What happens to a Notion account when someone dies
Notion Labs publishes no process specific to a deceased person's account; a written request goes by email to team@makenotion.com.
Notion Labs decides what happens to a Notion account after a death case by case; its terms promise no transfer.
Notion Labs publishes no process specific to a deceased person's account; a written request goes by email to team@makenotion.com. The request takes 4 documents.
How to request a transfer
- •Promote another trusted person to Workspace owner through Settings, People or Members, using the role dropdown.
- •Update the billing contact and payment method on a paid plan so the workspace is not suspended mid-settlement.
- •On Enterprise, reassign the deceased member's private pages through Settings, Members, Recently left users, within 30 days of the member leaving.
- •Export the whole workspace through Settings, Workspace, General, Export all workspace content. Processing can take up to 30 hours, and the emailed link expires after 7 days.
- •Export single pages as PDF, HTML or Markdown & CSV from the page's ••• menu, Export.
- •Check Settings, Security on Enterprise workspaces, where export can be disabled. Another user's private pages are not included in any export.
- •Export Notion Site pages as HTML or PDF, because a site's styling, custom domain and SEO settings do not export.
- •Say that the account holder has died, and identify the account email address and the workspace URLs.
- •Send the death certificate, letters testamentary, letters of administration or a court order, and the requester's photo ID.
- •Ask for the account and workspaces to be held while the estate is opened, and closed afterwards.
Required Documents
- Death certificate
- Letters testamentary, letters of administration or a court order
- Government-issued photo ID of the requester
- The account email address and workspace URLs
What Notion Labs, Inc.'s terms say at death
- 15. Termination (Personal Use Terms of Service)
“We may terminate or suspend your account and bar access to the Service immediately, without prior notice or liability, under our sole discretion, for any reason whatsoever and without limitation, including but not limited to a breach of the Terms. You may request to delete your own Personal Workspace(s) at any time from within our account management page. Upon your request to delete a Personal Workspace, all Content from such Personal Workspace will immediately become inaccessible. After 30 days, User Content will be deleted from our servers and can no longer be recovered.”1
What Notion Labs, Inc. says happens6
- Inactive accounts and expiry
A free user account is dormant after five years without a login and without editing or creating content in any workspace. Notion then emails the owner that the account and any dormant workspace will be terminated and deleted in thirty days unless there is activity.2
A workspace is dormant if all of its owners have dormant accounts. Notion does not delete accounts managed by an organization, accounts associated with a paid workspace (Enterprise, Business, Student or Plus), or owners of a multi-user workspace.2
- Restoring a deleted account
After an account or workspace is deleted, Notion keeps backups that may let it restore a snapshot of content from the past 30 days, reached by messaging support; after 30 days from deletion the account and content are permanently lost.3
- Deletion and data retention
Pages in Trash are kept 30 days by default before permanent deletion; Enterprise workspace owners can set that period from one day to 10 years, a setting that also covers deleted AI chats, which are deleted directly and never enter Trash.4
Deleting a workspace deletes all of the content inside it.5
Once a published page is permanently deleted, its slug cannot be reused.6
- Subscriptions and billing
Deleting a workspace does not cancel its subscription; the plan has to be downgraded before deletion to stop the charge.5
- Transfer at death
On Enterprise plans only, a workspace owner can transfer a deprovisioned user's private pages to another current member through Settings, Members, Recently left users, or the Content Transfer API, where the user left fewer than 30 days ago.7
The transfer needs the user to be deprovisioned, to have had private pages not already reassigned, and to have left fewer than 30 days ago; the pages appear under a new top-level private page in the recipient's sidebar. It does not exist on Free, Plus or Business plans.7
- Passwords and login
Notion's Terms prohibit sharing a user login or password.1
Not in Notion's published guidance10
- A process for a deceased account holder
- A form for estate requests
- A complete list of the documents to send
- A mailing address for a written request
- A phone number for this
- How long a request takes
- Disclosure of account content
- Court orders and legal process
- Support hours
- When a published Site stops serving after its workspace is deleted
A written request to Notion Labs can ask it to preserve the account while the estate is opened and close the account.
Digital Assets Recovery Letter for Notion drafts that request from the estate's details.
Sources
Data sourced from Notion Labs, Inc. primary sources (12 pages reviewed). How we research.
Notion estate claims
Notion Support
Mailing address
Website
Estate requests go through general customer service.
Is this your situation?
Get a complete guide for your specific circumstances.
Forms for Settling an Estate
Free forms for settling an estate: the probate petition, small estate affidavit, notice to creditors, inventory, and closing forms.
Affidavit of Death
Put a joint owner's or a transfer on death deed owner's death on the land records with the affidavit your state's statute names, laid out for recording.
IRS Form 56
Notify the IRS that you are the fiduciary of an estate, a trust or a person, or end a notice filed before, on the official form.
Digital Assets Recovery Letter
Prepare a letter requesting a deceased person's online accounts, points, and balances from the program that holds them.
Petition for Probate and Letters
Open probate and ask the court to appoint you and issue Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
Notice to Creditors
Notify estate creditors and start the claim period — the published notice plus mailed copies for known creditors.
Renunciation of Executor
Decline an appointment as executor named in a will — the writing filed with the court before anyone is appointed.
Tools for Settling an Estate
Free tools for settling an estate: whether probate is needed, executor and trustee pay, creditor deadlines, and inheritance taxes.
How Many Death Certificates Do I Need?
Calculate how many certified death certificates you need and see ordering info for your state.
Do I Need Probate?
Find out if an estate needs probate or qualifies for simplified procedures.
What Happens to Jointly Owned Property When an Owner Dies?
See what your state records when a joint tenant with right of survivorship dies: an affidavit, the death certificate or a new deed.
Do I Have to File Tax Returns for Someone Who Died?
Find out which tax returns need to be filed after someone dies and whether tax clearance is required.
How Do I Settle an Estate?
Personalized plan for settling an estate after someone passes away.
What Do I Do When Someone Dies?
A step-by-step checklist for the days, weeks, and months after a death, with state rules noted where they apply.
