preserve information you are entitled to keep and decide whether deletion or memorialisation is appropriate. Submit the requested evidence of death and authority, retain the case reference and confirm the outcome. Being an executor does not automatically provide a password or access to private messages.
EvaheldDecide the outcome before submitting a request
Deletion removes an account through the provider's process. Memorialisation preserves a profile in a restricted state where that option exists. A data-access request asks for information or content. These actions can have different eligibility, evidence and consequences. Do not submit a deletion request simply because it is the first button that appears.
The eSafety Commissioner's digital-legacy information distinguishes digital assets from the person's online presence. A public profile, privately stored photographs, licensed media and a business account are not interchangeable. Identify which matters the family is trying to resolve before deciding what to remove.
Read any recorded wishes and relevant platform settings. If there is no instruction, discuss the options with the appropriate representative and affected family members. A friend may want to keep a memorial while a partner wants the profile removed. Record the agreed request without presenting family consensus as a substitute for the platform's authority requirements.
Consider private remembrance versus public memorial sharing. A public memorial can allow friends to contribute memories, but it may also retain material the person intended to keep within a limited audience. A private collection can preserve selected memories without leaving the whole profile publicly available. Neither option should be assumed to reflect everyone's preferences.
Build an account list and evidence file
Record the platform, exact username, profile link, account email if known, requested outcome and person handling the request. Include old names, duplicate profiles and professional accounts. The same display name can belong to several people, so a profile link is more useful than a name alone. Save the relevant public identifier before a username changes or a profile disappears.
An after death social media instructions template can help organise preferences and progress. Keep account identifiers separate from live access secrets. Do not turn the working list into a widely circulated password file or include recovery codes in a general family email.
The evidence usually concerns two separate matters: that the person has died and that the requester can make the particular request. A death notice may support memorialisation on some platforms, while permanent removal or disclosure may require additional legal documents. Follow the actual form and distinguish mandatory items from optional details that may help identify the account.
The NSW death-certificate information explains that registry's official process; other Australian jurisdictions have their own registries. Keep a death certificate explanation with the estate file so relatives understand which record they hold. Do not assume a funeral notice, medical certificate and registered death certificate serve the same purpose for every provider.
Preserve what matters through a lawful route
Identify photographs, correspondence, business records or estate evidence that may be needed before an irreversible request. That does not authorise logging in as the deceased. Justice Connect's digital-legacy information advises using official provider processes rather than the person's password and explains the limits of legal documents and platform tools.
Look first for copies already lawfully held by family members, shared albums, authorised archives and material released through an official request. A relative's copy of a photograph may solve a preservation need without requiring access to the whole account. Respect the privacy of other people in messages and images, and avoid redistributing private conversations merely because they have sentimental value.
When turning photos into family stories, retain useful context: who appears, the event, approximate date and any permission or audience restrictions. Preserve the best available original file separately from edited keepsakes. Keep a second protected copy and check that it opens, rather than assuming a download notification means the files were saved successfully.
If an account contains evidence relevant to a dispute, fraud, a business or another valuable asset, obtain advice about preservation before deletion. Record the public information and provider correspondence available to you. Do not alter records, bypass a device lock or commission someone who promises secret access to private messages.
Digital Legacy VaultFacebook: distinguish a memorial from account removal
Start with Facebook's help for a deceased person's account. Use the official route to identify the account and select the intended outcome. Supply the proof requested for that request, using your own identity and contact details. Do not log in as the deceased to submit a claim that you are the account holder.
A memorialised profile retains content within the platform's restrictions. A legacy contact, if appointed, has limited management powers rather than the deceased's complete account access. The NSW Trustee and Guardian's social-media explanation describes that distinction, including the difference between managing a memorial and reading messages.
Before requesting removal, identify whether the person chose deletion after death or named a legacy contact, and tell the appropriate person what the family proposes. Keep the confirmation and any further evidence requests together. A memorialisation result should not be recorded as deletion. Likewise, a submitted form is not confirmation that the profile has changed.
