What happens to Dropbox accounts when the owner dies

Yes. Other members of shared folders retain full access even if the account owner dies, the account is deleted, or the account becomes inactive. This makes shared folders the most practical way to ensure continuity of access to important files without needing a court order.

Yes. On Standard, Advanced, Business, Business Plus, and Enterprise plans, Team Admins, User Management Admins, and Security Admins (with the corresponding permission) can transfer a deleted member's files to another current team member without needing a court order. From the Admin Console, navigate to Members, find the deleted member under the Deleted section, and select Manage files. The transfer can only be done once per deleted member, and files cannot be split across multiple recipients. Transfers are limited to content within the account's version history window.

Dropbox's Family plan help article does not address what happens if the plan manager dies, and there is no documented self-service flow to reassign manager status. The Family manager is the person who purchased the plan and is the only one who can add or remove members. If the manager dies, members retain their individual accounts and personal files; removed members are converted to free Dropbox Basic accounts. Billing for the original plan continues until canceled through the deceased's account or payment method. To change managers, Dropbox support must be contacted directly, or the existing plan can be canceled and a new manager can purchase a new Family plan and re-invite members.