What happens to a YouTube account when someone dies
Google publishes its own process for a deceased person's account; a request goes in through Google's online form.
Google decides what happens to a YouTube account after a death case by case; its terms promise no transfer.
Google publishes its own process for a deceased person's account: Google deceased user request (troubleshooter); a request goes in through Google's online form. The request takes 5 documents.
How to request a transfer
- •Request funds (AdSense or Google Pay): court-certified letters testamentary, the requester's ID, the death certificate and the payee name.
- •Obtain data: the requester's ID, the death certificate and any additional documents; an approved request then needs a court order issued in the United States.
- •Close the account: a scan of the requester's ID and a scan of the death certificate.
- •Send a certified, notarized English translation by a professional translator for any document not in English.
- •Upload the documentation through the linked Google request.
- •Mail the request and legal documentation to Google, Inc., Attn: Google Legal Support, AdSense Support, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043.
- •Fax it to (650) 618-8507, Attn: Google AdSense Support.
Required Documents
- Government-issued ID or driver's license of the requester: Uploaded as a scan.
- Death certificate of the account holder: Uploaded as a scan; the forms do not ask for a certified copy.
- Court-certified letters testamentary: For a request for funds (AdSense or Google Pay)
- Court order issued in the United States: For data from the account, once the request is approved. Google provides the language for the order.
- Certified, notarized English translation: If documents are not in English. Prepared by a professional translator.
What Google LLC's terms say at death
- The terms
“In certain circumstances we may provide content from a deceased user's account. In all of these cases, our primary responsibility is to keep people's information secure, safe, and private. We cannot provide passwords or other login details. Any decision to satisfy a request about a deceased user will be made only after a careful review.”1
What Google LLC says happens7
- Passwords and login
Google states it cannot provide passwords or other login details for a deceased user's account.1
- Closing the account
If a closure is requested, Google is unable to process any later request to turn over the account's contents, and a pending request for the contents is completed first.1
Deleting the primary owner account linked to a channel also deletes the channel.2
- Deletion and data retention
Deleting a Google Account affects every product associated with it, AdSense included, and each product differently.3
- Court orders and legal process
When a request for data from a deceased person's account is approved and Google LLC is the provider, the requester obtains a court order issued in the United States, with language Google provides.4
- Continuing a shop, channel or listing
When a channel is linked to a Brand Account, its members manage it from their own Google Accounts, with no separate username or password.2
- Balances, payouts and refunds
AdSense keeps making payments under the account's payment settings after a death, because the system does not know the owner has died; a rightful heir asks for accrued earnings to be redirected.5
The AdSense terms do not permit a transfer of account ownership, but an Admin or a payments user with permission can update the payments name or address for changes such as a death.6
The funds request covers AdSense and Google Pay, names the payee, and has the requester certify being the sole authorized recipient of the funds.7
- Inactive accounts and expiry
YouTube reserves the right, at its discretion, to remove monetization from a channel that is not uploading or posting for 6 months or more.8
An account unused for 2 years can have all of its content and data deleted; before that, Google sends notifications to the account and to the recovery email.9
Google's announcement of the inactivity policy states "we do not have plans to delete accounts with YouTube videos at this time".10
Other companies and product lines involved1
- Google Legal Support, AdSense Support
Unpaid AdSense earnings claimed by a rightful heir, by upload, mail or fax5
Fax: 1-650-618-8507
Mailing address: Google, Inc., Attn: Google Legal Support, AdSense Support, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043
Not in YouTube's published guidance1
- How long a request takes
Sources10
- 1.Make a request for a deceased person's account (Google Account Help)
- 2.Change channel owners & managers with a Brand Account
- 3.About Inactive Account Manager
- 4.Request information from a deceased person's account
- 5.As a rightful heir to a deceased person, how do I get payment for any unpaid earnings?
- 6.Change your payments profile name and address
- 7.Request funds from a deceased person's account
- 8.My channel is approved to monetize FAQs
- 9.Inactive Google Account Policy
- 10.Updating our inactive account policies, May 16, 2023
A written request to Google can ask it to disclose a record of the account’s communications, preserve the account while the estate is opened and close the account.
Digital Assets Recovery Letter for YouTube drafts that request from the estate's details.
Sources
Data sourced from Google LLC primary sources (14 pages reviewed). How we research.
YouTube estate claims
Google Deceased User Requests (and AdSense rightful heir claims)
Fax
Mailing address
Website
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