If the profile also relates to a business Page, group, advertising activity or an organisation, identify those responsibilities separately. Removing a personal profile can affect practical management arrangements. Ask the platform and any existing authorised administrator what is required before taking an action intended only to remove a personal memorial presence.
Instagram: use its own deceased-account process
Instagram's deceased-person information provides the route for memorialisation or removal. Instagram and Facebook are both Meta services, but their memorial arrangements are not identical. Do not assume a Facebook legacy contact can manage an Instagram account or that one request necessarily handles both profiles.
Record the exact Instagram username and profile address. Choose the requested outcome and supply the evidence required by the current form. A memorialised profile is restricted rather than transferred to a relative for normal use. Removal is a different request and may require stronger evidence of relationship or authority.
Avoid promising relatives that memorialisation will release private messages or allow them to edit the person's posts. Keep preservation and content access as separate questions. If a form cannot be opened, use the official Help Centre's current search route and record the problem, rather than uploading identification to an unofficial site offering to complete the process.
LinkedIn: reporting a death and closing an account differ
The LinkedIn deceased-member instructions distinguish closure by an authorised person from reporting a death for memorialisation. They request the member's name, profile link and the requester's relationship, with further details useful for identification. Closure also requires a death certificate and suitable legal authority evidence.
Gather the actual authority document rather than simply describing yourself as family. Use the official request route linked from the help instructions. If a colleague is reporting the death, make clear whether they are seeking memorialisation or assisting the estate's representative with closure. The colleague's knowledge of the person does not automatically establish estate authority.
Check connected professional administration separately. A company Page, recruitment service or paid subscription may need attention from an authorised organisation contact. Do not assume the personal-profile request resolves an employer's records or a separate commercial service. Retain a record of which product each confirmation covers.
X and TikTok: use support without expecting inherited access
X's deceased-family-member process allows an authorised estate representative or verified immediate family member to request deactivation. Its published process includes follow-up evidence such as identification and a death certificate. X states that it does not provide account access regardless of the requester's relationship to the deceased.
Use the removal route linked from that policy and preserve the response. A public post mentioning the death is not an account-closure request. If the issue concerns impersonation or distressing content rather than the deceased's genuine profile, identify that separate problem so it reaches the appropriate reporting process.
For TikTok, begin with its official report-a-problem support information and explain that the account holder has died. Provide the account identifier and ask which evidence and requester role are required for the intended outcome. Do not assume it offers the same memorial or legacy-contact functions as Facebook, and do not use the deceased's credentials merely to reach support.
For any smaller platform, record the official support address or form and its response. If no deceased-account policy is published, ask for the correct process and preserve the answer. Absence of a visible form does not give a relative permission to bypass security or assert ownership of the account.
PlansHandle Google, Apple and Microsoft before deleting supporting services
Google and YouTube
The Google deceased-user request process separates closing an account, requesting funds and obtaining data. Google does not provide passwords. It also warns that selecting closure prevents a later request to turn over account contents, so finish any appropriate content request before submitting a subsequent closure request.
Identify connected services such as Gmail, Photos, Drive and YouTube. The family may be focused on a channel while the same account holds important estate documents. Preserve the distinction between removing one visible presence and closing the underlying account. Record exactly what the platform has agreed to do.
For planning your own arrangements, Google's Inactive Account Manager allows selected data-sharing and notification choices after inactivity. It is an advance planning tool, not a mechanism an executor can retrospectively set up for a deceased person. Review the chosen contacts and data categories while you can make those decisions.
Apple Account and devices
Apple's Australian deceased-account information describes requests for account access or deletion and the legal documentation required. A Legacy Contact may have a route involving the access key and death evidence. Without an appropriate legacy arrangement, other documentation or a court process may be necessary depending on the circumstances and region.
Separate cloud-content access, account deletion, Activation Lock and a device passcode. Ownership of a phone does not mean the person holding it can unlock encrypted contents. Erasing a device so it can be reused can destroy information the family wanted to preserve. Ask about the specific goal before approving a reset or deletion.
Microsoft services
Microsoft's deceased-user information explains privacy and legal restrictions, subscriptions and possible legal processes. A court request is not an automatic promise of disclosure. Personal Outlook and OneDrive accounts also need to be distinguished from work or education accounts controlled by an organisation.
