Planning ahead for your Google Ads accounts
Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.) accounts cannot be transferred and have no beneficiary option — here is what you can do while the account is active
Google Ads Help
Google Deceased User Requests
Because Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.) reviews transfer requests on a case-by-case basis, there is no guarantee that accounts will be transferred after death. Lifetime planning reduces dependence on that outcome.
How to protect your Google Ads accounts
5 steps for managing your Google Ads accounts during your lifetime:
Family sharing
A Google Ads account cannot be signed over to another person. The closest thing to a transfer is the access model: the account owner can grant other Google Accounts access at different permission levels (such as admin or standard), and a manager (MCC) account can be linked above one or more Google Ads accounts to manage them from a single sign-in. Granting another person admin access during life is the practical way to let a co-manager or successor pause campaigns and handle billing if the owner becomes unavailable. There is no beneficiary designation on a Google Ads account; planning is done through Google Account-level Inactive Account Manager and by recording access details for an executor.
Should you save your passwords for your family?
Some people store account passwords so a family member can sign in later. The practice has three practical limits:
- Two-factor authentication often blocks it. Most accounts require a second factor — a code sent to a phone, an authenticator app, a passkey, or a physical key. A saved password alone frequently does not grant access, and the recovery codes that would are easy to lose or let go stale.
- It usually conflicts with the platform's terms. Most operators prohibit account sharing and signing in as another person, including after a death. Stored credentials are not the operator's recognized access path, and using them can violate the terms of service.
- Operators provide other paths. Where an operator offers a designation tool — Apple's Legacy Contact, Google's Inactive Account Manager, a beneficiary designation — that mechanism grants access the operator recognizes. A password manager's own emergency-access or legacy feature passes credentials through a controlled process. Digital assets named in a will or trust give a fiduciary authority under each state's Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA).
Frequently asked questions
Record the owning Google Account email, the Google Ads Customer ID, and whether the account uses automatic payments or a prepaid balance, and list any manager (MCC) account with its linked accounts. Grant a successor admin access during life so campaigns can be paused quickly, since access is not transferred after death and live campaigns keep spending until paused. Plan it alongside the rest of the Google Account, where Inactive Account Manager is the proactive tool.
An inventory listing the Google Ads account lets a fiduciary identify it and act on it through the operator's official channels.
Google Ads does not support beneficiary designations. Unlike financial accounts, there is no way to name a beneficiary on this type of account.
Sources
Data sourced from Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.) primary sources (7 pages reviewed). How we research.
Google Ads Help
Google Deceased User Requests
