What happens to a Google account when someone dies

“In certain circumstances we may provide content from a deceased user's account. In all of these cases, our primary responsibility is to keep people's information secure, safe, and private.”¹

Google decides each request about a deceased user only after a careful review, and provides content from the account in certain circumstances rather than on a published standard.¹

Google cannot provide passwords or other login details for a deceased user's account.¹

The troubleshooter offers three paths: close the account, request funds from it, and obtain data from it. Once the account is closed, Google cannot process a later request to turn over its contents.²

A request for the contents of the account is submitted before any closure request, and Google asks requestors to let a pending contents request complete before submitting anything further.²

AdSense keeps paying to the payment settings on file because the system does not know an account owner has died; a rightful heir redirects accrued earnings by submitting legal documentation to Google Legal Support.³

After Google Fi service is cancelled there are two final statements, and the billing and refund process can take up to 90 days; a number transfer usually takes less than 24 hours, with service staying active until the number transfers.⁴

A personal Google Account not used within a two-year period may have all of its content and data deleted; Google emails the account and the recovery email first, with multiple notifications over the months leading up to deletion.^{5, 6}

A deleted Google Workspace user must be restored within 20 days of deletion before their data can be transferred; content not transferred to another user during deletion is deleted.⁷

Google Play apps, movies, books and music are personal, non-transferable licences; access ends when the account is closed, and there is no estate or inheritance path for Play content.⁸

Heir documentation for accrued AdSense earnings, by upload, fax or mail³

Cancelling a deceased subscriber's phone service or porting the number out⁴

A monetized channel's AdSense earnings; the channel itself has its own record³