Digital assets after death
Updated 20 August 2026 · 6 minute read
The filing cabinet moved online a decade ago, and estate law is still catching up. Executors now routinely face locked phones, cloud photo libraries, crypto wallets and a dozen subscription accounts — with no single legal key. Here's the practical playbook.
Triage: what actually matters
- Financial value — crypto, PayPal balances, domain names, monetised channels, loyalty points (Qantas points die with the member unless transferred under the program's rules — act fast)
- Evidence value — email is the index to everything else: statements, policies, accounts you'd never otherwise find
- Sentimental value — photo libraries above all. Families forgive lost money faster than lost photos
- Liability value — auto-renewing subscriptions and cloud bills that quietly drain the estate
The platform reality
Apple and Google have formal processes
Apple's Digital Legacy (with a legacy key) or a court-order route; Google's Inactive Account Manager or a deceased-user request. Both can release photo libraries to next of kin — slowly, with certified documents.
Facebook/Instagram memorialise
Accounts can be memorialised or removed on proof of death; content generally isn't released. A pre-appointed 'legacy contact' changes what's possible.
Banks of the internet
PayPal, Wise and exchanges follow deceased-estate processes like banks — certificates, ID, sometimes the grant. Crypto in self-custody is different: without the keys or seed phrase, it is simply gone — search papers and password managers before recycling any device.
Everything else
A password manager, if one exists, is the estate's master key — access it lawfully (executor authority, device passcodes shared by family) and document what you do.
The single worst early move is factory-resetting or trading in devices. Phones hold 2FA, wallets, password managers and the photo library — secure them like jewellery until the digital estate is mapped.
An executor has authority over the deceased's property, but platform terms and computer-access laws still apply. Use official deceased-user channels where they exist; where you hold legitimate credentials, document your authority and purpose. When large value hides behind a locked account, get advice rather than guessing.
An estate with crypto or serious online value?
This is new terrain even for many lawyers — firms with digital-asset experience quote fixed fees too. Ask specifically.
Get fixed-fee probate quotesAre digital assets in the estate inventory?
Anything with realisable value — crypto, domains, balances — yes, at date-of-death value. Sentimental data isn't inventoried but is worth more to the family than most line items.
Can we keep paying for their cloud storage meanwhile?
Yes, and often should — from estate funds, documented — until the photo library is safely exported. Cancelling storage before export is an irreversible mistake.
How do we stop identity theft of the deceased?
Registries offer death-notification services to credit bureaus; close or memorialise public accounts, and redirect mail early. The deceased are a favourite identity-fraud target.
Sources
- Apple Digital Legacy; Google Inactive Account Manager / deceased-user process
- Platform memorialisation policies; loyalty program estate rules