What happens to your online accounts when you die?
Facebook, email, banking, streaming — what actually happens to each type of account, and why access depends almost entirely on what you've documented in advance.
Last changed: 19 October 2026In Australia, there's no single law that automatically gives an executor the right to log into a deceased person's online accounts. Every platform sets its own policy, and most of those policies were written for a single account holder, not a grieving family trying to piece things together. Here's what typically happens, account type by account type.
Social media accounts
Most major platforms offer some form of memorialisation — turning a profile into a static tribute page — as an alternative to deletion. Family members can usually request memorialisation or removal with proof of death, but platforms don't hand over logins or access to messages. Without prior instructions from the account holder, families are often left guessing which option their loved one would have wanted.
Want this done for you? See the Guided Inventory ↓
Email accounts
Email is arguably the most important account to plan for, because it's the recovery method for almost everything else. Major providers have deceased-account processes, but they're often slow and require substantial documentation. If the executor already has access (through a password manager such as Bitwarden, which we recommend), this entire process can be skipped.
Banking and financial accounts
Banks have well-established processes for deceased estates, generally requiring a death certificate and grant of probate. These accounts are usually covered by a will. The gap tends to be with newer fintechs, buy-now-pay-later services, and accounts a family simply doesn't know exist.
Subscriptions
Streaming services, software subscriptions and memberships don't stop automatically. Left unattended, they continue charging a linked card until someone actively cancels them — sometimes for months after a death.
Cloud storage and photos
Google, Apple and similar providers have introduced legacy contact features that let you nominate someone in advance to access your account after death. If this hasn't been set up beforehand, recovering photos and files typically requires a lengthy legal request process — and isn't always successful.
The pattern across all of them
Every category above has the same underlying issue: access is possible, but slow, document-heavy, and sometimes unsuccessful — unless the account holder left clear instructions and a way in. That's the entire premise behind digital estate planning: not creating new legal rights, but making sure the practical access already exists when it's needed.
Dealing with this after a death?
- How to memorialise or close a Facebook account after someone dies
- How to access or close someone's email after they die
- How to access or close a phone after someone dies
All 14 account-by-account guides →
The Guided Inventory walks you through recording every account one question at a time — your wishes for each, and a secure method for your executor to actually get in — without ever writing a password down in the document itself.
- Includes the $49 Digital Estate Kit
- Generates your finished inventory, ready to print
- Encrypted on your device with your own passphrase — we never see your answers
- Sign in with your email and a one-time code · 12 months’ access
For the full picture of how this fits together, see our complete guide to digital estate planning in Australia.