Microsoft's service instructions should be read alongside Australian authority and access law. Do not assume that knowing credentials settles the legal position. Preserve lawfully available records, identify recurring charges and obtain advice where access to valuable or disputed content is necessary. Waiting for inactivity deletion is an unreliable way to preserve a family archive.
Keep devices, email and payments in a sensible order
Email, phone numbers and cloud accounts can support correspondence with several institutions. Before cancelling them, identify current estate inquiries, saved records and dependent services. Use authorised retrieval and provider processes; retaining an account temporarily is not permission to impersonate the deceased.
The wider closing online accounts after death workflow can help order these tasks. Deleting a social profile does not necessarily cancel an app-store subscription, a separate streaming service or a business charge. Confirm where payment is collected and which provider must cancel the arrangement.
Use the Services Australia notification information to check the broader organisations involved. Record credits, refunds or continuing estate correspondence before closing a supporting service. If the bank has stopped a payment, establish whether the underlying contract still needs a cancellation request.
Track requests without spreading private documents
Maintain a request register with the account identifier, requested action, submitted evidence, date, reference number and response. Keep full identity documents in protected storage rather than embedding copies in the general register. Record what was sent so that a later helper does not send unnecessary additional material.
Apply digital legacy security to official forms and follow-up messages. Verify the sender and destination before replying with identification. Be cautious if someone promises guaranteed deletion, claims they can unlock every account or asks for recovery codes. A legitimate-looking logo is not proof that a request comes from the provider.
If a request fails, identify whether the issue is the account identifier, missing proof, requester eligibility or a different desired outcome. Use the case reference when following up and answer the actual reason. Where family members disagree or valuable content is at stake, pause an irreversible request and obtain appropriate advice rather than submit competing instructions.
A workable handover when two relatives are helping
Suppose a partner holds shared holiday photographs while an adult child is handling account requests. The partner can preserve the copies already available to them, while the child records the profile identifiers and gathers the authority evidence. Neither needs to circulate the deceased person's credentials to the whole family. Agree who submits each request so that duplicate forms do not ask the provider for conflicting outcomes.
Put a decision checkpoint before deletion. The requester confirms that the family has considered preservation, any appropriate content request has finished, and connected business responsibilities have been identified. Record the decision date and the scope of the action. An instruction to remove an Instagram profile should not be treated as permission to erase the person's phone or close a separate cloud account.
After confirmation, the second helper checks the request register and the stored copies rather than attempting to log in. Keep the provider's confirmation with the estate records, remove unnecessary working copies of identification securely and tell the relevant relatives what happened. This creates an understandable record without preserving an uncontrolled collection of sensitive documents indefinitely.
Make your own wishes usable before they are needed
A legacy contact settings checklist can connect platform-specific choices with a private written record. Tell the nominated person where the relevant evidence or access key is held, without assuming one platform's contact role gives authority over another. Review it when accounts or trusted people change.
Set trusted party access for the information each helper needs. Evaheld enables will creation, subject to applicable execution requirements, alongside digital asset records, executor instructions, health and care wishes, controlled sharing and legacy preservation. It can make the account inventory and personal wishes easier to find while the provider's own process continues to govern the account request.
A comparison of memorial websites and private vaults helps separate public remembrance from private estate records. Preserve personal stories in a form the intended family can access, and use digital inheritance planning to coordinate the valuable accounts and records. A will can express wishes and relevant authority without guaranteeing disclosure from every overseas platform.
Final social-account checklist
- Identify the exact account and the action being requested.
- Check recorded wishes and any relevant legacy setting.
- Separate memorialisation, deletion and access to content.
- Preserve important material through a lawful route before irreversible action.
- Gather the proof of death and authority required for the particular request.
- Submit through the provider's official process using truthful requester details.
- Retain case references and answer specific follow-up requests.
- Check email, device, business and payment dependencies.
- Confirm the outcome and keep necessary estate records privately.
- Review your own platform settings and written wishes for future use.
