What happens to a Meta Ads account when someone dies
Meta Platforms publishes its own process for a deceased person's account; a written request goes in through Meta Platforms' support ticket system.
Meta Platforms decides what happens to a Meta Ads account after a death case by case; its terms promise no transfer.
Meta Platforms publishes its own process for a deceased person's account: Submit a request to get full control of a business portfolio; a written request goes in through Meta Platforms' support ticket system. The request takes 9 documents.
How to request a transfer
- •Ask anyone who holds full control of the business portfolio or the ad account, or the Ads Manager Admin role, to pause them.
- •Without such a person, identify the card or bank account being billed and give that bank the death notification.
- •Check every ad account in the business portfolio; a forgotten one keeps running.
- •Meta billing receipts and invoices in their inbox, and card or bank statements showing Meta or Facebook charges
- •Each ad account ID, the business portfolio name and ID, and whether each ad account runs on available funds or automatic billing
- •The death certificate
- •Photo ID of the requester and a document proving ownership of the business
- •A signed attestation letter on business letterhead
- •Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, in the same case
- •Receipts, ad charges and payment history from Billing and payments, which need full control of the ad account or Admin permissions
- •Campaign, audience and conversion data that a surviving role-holder can still export
- •Confirm the card or account the funds came from is still open, because an approved refund returns there and not to an estate account.
- •Close the ad account, which stops all active ads immediately.
- •Request the refund through the available-funds refund page.
- •Memorialization: the Request to Memorialize or Remove an Account form
- •Removal: the Special Request for a Medically Incapacitated or Deceased Person's Account form
- •Pages, Instagram and the other Meta accounts: the Facebook / Meta estate guide
Required Documents
- Death certificate: Meta names it on the business-portfolio full-control request as the proof that goes with a deceased-holder claim.
- Government-issued photo ID of the person making the request: Meta names a passport, government ID or driver's license as preferred, and the ID must match the name of the individual signing the documents.
- A document proving you own the business the portfolio belongs to: Articles or certificates of incorporation, formation or organization; business license or permit; DBA document; tax certificate or license; bank statement, summary or letter; trademark, registered or copyright document.
- A signed attestation letter on business letterhead: Business name, physical address, phone number, logo or seal; handwritten or certified digital signature; requester's relationship to the business and portfolio; declaration that the information is true and accurate.
- The business portfolio ID and every ad account ID
- Facebook profile URL, user ID and associated email of the person requesting full control
- Letters testamentary, letters of administration or an equivalent appointing order: The business request turns on business ownership rather than letters; letters are what an estate shows for the personal-side accounts and what a written request encloses.
- Card or bank statements showing the Meta charges: They evidence the account and the spend the estate is trying to stop.
- Proof of death and verification that you are an immediate family member or executor: For the separate personal-account request. Meta states it requires these for removal or memorialization special requests.
What Meta Platforms, Inc.'s terms say at death
- The terms
“Advertiser Balances are not legal tender or currency; are not redeemable, refundable (except where required by law or compliance or otherwise stated in our terms), or exchangeable for any sum or money or monetary value; have no equivalent value in fiat currency; do not act as a substitute for fiat currency; and do not constitute or confer upon you any personal property right.”1
What Meta Platforms, Inc. says happens10
- Continuing a shop, channel or listing
Meta's request to get full control of a business portfolio lists, among the grounds for a claim, that the person with full control is deceased and the requester can provide a death certificate, and separately that no one has full control.2
Whether anyone can act right away depends on whether the decedent granted someone a level of access while alive; where nobody holds one, the full-control request is the route.3, 2
- How requests are reviewed
The full-control request is a reviewed ownership claim rather than an estate entitlement: it turns on proving business ownership, and if it is approved the requester receives full control while existing people stay in the portfolio.2
Meta's help center says its decisions about refunds are final and made on a case-by-case basis.4
- Balances, payouts and refunds
The ad account must be closed before a refund for unused available funds can be requested, and an approved refund goes back to the original payment method, not to an estate account.5
Processing times for an approved refund vary by payment provider.5
An ad account is on available funds or automatic billing according to the first payment method added: PayPal or a card the bank supports for recurring payments sets up automatic billing, and local manual methods set up available funds, so many US advertisers hold no prepaid balance.6, 7
- Closing the account
Closing an ad account stops all active ads immediately, and the remaining balance stays in the account until a refund is requested or the account is permanently deleted.5
- Inactive accounts and expiry
Meta states that available funds do not expire.5
- Subscriptions and billing
Nothing about a death stops the advertising: live campaigns keep showing ads and billing the payment method, or drawing down the prepaid funds, until someone pauses them, the funds run out or the payment method fails.1
- Transfer at death
The Meta Terms of Service provide "No Transfer: You will not transfer any of your rights or obligations under these Terms to anyone else without our consent," and the Meta Commercial Terms carry the same bar on the business side.8, 9
- Passwords and login
Under the Meta Terms of Service a user agrees not to "share your password, give access to your Facebook account to others, or transfer your account to anyone else (without our permission)."8
Meta states that it cannot provide anyone with login information for an account.10
- Verifying the requester
For a removal or memorialization special request on the personal account, Meta requires verification that the requester is an immediate family member or executor.10
Not in Meta Ads's published guidance7
- How long a request takes
- A mailing address for a written request
- A phone number for this
- Disclosure of account content
- Whether a certified death certificate is required
- A data export to an estate for a business portfolio
- A personal-account form that reaches a business portfolio or ad account
Sources12
- 1.Meta Self-Serve Ad Terms, effective August 22, 2025
- 2.Submit a request to get full control of a business portfolio
- 3.Business portfolio permissions (Meta Business Help Center)
- 4.Refund decisions (Meta Business Help Center)
- 5.Available-funds refunds (Meta Business Help Center)
- 6.Available funds and automatic billing (Meta Business Help Center)
- 7.First payment method and billing setup (Meta Business Help Center)
- 8.Meta Terms of Service, effective January 1, 2025
- 9.Meta Commercial Terms, effective March 6, 2024
- 10.Special Request for a Medically Incapacitated or Deceased Person's Account
- 11.Facebook memorialization and deceased-user help (personal accounts)
- 12.Request to Memorialize or Remove an Account
A written request to Meta Platforms can ask it to preserve the account while the estate is opened, provide purchase and transaction records for the estate inventory, refund an unspent balance and close the account.
Digital Assets Recovery Letter for Meta Ads drafts that request from the estate's details.
Sources
Data sourced from Meta Platforms, Inc. primary sources (16 pages reviewed). How we research.
Meta Ads estate claims
Meta business portfolio full-control request (the published business-side death channel; Meta routes it through Business Support Home as a chat under the issue "Business Manager admin dispute", signed in with a Facebook profile associated with the business portfolio — there is no estates mailbox, fax or phone line)
Website
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