Estate planning as a Snapchat account holder

Snapchat is a multimedia messaging app with 800M+ monthly active users, centered around ephemeral messages, Stories, Memories (saved photos/videos), and the Snap Map. A Snapchat account holds Memories (the only persistent content), chat history, Streaks, Bitmoji, and potentially creator earnings from the unified monetization program or Creator Subscriptions (launched February 2026). Free Memories storage is capped at 5GB, with paid plans available through Snapchat+ ($3.99/month for 250GB) or Snapchat Platinum ($15.99/month for 5TB). Snapchat has no memorialization option and no legacy contact feature. Privacy policies prohibit granting access to deceased user accounts. The TOS are notably binding on "the user's estate, heirs, executors, administrators, successors, and assigns," but no succession mechanism exists. Memories are irreplaceable personal media that are lost without login credentials.

Under Snapchat's terms, accounts are not property of the account holder and are forfeited when the account closes at death. No estate planning document—will, trust, or otherwise—can override this forfeiture.

What happens at death

Snapchat has a help article for reporting a deceased person's account but offers extremely limited options. Privacy policies prohibit granting access to the account. There is no memorialization option. The primary action is account deletion. The TOS state they are binding upon "the user's estate, heirs, executors, administrators, successors, and assigns," but no formal succession mechanism exists. Requests require a verified email address associated with the account. Memories (saved photos and videos), chat history, Streaks, Bitmoji, and Snap Map data are all permanently deleted.