Planning ahead for your Squarespace accounts
Lifetime transfer options and steps to take now for Squarespace accounts
Squarespace Customer Support
Deceased Account Requests
Because Squarespace reviews transfer requests on a case-by-case basis, there is no guarantee that accounts will be transferred after death. Lifetime planning reduces dependence on that outcome.
How to protect your Squarespace accounts
4 steps for managing your Squarespace accounts during your lifetime:
- •Invite the future owner as a contributor on each site and have them accept the invitation
- •Open Permissions & Ownership, click your name under "Owner," and select "Transfer Ownership"
- •Re-authenticate, select the new owner from the dropdown, and confirm
- •The new owner receives full administrative control of the website and the subscriptions attached to it (Google Workspace, Squarespace domains, Acuity Scheduling); the former owner is automatically demoted to administrator contributor
- •Export site content as WordPress XML (Settings > Import & Export > Export); note this includes text and image references only, not image files, store pages, or portfolio pages
- •Export e-commerce orders as CSV or Google Drive spreadsheet from the Commerce panel
- •Export email campaign contacts and mailing lists as CSV from the Contacts panel
- •Export Acuity Scheduling appointments (Reports > Export) and client list (Clients > Import/export > Export) as CSV
- •Toggle off the Domain Lock in your Domains dashboard
- •Click "Request transfer code" and authenticate your account
- •The EPP/auth code is emailed within 24 hours to the registrant contact on file for the domain (Tucows-registered domains additionally require confirming a verification email within 5 business days; Squarespace Domains LLC transfers include a 5-day cancellation grace period before the transfer becomes irreversible)
- •Provide the code to the receiving registrar to complete the transfer (typically up to 7 days, ICANN allows up to 15)
- •Note: a 60-day registration lock applies to newly registered domains, a 60-day transfer lock applies to domains recently moved to Squarespace, and a contact-update lock applies after changing registrant information
Family sharing
Squarespace supports transferring full site ownership to another Squarespace account holder. The recipient must first be added as a contributor and accept the invitation. The current owner then opens Permissions & Ownership, clicks their own name under "Owner," selects "Transfer Ownership," re-authenticates, and chooses the new owner. Ownership of subscriptions attached to the site (Google Workspace, Squarespace domains, Acuity Scheduling) transfers with the site; billing information does not automatically update. The former owner is automatically demoted to administrator contributor and retains significant permissions until manually removed or demoted. Domains can additionally be transferred to another registrar using a standard EPP/auth-code process.
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
Yes. Add the recipient as a contributor on the site, have them accept the invitation, then open Permissions & Ownership, click your name under "Owner," and select "Transfer Ownership." The new owner receives full administrative control of the website and the subscriptions attached to it (Google Workspace, Squarespace domains, Acuity Scheduling). This is the only way to pass full control of a Squarespace account.
No. Squarespace does not support beneficiary designations. The only way to ensure someone receives full control of your sites, stores, domains, and connected services is to transfer ownership during your lifetime using the contributor and Transfer Ownership workflow.
Listing the Squarespace account in an estate inventory identifies it for a fiduciary, who works through the operator's official channels to manage or close it.
Squarespace 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 Squarespace primary sources (11 pages reviewed). How we research.
Squarespace Customer Support
Deceased Account Requests
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