Digital Accounts, Photos, and Subscriptions After Death

Protect the recovery accounts before cancelling the small subscriptions

Identify the primary email address, phone number, mobile carrier account, Apple or Google account, password manager, and any device that receives two-factor codes. Keep the phone line active long enough to understand what it authenticates, but do not send messages as though you are the deceased.

Photograph device model/serial information and keep chargers with the devices. A passcode-locked phone may contain data that a provider cannot decrypt for you. Avoid repeated password guesses that can trigger lockouts or erase settings.

Do not collapse two separate questions by treating digital assets as one category. A social profile, cloud-photo library, domain name, online business, cryptocurrency wallet, and subscription account have very different ownership, access, and economic issues. Provider terms and state fiduciary-access law can affect ordinary online accounts, while cryptocurrency can depend on possession of keys or recovery material rather than a customer-service reset. Inventory the asset and the access mechanism separately.

Use the deceased user process built by each major provider

Apple's Digital Legacy program lets a designated Legacy Contact request access to certain account data using an access key and proof of death. Apple also explains that some categories—such as Keychain passwords and payment information—are not available through Legacy Contact access.

Google's Inactive Account Manager can pre-designate people to receive selected data. When no plan exists, Google has a deceased-user request process that can close an account or, in certain circumstances after review, provide content. Google states that it does not provide passwords or login details.

Those provider rules are more reliable than a generic instruction to 'log in and download everything.'

Create a digital register with service name, purpose, economic value if any, legal owner, recovery method, preservation status, and final action. Do not place secret phrases or raw passwords in the register. The register should tell an authorized fiduciary what exists and what process to follow without turning the estate file itself into a security breach.

Make a preservation copy before requesting permanent deletion

A permanent deletion request can be irreversible. Google specifically warns that after an account is closed it cannot later process a request to turn over the contents. Make a written list of what the family or executor needs before choosing deletion.

Preservation also includes billing and ownership evidence. Download recent invoices, domain-registration records, cloud-storage receipts, and statements for paid digital services before closing the payment card that keeps them active. A small hosting or storage charge can be the only thing preventing a family photo archive, business domain, or tax-document folder from expiring while the executor is still deciding what should be retained.

Prioritize digital accounts by consequence. A streaming subscription can wait; an email address that controls password resets, a domain used by a business, a cloud folder holding tax records, or a wallet holding cryptocurrency cannot. Mark each account “preserve,” “transfer,” “close later,” or “unknown authority.” That classification prevents a well-meaning cleanup from deleting the very account needed to prove ownership or recover another asset.

Crypto is an asset-access problem, not a customer-service password reset

Cryptocurrency held at a regulated exchange may have a deceased-customer estate process. Self-custodied cryptocurrency is different: control often depends on possession of a wallet’s private key or recovery phrase. A court order may establish authority or ownership, but it does not itself supply a missing cryptographic credential; preserve hardware wallets, backups, and recovery material before anyone moves assets.

Do not type a seed phrase into a website sent by a stranger who offers 'recovery.' Preserve hardware wallets, written recovery phrases, device backups, and transaction records securely. For a meaningful balance, use counsel and a technically qualified fiduciary adviser rather than moving coins experimentally.

Map dependencies before cancelling anything. A primary email address may reset a brokerage password; a mobile number may receive two-factor codes; a cloud account may hold estate records; a domain or online business profile may have value beyond the monthly subscription fee. Make a dependency list showing which accounts authenticate other accounts, then preserve the access path allowed by law and provider policy while the fiduciary process is being established. Only after that map is stable should routine services be closed. This prevents a low-dollar cancellation from blocking access to a much more important financial or administrative account.

Create an access register without copying secrets into the probate file

When an account is finally closed, save the provider’s confirmation and note whether any content or funds were transferred first. That prevents the executor from later wondering whether a missing subscription, domain, or cloud folder was intentionally closed or simply overlooked.

• Service name and purpose.
• Account email or username.
• Whether a Legacy Contact / Inactive Account Manager exists.
• What legal or provider request has been submitted.
• Which data was preserved and where the archive is stored.
• Whether billing was cancelled or ownership transferred.
• Do not record full passwords, seed phrases, or private keys in a widely shared executor spreadsheet.

Document access without turning passwords into estate records

Prioritize accounts that unlock other assets. The decedent's primary email, phone number, password manager, cloud drive, and two-factor-authentication devices can determine whether the family can find statements and policies. Preserve lawful access and data first; subscription cleanup can wait until the records needed for administration are secured.

Use provider death-request channels rather than pretending to be the decedent. Apple, Google, and other providers have their own legacy or deceased-user procedures, and state fiduciary-access law can affect what a representative may receive. A password that technically works does not answer whether the person using it has legal authority to access private communications.

Track the provider, account identifier, why the account matters, the legal authority used, request status, data recovered, and final closure decision. Store sensitive credentials or recovery keys in an appropriate secure system rather than copying them into a general probate spreadsheet that may later be shared with beneficiaries or filed with a court.

Use a two-column rule for digital accounts: preserve what has estate value or evidentiary value, and close what is merely consuming money only after recovery dependencies are mapped. An email inbox may unlock tax records, cloud photos, or financial accounts even when the inbox itself has no financial value. Before requesting deletion, note recovery email addresses, phone numbers, devices, and legacy-contact settings. Do not bypass platform access controls; use the provider's deceased-user process and obtain legal authority where the provider requires it.

For example, the decedent’s phone number and primary email are used to recover cloud photos, a password manager, a brokerage login, and several subscriptions. Cancelling the phone and email on day one can make legitimate fiduciary access much harder. Secure the devices, document account names without copying passwords into a general probate spreadsheet, and use each provider’s deceased-user or fiduciary process. Preserve irreplaceable photos, records, or business files before requesting permanent account deletion where the estate has lawful access.

Record the final disposition date for every high-value digital asset so the inventory closes with a documented endpoint.

Before deleting, resetting, or unlocking