Most people spend years building a digital life — email accounts, cloud storage, social profiles, streaming services, online banking, maybe some cryptocurrency — and almost nobody plans what happens to it when they die. The result is families left confused, accounts locked, money inaccessible, and memories trapped behind passwords nobody knows.
The average person now has over 100 online accounts. A growing number hold real financial value — cryptocurrency wallets, PayPal balances, Apple credits, monetised YouTube channels, even digital art and NFTs. Others hold irreplaceable personal value: decades of photos, private messages, shared memories that exist nowhere else in the world.
Digital legacy planning is simply the act of deciding what should happen to your digital life, telling the right people, and leaving enough information for them to act on it. It takes a few hours, costs nothing, and changes everything for the people you leave behind.
Yet despite the scale of the problem, most solicitors still don’t ask about it. Most will-writing services ignore it entirely. The legal frameworks in both the UK and the US are years behind the technology. That leaves individuals to figure it out themselves — which is exactly what this guide is for.
The good news is that most platforms now have official processes for handling accounts after death. Some are thoughtful and straightforward. Others are bureaucratic and slow. Knowing which is which — and preparing in advance — makes an enormous difference to the people who’ll have to deal with it.
This guide covers every aspect of digital legacy planning in plain English: social media, passwords, cryptocurrency, subscriptions, digital wills, and how to appoint someone to carry out your wishes.
Social media accounts
Social media platforms hold an enormous amount of personal history — photos, messages, milestones, and relationships built over years. When someone dies, what happens to those accounts depends entirely on the platform and whether you’ve prepared in advance.
Without any preparation, most accounts simply sit there indefinitely. Occasionally they get hacked. Sometimes they send automated birthday reminders to grieving family members — one of the more painful modern experiences of bereavement. Planning ahead prevents this.
Facebook and Instagram
Facebook lets you designate a Legacy Contact — someone who can manage your profile after you die. They can write a pinned post, update your profile photo, and respond to friend requests. They cannot read your messages or post as you. Alternatively, you can request that your account be permanently deleted after death.
Instagram has a similar memorialisation process but no equivalent of a Legacy Contact. A family member can request memorialisation or removal using a special form — but they’ll need to provide proof of death.
Google accounts
Your Google account likely holds more personal data than any other platform — Gmail, Google Photos, Drive documents, YouTube history, and more. Google’s Inactive Account Manager lets you specify trusted contacts, decide what data they can access, and set a timeframe before the tool activates. Most people have never touched it.
Passwords and access
Passwords are the most immediate practical problem your family will face. Without them, online banking is inaccessible, photo libraries are locked, email cannot be retrieved. Yet writing passwords on a piece of paper and leaving it in a drawer is not the answer — that creates a security risk while you’re still alive.
The right solution depends on your situation, but most people benefit from one of two approaches: a password manager with emergency access, or a sealed letter stored with your will.
- A password manager like 1Password or Bitwarden allows you to designate an emergency contact who can request access after a waiting period you set.
- A sealed letter containing master passwords stored with your solicitor or a trusted person — updated annually — is a simpler, lower-tech option that works just as well.
- Never store passwords in an email draft, a notes app, or a spreadsheet on your desktop — these are easily lost or compromised.
Whatever method you choose, make sure at least one trusted person knows the method exists and where to find it.
Cryptocurrency and digital assets
Cryptocurrency is uniquely vulnerable at death. Unlike a bank account, there is no institution to call, no authority to appeal to, and no way to recover access without the private key or seed phrase. When that information is lost, the assets are gone permanently — regardless of their value.
If you hold cryptocurrency in a self-custody wallet, your seed phrase (12 or 24 words) is the only way to recover it. Store it physically — not digitally — and share it with at least one trusted person or keep it securely with your will.
If you hold cryptocurrency in a self-custody wallet, your seed phrase (12 or 24 words) is the only way to recover it. Store it physically — not digitally — and share it with at least one trusted person or keep it securely with your will.
For those who hold crypto on an exchange like Coinbase or Kraken, the process is closer to a traditional brokerage — a death certificate and probate grant will typically allow a named executor to access and close the account.
Subscriptions and recurring payments
The average household pays for 12–15 active subscriptions. After a death, these continue to charge until someone cancels them — and cancelling requires account access, which requires passwords.
The simplest thing you can do is maintain a written list of your active subscriptions — service name, approximate monthly cost, and the email address used to sign up.
Writing a digital will
A digital will is not a legally recognised document in most jurisdictions — it sits alongside your traditional will rather than replacing it. Think of it as a detailed letter of wishes specifically for your digital life.
- Inventory — a list of your significant digital accounts and assets
- Access — how your executor can gain access
- Wishes — what you want done with each account or asset
- Contacts — who to contact at each platform and what process they use
Appointing a digital executor
A digital executor is the person responsible for carrying out your digital wishes after you die. This can be the same person as your traditional executor, or someone different — ideally someone comfortable with technology and patient enough to navigate platform policies.
Appoint someone you trust, tell them what you’re asking of them, and update your choice if circumstances change.