Estate planning as a Adobe account holder

Adobe offers a suite of creative and document tools including Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, InDesign), Document Cloud (Acrobat, Acrobat Sign), Lightroom, Adobe Stock, Adobe Fonts, Adobe Express, and Firefly AI. An Adobe account can hold cloud-synced files, Lightroom photo libraries, Stock license history, font activations, Creative Cloud Libraries, and Acrobat Sign agreements.

Adobe Inc. reviews transfer requests for Adobe accounts on a case-by-case basis after the account holder's death. Approval is at the company's sole discretion, and documentation requirements must be met before any transfer is considered.

What happens at death

Adobe publishes one process covering death, incapacitation, and incarceration: a request to cancel a subscription or close an account on someone else's behalf, submitted through the Adobe privacy inquiry form. The process covers subscription cancellation and account closure only. Adobe does not document granting file access or transferring cloud-stored content to executors or family members. A cancellation request asks for the account holder's email address, the requestor's own contact information (first and last name, country, and email address), and legal documentation such as a death certificate. A closure request asks for the same and adds documentation such as a power of attorney or proof that the requestor is the executor of the estate. Adobe states that once the request is submitted, the Adobe Privacy team reviews it and responds to the requestor's email within 7 business days. Cancellation is not the same as closure: Adobe states that after a Creative Cloud subscription is cancelled the Adobe account remains active, cloud storage is reduced to 5 GB, and if the account is over that limit there are 30 days to reduce usage before access to some or all files on the Creative Cloud servers can be lost. Lightroom original images are stored for one year after the membership lapses. Files in free cloud storage may be permanently deleted after a period of inactivity, with an email notice before deletion, and any generative credits that came with the subscription expire at cancellation.