In the modern digital age, managing our online presence and digital assets after passing away is an increasingly important yet often overlooked aspect of estate planning. Ensuring your digital legacy is handled according to your wishes is as important as writing a Will.

A Will deals with standard assets (bank accounts, real estate, shares, investments, vehicles etc) but most online platforms are overseas based and data is not a tangible asset. Simply having a Will or a court appointed representative to deal with your estate does not guarantee that overseas service providers will grant access to your digital assets – social medial accounts, email, cloud services, photos etc.

Legacy Contacts Explained

A legacy contact is a person you designate to manage your digital accounts and data after you pass away. Major platforms such as Apple, Facebook, and Google offer mechanisms to assign legacy contacts, which grant these trusted individuals access to manage or memorialise your accounts.

Importance of Digital Estate Management

In the absence of a designated legacy contact, you may need to use manual lists or spreadsheets sharing your account information with trusted contacts, using electronic password managers, or setting up account recovery options.

For example:

Social media accounts: Platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer legacy contacts and memorialisation options.
Android, Microsoft, Instagram, Snapchat, X, TikTok: Best to share login details with a trusted contact. Details about account memorialisation, deletion, or automatic deletion after a period of inactivity are possible.
Google allows setting up inactive account managers to ensure your data is handled as per your instructions.
Password managers: Tools like Bitwarden and LastPass have emergency contact features to grant access during critical times.

Ensuring your digital legacy is managed properly is an essential part of modern estate planning. By designating legacy contacts and sharing vital account information with trusted individuals, you can have peace of mind knowing your digital presence will be maintained or appropriately closed. This proactive approach helps protect your data from being lost or misused, offering security to your loved ones at a difficult time.

Some further details on procedures for specific platforms and services can be found below but to ensure you have the most up to date information you should search relevant platforms directly for instructions.

Apple Account
1. Go to Settings, then tap [your name].
2. Tap Sign-In & Security, then tap Legacy Contact.
3. Tap Add Legacy Contact.
4. Choose the person from your contacts list that you wish to designate as a legacy
contact.
5. Apple will ask you to verify your choice via Face ID, Touch ID, or your password.
6. You can also send the legacy contact an invitation, which they’ll need to accept in
order to complete the process.
Facebook
Add a legacy contact for your main profile
1. Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
2. Select Settings and privacy, then click Settings.
3. Click Accounts Centre, then click Personal details.
4. Click Account ownership and control.
5. Click Memorialisation and select your account.
6. Click Memorialise account, then click Next.
7. Type a friend’s name into the text box, then click on their profile picture.
8. Select whether to give your legacy contact permission to download a copy of what
you’ve shared on Facebook
9. Click Save.
10. To let your friend know that the’re now your legacy contact, click Send or click Skip
if you don’t want to notify them.
Learn more about what a legacy contact can do.
Google
1. Visit the Google Account Inactive Account Manager page.
2. Sign into your Google account.
3. Scroll down to Inactive Account Manager and click Get Started.
4. Google will ask you to set a period of inactivity (e.g, 3 months, 6 months).
5. Select Add Trusted Contacts and enter their contact details.
6. Choose whether your trusted contacts will be able to access your data or simply be
notified.
7. You can choose to send a notification to your legacy contacts 3 months before your
account becomes inactive.
Once the process is complete, your legacy contacts will be able to manage or download data, depending on your preferences.
Android
Best to share log in details with a trusted contact.
·       Screen Lock & Share: Lock your phone and share with someone you trust.
·       Backup Data: Regularly save data to Google Drive or similar (eg. One Drive).
o   Settings > System > Backup > Back up to Google Drive.
·       Account Recovery: Set recovery options for Google account.
o   Google Account > Security > Recovery email and Recovery phone.
·       Password Manager: Store passwords in one place and share the master password.
o   Use LastPass, 1Password, or Google’s password manager.
·       Grant Google Account Access: Add a trusted contact to your Google account.
o   Google Account > People & sharing > Grant access > Add a trusted person’s
email.
Microsoft
Best to share log in details with a trusted contact.
If your trusted contact knows the account credentials, they can close the account themselves. If your trusted contact doesn’t know the account credentials, it will be closed automatically after two (2) years of inactivity.
Instagram
Best to share log in details with a trusted contact.
Option 1: Memorialisation
·       Memorialisation: A friend or family member can request account memorialisation.
o   Provide the deceased person’s name and Instagram handle.
o   Submit proof of death (obituary or death certificate).
o   Include the date of death.
·       Changes to Account:
o   ‘Remembering’ will appear next to the username.
o   Existing posts and videos remain visible.
o   No new posts can be added.
o   No one can log in.
o   The profile won’t show on the Explore page.
Option 2: Deletion
·       Deletion: An authorised person can request to delete the account.
o   Complete the “Removal Request for Deceased Person on Instagram” form.
o   Provide proof of death.
·       Vulnerability: If neither memorialisation nor deletion is chosen, the account remains
live and vulnerable to security breaches.
Snapchat
Best to share log in details with a trusted contact.
If not, loved ones can reach out to Snapchat to delete your profile
X (Previously known as Twitter)
No legacy contact... Best to share log in details with a trusted contact. If not, verified executor of estate can reach out to X, providing information about the deceased, a copy of your ID, and a copy of the deceased’s death certificate, to delete your profile.
Tiktok
No legacy contact... Best to share log in details with a trusted contact. Account will be deleted after period of inactivity.
Bitwarden
Must have premium ($10 USD per year) to enable “emergency contact”. Free version does not have same capabilities.
LastPass
Grant one-time access to your vault to another LastPass user in the event of an emergency or crisis.
Must pay for Premium:
·       Individual - $4.50 per month
·       Families of up to 6 - $6 per month
1Password
Only have paid plans.
Emergency kit is included in plan price.
·       Individual - $2.99 USD per month
·       Families of up to 6 - $4.99 USD per month

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Legacy Contacts (or similar)

No Legacy Contacts

Password managers that have legacy contacts

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