What an Executor Needs Before Requesting Account Closures

Platform bereavement teams don't negotiate: a request missing one document gets rejected or stalled, and you start the weeks-long clock over. The efficient path is to assemble the full document stack before filing anything anywhere. Here's what that stack contains.

The core stack — needed for nearly everything

1. Certified copies of the death certificate — order 5 to 10. Not photocopies: certified copies with a raised seal, from the funeral home or county vital records office. Some platforms accept a scan of a certified copy; others (and most banks) want to see certification. Reordering mid-process is the most common cause of delay.
2. Proof of your authority. If there's a will: letters testamentary from the Register of Wills naming you executor. No will: letters of administration. In Pennsylvania, the short certificate — a one-page court document proving your appointment — is what most institutions want, and it's inexpensive to get several.
3. Your government-issued photo ID. Driver's license or passport. Platforms verify the requester, not just the request.
4. The deceased's identifiers. Full legal name, date of birth, date of death, and — critically — the exact email addresses, usernames, or profile URLs for each account. "My father's Gmail" isn't enough; which Gmail address is the request.

Frequently needed extras

• A link to the published obituary — accepted as proof of death for lighter requests, like Facebook memorialization.
• Proof of relationship — birth or marriage certificates, for platforms that accept requests from next of kin without formal probate.
• A court order — the heavy artillery, generally required for Apple data access when no Legacy Contact was set, and occasionally by other platforms for content release. This one comes through the estate's attorney.

Match the document to the platform

Each platform wants a different subset: Google asks for ID, death certificate, authority, and the Gmail address; Meta accepts an obituary for memorialization but wants stronger proof for deletion; Amazon wants estate representation proof and photo ID; Microsoft's next-of-kin process wants the death certificate plus executor documentation; Apple without a Legacy Contact will likely send you to court for data access (closure is easier). Filing the right subset the first time is most of the game.

Set up your tracking before the first filing

One log, kept from day one: platform, request type, date filed, documents sent, confirmation number, and follow-up dates (platforms routinely need a nudge at 2–4 weeks). This log becomes part of the estate's records — proof the digital side was handled with the same diligence as the bank accounts. A week-by-week version of this whole process is in our 30-day timeline.