What to do when a Notion account holder dies
Contact Notion Labs, Inc. to request a transfer of accounts after an account holder dies
OverviewWhen someone dies
Notion Support
Emailsupport@notion.so
Timeline
No published timeline for estate requests. Dormancy policy: free accounts inactive for 5 years are identified as dormant, then deleted 30 days after notification if no activity occurs in that window. After account deletion, Notion states it can restore a snapshot of content from the past 30 days if needed (contact support@notion.so). Trash retention defaults to 30 days before permanent deletion (Enterprise plans can customize retention between one day and 10 years). Enterprise deprovisioned-user content transfer must happen within 30 days of the user leaving the workspace. Large workspace exports can take up to 30 hours to process, and the resulting download links expire after 7 days.
WebsiteFile estate claim→
(General customer service)
Verified May 2026
Notion has no publicly documented bereavement, estate, or deceased account process. There is no dedicated form, support path, or help center article addressing this scenario. Families must contact Notion support directly (the help center publishes support@notion.so as the data-recovery contact and offers a chat widget at notion.com/help). Dormancy risk: Notion defines a dormant account as a free user account inactive for five (5) years (no logins and no content edits). Once identified as dormant, Notion sends an email notification stating that the account and any dormant workspace will be terminated and deleted in 30 days unless activity occurs in that window. If the 30-day grace period lapses without activity, the account and all associated workspaces are permanently deleted. A workspace is deemed dormant if all of the owners of the workspace have dormant user accounts. The dormancy policy does not apply to accounts managed by an organization, accounts associated with a paid workspace (Enterprise, Business, Student, or Plus), or owners of a multi-user workspace. For Enterprise plans only, workspace owners can transfer a recently deprovisioned user's private content to another current member using the Content Transfer feature (or the Content Transfer API) - but only within 30 days of the user leaving the workspace, and only on Enterprise.
How to request a transfer
To request a transfer of Notion accounts after an account holder's death, follow these steps:
1
Contact Notion support: email support@notion.so (the address Notion lists for post-deletion data recovery) or use the chat widget at notion.com/help. There is no dedicated bereavement form, phone number, or support category - estate requests go through the same channel as general support.
2
Provide documentation (no published requirements; the list below is what Notion typically requests for deletion/recovery of a deceased user's account):
- •Death certificate of the account holder
- •Proof of legal authority (letters testamentary, court order, or power of attorney)
- •Government-issued photo ID of the requestor
- •Account email address and workspace URL(s)
3
If you have access to the deceased's Notion credentials or are a co-Workspace-Owner, handle succession inside the workspace before deletion:
- •Promote a trusted person to Workspace Owner via Settings > People > Members (change their role dropdown to "Workspace owner").
- •Move critical pages out of the deceased's private section into shared teamspaces so other members can access them.
- •Update billing (payment method, billing email) to the new owner if the workspace is on a paid plan.
4
For Enterprise workspaces only: an existing workspace owner or admin can transfer the deceased member's private content to another current user via Settings > Members > "Recently left" tab, or programmatically via the Content Transfer API. All of the deprovisioned user's private pages appear nested under a new top-level page in the destination user's sidebar. This transfer must happen within 30 days of deprovisioning and is not available on Free, Plus, or Business plans.
5
For free accounts that no one can access: Notion's dormant account policy treats 5 years of inactivity (no logins and no content edits) as dormancy. Notion then sends an email notification and permanently deletes the account and its workspaces 30 days later if no activity occurs. Accounts managed by an organization, accounts associated with a paid workspace (Enterprise, Business, Student, or Plus), and owners of a multi-user workspace are exempt from the dormancy policy.
6
Export content before account closure (plan matters):
- •Page-level export (PDF, HTML, Markdown & CSV) is available on all plans via Share > Export.
- •Workspace-level export (exports all pages and databases at once) is restricted to Business and Enterprise plans via Settings > Workspace > General.
- •Notion emails a download link when the export is ready; large workspaces can take up to 30 hours to process.
- •Database relations export as plain text URLs, rollups and formulas are lost, database views (filters, sorts, board/calendar/timeline layouts) are not preserved, and synced blocks lose their sync.
7
For Notion Sites: published sites are hosted on Notion's infrastructure and go offline immediately when the workspace is deleted. There is no standalone export of a Notion Site with its styling, custom domain, or SEO settings - export the underlying pages as HTML or PDF before closure.
8
If the account must be deleted: Notion states it keeps backups that allow it to restore a snapshot of content from the past 30 days if needed. Contact support@notion.so within 30 days of deletion to request restoration. Notion does not guarantee restoration, and after 30 days recovery is not available.
Required Documents
- Death certificate
- Proof of legal authority (letters testamentary, court order, or power of attorney)
- Government-issued photo ID of the requestor
- Account email address and workspace URL(s)
Timeline
No published timeline for estate requests. Dormancy policy: free accounts inactive for 5 years are identified as dormant, then deleted 30 days after notification if no activity occurs in that window. After account deletion, Notion states it can restore a snapshot of content from the past 30 days if needed (contact support@notion.so). Trash retention defaults to 30 days before permanent deletion (Enterprise plans can customize retention between one day and 10 years). Enterprise deprovisioned-user content transfer must happen within 30 days of the user leaving the workspace. Large workspace exports can take up to 30 hours to process, and the resulting download links expire after 7 days.
Frequently asked questions
No. Notion has no publicly documented bereavement or estate process - no dedicated form, support category, phone line, or help center article. Families must contact Notion support directly (support@notion.so is the address Notion publishes for post-deletion content recovery; the chat widget at notion.com/help routes general inquiries) and explain the situation. Outcomes are handled case-by-case.
Only on Enterprise plans. Enterprise workspace owners can transfer a deprovisioned user's private content to another current member via Settings > Members > "Recently left" tab, or programmatically via the Content Transfer API. The transfer must happen within 30 days of deprovisioning. On Free, Plus, and Business plans there is no admin-level content transfer mechanism for private pages - they become inaccessible when the user is removed.
Integrations set up by the deceased continue to work as long as the workspace exists and the integration's bot user has not been removed. If the workspace is deleted (via dormancy, manual deletion, or account closure), all API tokens tied to that workspace become invalid and integrations cease to function. Executors should document which external systems rely on Notion integrations before any deletion.
After the transfer is complete, the recipient can use the accounts according to the program's standard terms. Document the deceased account holder's details to make this process easier for your executor or family.
Notion Support
Emailsupport@notion.so
Timeline
No published timeline for estate requests. Dormancy policy: free accounts inactive for 5 years are identified as dormant, then deleted 30 days after notification if no activity occurs in that window. After account deletion, Notion states it can restore a snapshot of content from the past 30 days if needed (contact support@notion.so). Trash retention defaults to 30 days before permanent deletion (Enterprise plans can customize retention between one day and 10 years). Enterprise deprovisioned-user content transfer must happen within 30 days of the user leaving the workspace. Large workspace exports can take up to 30 hours to process, and the resulting download links expire after 7 days.
WebsiteFile estate claim→
(General customer service)
Verified May 2026
