What to do when a Facebook account holder dies

A Legacy Contact is a person you choose to manage your account after it is memorialized. You must be 18 or older to designate one, and the contact must be 18 or older. They can write a pinned tribute post, update your profile and cover photos, respond to new friend requests, moderate tributes, and -- if you pre-authorized it -- download a copy of your shared content. They cannot log in, read messages, remove friends, or delete past posts. Designate one in Accounts Center under Personal Details > Account ownership and control > Memorialization.

No. Facebook does not release private messages to anyone after death -- not the Legacy Contact, not family, not executors -- citing the federal Stored Communications Act. Verified family members or authorized representatives can request a copy of shared content (photos, posts, videos) through the Special Request form, but private messages are never part of that package.

There is no formal bereavement or estate recovery process for ad account balances. If the deceased was the sole admin of a Business Page or ad account, access is effectively lost. Prepaid ad balances have no documented refund process for estates. Contact Meta Business Support directly with the business entity's legal documentation.

Instagram (owned by Meta) offers memorialization or removal. However, Instagram does not have a Legacy Contact feature. When memorialized, "Remembering" appears next to the person's name, no one can log in, and the account is removed from Explore and public search. Posts remain visible to the audience they were shared with. Instagram does not offer a shared-content download to family members. Submit requests through the Instagram Help Center with proof of death such as a death certificate, obituary, or news article.

No. The Meta Terms of Service state: "You will not transfer your account (including any Page or group you administer) to anyone without first getting our written permission." Accounts are personal, non-transferable licenses, not inheritable assets. The only post-death options are memorialization (with limited Legacy Contact management) or permanent removal.

If the sole admin of a Facebook Group dies and no other admins exist, the group becomes unmanaged -- no one can approve new members, moderate posts, or update group settings. Facebook does not automatically transfer admin rights. Family members or executors can contact Facebook Support with legal documentation to request intervention, but there is no guaranteed recovery process. The best prevention is to add at least one additional admin while the group owner is alive.

Active Marketplace listings are tied to the Facebook account. If the account is memorialized, no one can log in to manage or remove active listings, though they will eventually expire. If the account is removed, all Marketplace listings and activity are deleted along with the account. There is no process for an estate to manage or fulfill outstanding Marketplace transactions.

Facebook Stars (each worth $0.01 when redeemed by the creator) are part of Meta's unified Content Monetization Program. If the creator has unpaid earnings above the payout threshold and a linked bank account or PayPal that remains active, payments may continue processing on the normal monthly schedule until the account is memorialized or removed. There is no documented estate claims process for unreceived creator earnings, so executors should coordinate quickly with the heir who owns the linked payout account.