Step 23 - Deal with a Deceased Person’s Social Media & Other Online Accounts
Last updated: June 2019
Why is this important?
This step explains everything you need to know to make decisions about closing or keeping of the deceased person’s social media and email accounts. This is an important consideration that should involve the immediate family.
simplyEstate is here to help with the process. Contact us via email or book a first free phone appointment.
Approximate Effort & Cost
Reading: 15 mins
Preparing: 1 hr
Completing: 1-2 hrs
Total: 2:15-3:15 hrs
Cost: $0
Effort and cost are general estimates only and are based on the assumption that you complete this step without specialist help.
Instructions
To find out how this Process Guide works, access the instructions here.
Glossary
Forms
Close Accounts
Follow instructions outlined in Step 23.5
Instagram
Complete the online form
Google
Complete the online form
Twitter
Complete the online form
Memorialise Accounts
Instagram
Complete the online form
23.1 Overview
Today many people are connected online. It may be important to determine how social media and other online accounts of the deceased person will be managed. For this you will need to:
- identify what accounts were held;
- check if there is information that you would like removed;
- determine if a profile should be retained to remember the deceased person; and
- determine if the accounts should be closed.
Contents
23.2 Types of Online Accounts
23.3 Discuss Accounts with Next of Kin
23.4 Benefits of Closing Accounts
23.5 Close Deceased Person’s Accounts
23.6 Keep Deceased Person’s Accounts open
23.7 Actions and Decisions to Complete Step
23.2 Types of Online Accounts
23.2.1 Social Media
The most common social media providers are:
You should be able to find out if the deceased person held any of these accounts by searching for their name in google or the individual social media providers.
Make a list of all accounts and their name or aliases (name used online other than their given name).
This Step is mainly concerned with social media accounts as these are more sensitive being publicly available online compared to private email accounts and other online subscriptions.
23.2.2 Email
The most common email account providers are:
- Outlook
- Hotmail
- Gmail
- MSN
- Yahoo
You should be able to find out if the deceased person held any of these by checking with the Next of Kin. Make a list of all email addresses.
23.2.3 Online Subscriptions
The most common online subscriptions are:
- Netflix
- Spotify
- Foxtel
- Amazon Prime
- Apple TV
- Online newspaper and magazine subscriptions
If you have worked through Step 22 – Cancel Contracts, Subscriptions, Policies and Club & Association Memberships you should have already identified most of these and cancelled them as you would have had to pay for the ongoing subscription fee.
If you didn’t identify an account, you should immediately cancel any services the deceased estate is still paying for.
23.3 Discuss Accounts with Next of Kin
Once you have established what types of online accounts the deceased person held, you should meet with the Next of Kin to discuss if these should be kept online or closed permanently.
Email and other online subscription accounts can be closed by contacting the individual providers to close the account permanently as per their policies. Remember that you may still need the option to obtain information from an email account or similar to finalise the estate administration. You should be certain about no longer needing access before you request closing the accounts.
For social media accounts, you may agree that you keep the Facebook page online as a memory of the deceased person if they had many photos of their family and friends online. Facebook and other social media providers allow you to select if you want to permanently close and delete an account or memorialise it, meaning keeping it active as a memory.
23.4 Benefits of Closing Accounts
Especially during the first months after the death, it may be emotionally difficult for friends and family members when the deceased person’s profile appears up in the family members’ or friends’ lists of contacts or appear as a friend suggestion for others.
There may be personal information that you think should be specifically removed or that warrants the entire account to be closed or deleted.
Note: An idle account may also become a target for hackers to obtain information about the deceased person and their family and friends, or to take control of the account with bad intentions.
23.5 Close Deceased Person’s Accounts
When closing accounts, you will generally need to provide a scan image of:
- the Death Certificate; and either
- the Will stating your name as an Executor; or
- Letters of Administration stating your name as the Administrator.
If you don’t have a Will or Letters of Administration stating you as the Executor or Administrator, you should provide a Birth Certificate to show your direct relationship to the deceased person. You may also be asked to provide your proof of identity such as a driver’s license.
To close an account, you can follow these instructions:
After logging into your Facebook account, you can:
> click on the ‘question mark’ at the top right > type “deceased user delete” > click on the first option > select ‘remove account’.
23.6 Keep Deceased Person’s Accounts Open
Some social media and online providers will memorialise an account of a deceased person. This means that the account will still be available online but is locked from anyone logging in and making any changes.
When memorialising accounts, you will generally need to provide a scan image of:
- the Death Certificate;
and either:
- the Will stating your name as an Executor; or
- Letters of Administration stating your name as the Administrator.
If you don’t have a Will or Letters of Administration stating you as the Executor or Administrator, you should provide a Birth Certificate to show your direct relationship to the deceased person. You may also be asked to provide your proof of identity such as a driver’s license.
To keep an account open, you can follow these instructions:
After logging into your Facebook account, you can:
> click on the ‘question mark’ at the top right > type “deceased user delete” > click on the first option > select ‘contact us’.
Google accounts can only be closed and not memorialised. Follow the steps as outlined above in Step 23.5 to close a Google account.
Twitter accounts can only be closed and not memorialised. Follow the steps as outlined above in Step 23.5 to close a Twitter account.
23.7 Actions and Decisions to Complete Step
If you would like a little help from us at simplyEstate with this Step, you can email us or book your free first phone appointment. If you would like specialist help, get in touch with one of our Specialist Partners listed in the yellow section to the right or below and see how they can help.
If you have decided to tackle this Step yourself after reading and understanding this Step, you may want to:
- Identify what email and social media accounts were held;
- Check if particular information should be removed and notify the relevant provider;
- Decide with the family if a profile should be retained to remember the deceased person or permanently closed; and
- Decide if email accounts should be permanently closed if you are confident that there was no critical email correspondence that will be needed to administer and finalise the estate.
Once you have completed all the necessary actions and decisions, you can move on to the next Step by clicking below or save progress at the top.
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