Planning ahead for your Minecraft accounts
Mojang Studios / Microsoft accounts cannot be transferred and have no beneficiary option — here is what you can do while the account is active
Minecraft Support (Mojang Studios)
Microsoft deceased-user channel (subpoena or court order served on Microsoft's registered agent; Germany and China may contact Microsoft customer support with inheritance documentation)
Mojang Studios / Microsoft's terms state that accounts are forfeited when the account holder dies. Lifetime planning is the only path to extracting value from the account before that happens.
How to protect your Minecraft accounts
7 lifetime planning steps for your Minecraft accounts:
Family sharing
Minecraft Bedrock Edition supports Microsoft Family Sharing, which lets family members linked under one Microsoft account group play without purchasing separate copies. Minecraft Java Edition does not support Family Sharing. Minecoins and Marketplace purchases are held against the purchasing Microsoft account and cannot be shared or transferred to another account. Realms and Realms Plus subscriptions are tied to the subscribing account, though invited players can play on the Realm for free while the subscription is active. Minecraft Tokens (the PlayStation store currency) cannot be converted into Minecoins or the reverse.
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
No. Minecoins are held against the Microsoft account used to buy them, and the Marketplace content bought with them is tied to that account too. "All purchases for Minecoins are final and cannot be refunded," and Minecoins cannot be converted back into money. Minecraft Tokens, the separate PlayStation store currency, cannot be converted into Minecoins or the reverse. An estate can ask Microsoft to make a bereavement exception, but there is no published mechanism and no promised outcome.
No. The Minecraft EULA bars giving copies of the game software or content to anyone else, and the Microsoft Services Agreement (section 4.a.i) states "You cannot transfer your Microsoft account credentials to another user or entity." This applies to Java Edition and Bedrock Edition alike. The closest thing to a workaround is Microsoft Family Sharing on Bedrock Edition, which lets family group members play without a separate purchase.
Under the Microsoft Services Agreement (section 4.a.ii) and the Microsoft account activity policy, a Microsoft account must be signed into at least once in a two-year period to stay active, and the Outlook.com inbox and OneDrive must each be signed into separately at least once a year. Several things keep an account active regardless: an active paid subscription (such as Realms or Realms Plus), an unspent Microsoft balance, a Microsoft certification tied to the account, or apps and games published to the Microsoft Store under it. An unattended Minecraft account with no subscription and no balance can therefore eventually lose the licenses, Minecoins, Marketplace purchases, and cloud-saved worlds held in it.
Listing the Minecraft account in an estate inventory identifies it for a fiduciary, who works through the operator's official channels to manage or close it.
Minecraft does not offer beneficiary designations, so there is no program-level mechanism for directing accounts to a specific person at death.
Sources
Data sourced from Mojang Studios / Microsoft primary sources (8 pages reviewed). How we research.
Minecraft Support (Mojang Studios)
Microsoft deceased-user channel (subpoena or court order served on Microsoft's registered agent; Germany and China may contact Microsoft customer support with inheritance documentation)
