What happens to a Facebook account when someone dies
Meta Platforms publishes its own process for a deceased person's account; a request goes in through Meta Platforms' online form.
Meta Platforms decides what happens to a Facebook account after a death case by case; its terms promise no transfer.
Meta Platforms publishes its own process for a deceased person's account: Meta memorialization, removal, and deceased-account content requests; a request goes in through Meta Platforms' online form. The request takes 8 documents.
How to request a transfer
- •Signed in to any Facebook account: the memorialization and removal request form.
- •With no Facebook account: the Special Request form, which offers memorialize, remove, or a special request.
- •Give the full name as on the profile, the profile URL, and the email address that may have been used to create the account.
- •Instagram and WhatsApp: file separately in each product's own help center.
- •A scan or photo of the death certificate, which is the fastest route.
- •Without a death certificate: a power of attorney, a birth certificate for a minor, the last will and testament, or an estate letter, plus an obituary or memorial card.
- •A government-issued photo ID.
- •Documents showing the legal connection to the deceased.
- •The death certificate, with a notarized translation if it is not in English.
- •Proof of authorized-representative status and a court order, for anything beyond the limited disclosure a will can authorize.
Required Documents
- Death certificate: A scan or photo of the death certificate is the fastest route for a removal request. For a content request, a certificate not in English needs a notarized translation.
- Obituary or memorial card: for a removal request without a death certificate. Accepted as proof of death alongside a proof-of-authority document.
- Proof of authority: for a removal request without a death certificate. A power of attorney, a birth certificate where the deceased is a minor, the last will and testament, or an estate letter.
- Government-issued photo ID of the requester: for a content request
- Documents establishing the requester's legal connection to the deceased: for a content request
- Proof of authorized-representative status and a court order: for account content beyond the limited disclosure in the Meta Terms of Service
- A valid will or similar legal document expressing clear consent: for the limited disclosure in section 4.5 of the Meta Terms of Service
- Full name on the profile, profile URL and the email used to create the account: The request forms ask for these details to identify the account.
What Meta Platforms, Inc.'s terms say at death
- 4.5
“Legacy Contact: You may designate a person (called a legacy contact) to manage your account if it is memorialized. If you enable it in your settings, only your legacy contact or a person who you have identified in a valid will or similar legal document expressing clear consent to disclose your content to that person upon death or incapacity will be able to seek limited disclosure of information from your account after it is memorialized.”1
What Meta Platforms, Inc. says happens10
- Memorialization
On a memorialized profile, "Remembering" is shown next to the person's name, shared content stays visible to the audience it was shared with, the profile stops appearing in People You May Know, ads and birthday reminders, and no one can log in.2
A memorialized profile with no legacy contact cannot be changed at all.2
A legacy contact can write a pinned post, change the profile picture and cover photo, respond to new friend requests, and request that the profile be removed.3
The legacy contact is not a co-owner: they cannot log in, read messages, remove friends or make new friend requests.3
A legacy contact designated before death can act on the memorialized profile immediately, with no Meta review and no documents sent to Meta.4
Meta memorializes the account once it receives a request for account content.5
- Deletion and data retention
Where the holder chose "Delete after death," Meta removes all of their messages, photos, posts, comments, reactions and info immediately and permanently once someone notifies it of the death, including any additional Facebook profiles.2
- Closing the account
Family and executors can request permanent removal of the profile, and a legacy contact can also request removal of the profile they manage.6
- Verifying the requester
The information on the documents sent for a removal request must match the information on the person's account.6
- Disclosure of account content
A legacy contact can download an archive of what the person shared only if the holder turned that setting on. The archive holds photos and videos, wall posts, profile and contact info, events and the friends list, and never messages.7
Private messages sit outside every family-facing channel: federal law does not allow private parties to obtain the content of communications, such as messages, timeline posts and photos, by subpoena (Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. section 2701 et seq.).8
- Court orders and legal process
Requests for account content beyond the limited disclosure in the Terms go through a separate channel that requires proof of authorized-representative status and a court order.5
Meta gives basic subscriber information only on a valid subpoena or court order, and does not respond to disclosure requests accompanied by purported user consent in that litigation context.8
- How requests are reviewed
Meta considers requests for a deceased person's account content in rare cases, and filing the documentation does not mean content will be provided.5
- Passwords and login
Meta cannot provide anyone with login information for an account.4
- Continuing a shop, channel or listing
A Page whose only admin's profile was memorialized is removed from Facebook once Meta receives a valid memorialization request. There is no automatic admin succession, so a surviving admin has to be in place already.4
A Group whose only admin's profile was memorialized is paused once Meta receives a valid memorialization request, and a paused Group stops accepting new posts and member approvals.4
Marketplace activity is tied to the profile: once it is memorialized no one can log in to manage or remove listings, and if the profile is removed the listings go with it.2
- Balances, payouts and refunds
Under the Meta Credits Terms, which govern Meta Quest and Horizon profiles, Meta Credits have no cash or monetary value, may not be sold, traded, transferred or bartered, and are forfeited on profile deletion.9
Other companies and product lines involved3
Not in Facebook's published guidance7
- How long a request takes
- A mailing address for a written request
- A phone number for this
- A deadline for a memorialization or removal request
- An estate process for unpaid creator earnings or prepaid ad balances
- A hold or preservation mechanism
- A route to restore a paused Group
Sources10
- 1.Meta Terms of Service
- 2.What happens to your Facebook profile if you pass away
- 3.Actions legacy contacts can take on a memorialized account
- 4.Managing a Deceased Person's Account
- 5.Request content from a deceased person's Facebook account
- 6.Request removal of a deceased family member's Facebook account
- 7.Data legacy contacts can download
- 8.Subpoenas: account information and account contents
- 9.Meta Credits Terms
- 10.Instagram memorialized profiles
A written request to Meta Platforms can ask it to memorialize the account, disclose the account’s content, close the account and preserve the account while the estate is opened.
Digital Assets Recovery Letter for Facebook drafts that request from the estate's details.
Sources
Data sourced from Meta Platforms, Inc. primary sources (18 pages reviewed). How we research.
Facebook estate claims
Managing a Deceased Person's Account (memorialization, removal, and content requests)
Website
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