Losing someone leaves you with a to-do list no one prepared you for. This checklist covers only the digital side, in the order that actually matters. Nothing here requires a password, and none of it needs to happen today.
It feels harmless, but accessing a deceased person's accounts can violate platform terms and, in some cases, computer-access laws. Every major platform has an official process that protects you. Use those.
You'll need more than you think — banks, platforms, and insurers each want their own. Order 5–10 certified copies from the funeral home or vital records office up front; reordering later is slower.
If there's a will, the named executor gets "letters testamentary" from the county Register of Wills. If not, the closest next of kin can be appointed administrator. Platforms will ask for this proof — getting it early unblocks everything else.
The phone is often the key to everything: two-factor codes, photos, account discovery. Keep it charged, keep it safe, and don't factory-reset it, even if a carrier asks.
Email, social media, banking apps, subscriptions, cloud storage. Check the mail pile and your memory. You won't catch them all — that's fine, more surface later.
Netflix, iCloud storage, gym apps — subscriptions keep billing the estate until someone stops them. Circle every recurring charge on the last three months of statements. Each one is an account to close.
This is the step people regret skipping. Some platforms permanently destroy photos, emails, and files the moment an account closes — and data requests generally must come first. Make your "save" list before any closure request goes in. Apple is strictest: without a pre-set Legacy Contact, accessing data usually takes a court order.
Their email inbox can reset passwords for everything else, which makes it the biggest security risk if left unattended. Google, Microsoft, and Apple each have deceased-user processes — start these early, because they take weeks.
Facebook and Instagram can memorialize a profile ("Remembering" appears above the name, logins are blocked) or delete it entirely. There's no wrong choice — but an untouched active profile invites painful birthday reminders and impersonation scams.
Every form submitted, every confirmation number, every date. The estate's records should show the digital side was handled — and if a platform stalls, your log is what gets the follow-up resolved.
Quiet Closure does all of the above for families, for a flat fee, entirely by email — no phone calls, no office visits. We never ask for passwords and work only through each platform's official channels.
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