Estate planning as a WordPress.com account holder
Automattic allows accounts to transfer to the estate after death
WordPress.com Support (Happiness Engineers)
WordPress.com is a managed hosting platform operated by Automattic. A single account can hold multiple websites, registered domains, WooCommerce stores, email services, newsletter subscriber lists, media libraries, and Jetpack-powered backups and security tools.
When a WordPress.com account holder dies, their accounts can be transferred to heirs through the estate. This requires documentation including a death certificate and, in some cases, court documents.
During the account holder's lifetime, WordPress.com allows accounts to be transferred to another individual.
What happens at death
WordPress.com has a formal deceased-user process documented on a dedicated support page. An authorized representative emails passwordhelp@wordpress.com with the site owner's name or email, the site URL, a brief explanation, a copy of the death certificate, and either a legal document proving authority (letters testamentary, letters of administration, or court order) or a signed notarized statement identifying the sender, relationship to the deceased, and requested action. WordPress.com can transfer site ownership to another WordPress.com account, set the site to private, publish an update post for the site's audience, update or cancel billing subscriptions, set up donation forms, or delete the site. Ownership transfer makes the recipient the Site Owner (the Administrator who created or owns the site); WordPress.com does not have a separate "Owner" role, and Site Owner powers include billing access, domain administration, and the ability to further transfer ownership. Sites remain live indefinitely until someone takes action.
Planning your estate
Protecting WordPress.com accounts while the account is active
No beneficiary designation, lifetime transfer options for accounts, and 5-step plan.
View details →When someone dies
Handling WordPress.com accounts after a death
Accounts can be transferred to the estate, 5-step process, and 2 required documents.
View details →WordPress.com does not support beneficiary designations. Unlike bank accounts or investment accounts, there is no way to formally name a beneficiary on this type of account.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Open the site Settings, scroll to the Danger zone, and click Transfer. The recipient must have a WordPress.com account. All paid plans and registered domains transfer with the site, and future billing moves to the new owner. Per ICANN rules, the new owner must update domain contact information. You can also add someone as a site Administrator for immediate content access, though non-owner Administrators cannot access the Site Owner's payment information or transfer ownership.
Site content exports as XML (posts, pages, comments, categories, tags) with media file references but not actual files. The media library (images, videos, documents) must be downloaded separately. Newsletter subscriber lists can be exported as CSV (email addresses and subscription status). WooCommerce order and customer data can also be exported. For large sites (approximately 1,000+ posts/pages), the export produces a .zip with multiple XML files. The original site must remain public and accessible for the destination site to retrieve media during import.
Sources
Data sourced from Automattic primary sources (9 pages reviewed). How we research.
WordPress.com Support (Happiness Engineers)
