When Someone Dies: A Digital Checklist for Families

When someone dies, the paperwork of their digital life lands on the family at the worst possible moment. Most of the pain is preventable, but only in the first weeks, before phones get reset, numbers get canceled, and subscriptions quietly drain the estate. This checklist is the order of operations that works: secure first, find the keys, then work platform by platform. For the person who has to carry this out, see also the digital executor guide.

Week one: secure the devices and the number

• Gather the devices — Phone, tablet, laptop, desktop — keep them charged and do not wipe or reset anything yet; data may live only on that device
• Keep the SIM and number active — Two-factor texts and password resets go to that number; canceling it early locks family out of everything
• Collect physical keys to the digital world — Password manager master password, written records, the note taped under the keyboard — every family has one; find it before it gets thrown out
• Hold off on closing bank cards — You need statements to find recurring charges before accounts are closed (details below)

Find the keys before you need the law

Before touching any platform, look for a password manager (1Password, Bitwarden), browser saved passwords, a Mac Keychain, or paper records. Most people leave at least one of these behind, and it instantly answers the biggest question — which accounts exist at all. If nothing turns up, do not brute-force guesses: use each platform's official deceased-user process with a death certificate, or its legacy tool if the person set one up. Under the US RUFADAA rules, platform tools and estate documents — not password guessing — are what give family legal cover.

Work platform by platform

• Google — If the person set up Inactive Account Manager, wait for its notification or trigger it by the inactivity rule; otherwise file a deceased-user request with the death certificate — see [what happens to Google and Facebook accounts](/seo/accounts-after-death-google-facebook)
• Apple — If you were named a Legacy Contact, use your access key plus the death certificate at the Digital Legacy portal; Apple grants roughly three years of download access — full steps in [Apple Legacy Contact setup](/seo/apple-legacy-contact-setup)
• Facebook & Instagram — Use the memorialization request forms — no password needed. Memorialize to keep the profile as a tribute, or request removal; decide before you act because removal has a short reversal window
• Email — The inbox is the recovery address for everything else; treat it as the highest priority and protect it from deletion by the provider's inactivity policy
• Banks and brokerages — Call them with the death certificate — never log in to move money; each institution has its own inheritance and account-closure process
• Employer and benefits — Notify HR for pension, insurance and accounts tied to work email

Stop the subscriptions bleeding money

Pull three months of bank and card statements and highlight every recurring charge: streaming services, cloud storage, gym memberships, app subscriptions, insurance premiums, domain renewals. Cancel each through its own billing page where the account is accessible; where it is locked, contact the company with a death certificate. A surprising number of families discover services still charging a year later simply because nobody audited the statements. Keep the bank account open until this audit is complete — this step is exactly why you do not close cards in week one.

Check crypto, cloud storage, and digital keepsakes

• Crypto wallets — If there are seed phrases or hardware wallets, secure them immediately and never post them anywhere — crypto is bearer property: whoever has the phrase controls the funds. See our [crypto wallet inheritance guide](/seo/crypto-wallet-inheritance)
• Cloud photos and drives — Photo libraries are usually the irreplaceable part — download copies through the platform's legacy process before deciding what happens to the account
• Domains and websites — Domains expire and get squatted within weeks; check the registrar for auto-renewal and decide whether to renew or archive the site
• Letters and files on devices — Notes apps, local documents and drafts may hold goodbye letters or important records — copy them before the device is repurposed or sold

Watch for identity theft

Identity thieves mine obituaries and public records, sometimes within days of a death. Request several certified copies of the death certificate, notify the credit bureaus and the deceased's banks, watch for new accounts or bills in their name, and keep checking the mail for at least a year. The FTC's identity-theft checklist (linked in the sources below) covers exactly which agencies to contact and in what order. Also check their credit report once: unexpected activity there is the earliest signal of fraud.

Preserve, then publish or delete with care

The emotional decisions — memorialize or delete a profile, publish a goodbye, close a beloved account — are the ones families most often rush. A safer order: download everything you might want first, make the memorialization call second, and only delete last. Memorializing keeps content visible and is the least destructive option while feelings are raw; deletion should wait until the estate executor signs off. Whatever the family chooses, document the decision so nobody reopens the wound by accident.

The one-week quick list

• Day 1 — Secure devices and the phone number; find the password manager or paper records; order several certified death certificates
• Day 2 — Notify Google/Apple/Facebook through official channels; pull bank and card statements; flag recurring charges
• Day 3-4 — Cancel or freeze subscriptions; contact banks and employer; notify credit bureaus
• Day 5-7 — Back up photos and files; secure crypto; decide memorialization; review for identity-theft signals

Prevent the next family from facing this cold

If you are reading this while you still can, the kindest thing you can do is make the checklist unnecessary. A digital legacy vault like TimeWill (时间遗书) holds your account list, passwords, and letters in an encrypted vault and releases them to a trusted contact via heartbeat check-in when you stop responding — so your family never has to guess which accounts exist or where the keys are. Start with our international digital legacy checklist for a jurisdiction-aware version, and set up the platform tools covered in Apple vs Google comparison.

Disclaimer

This checklist is practical guidance, not legal advice. Account access rules differ by platform, country and state, and change over time; for legal questions about a specific estate, consult an attorney licensed in the relevant jurisdiction.