Why Families Should Not Share or Use Passwords After a Death

It's the most natural thing in the world: you know the password — or the notebook where it's written — and there's something in the account the family needs. Just log in, right? This is the single most common digital mistake families make after a death, and it's worth understanding why the shortcut can cost far more than it saves.

Reason 1: It can be against the law — not just the rules

Accessing someone else's account without authorization can implicate computer-access laws, including the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and state equivalents — and a dead person cannot authorize anyone. Pennsylvania and most other states have adopted RUFADAA (the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act), which creates a lawful path for executors to access digital assets — through legal authority and platform procedures, not passwords. Prosecution of grieving families is rare; the point is that the law provides a right way, and the password way isn't it.

Reason 2: Platforms detect it — and lock everything

A login from a new device, at an unusual location, on an account whose owner has stopped all normal activity, looks exactly like a hacked account. Platforms respond by locking it, demanding two-factor codes, or flagging it for security review. A locked, flagged account makes the official deceased-user process slower and sometimes impossible — families have burned their one good path to the photos by trying the shortcut first.

Reason 3: It muddies the estate

Executors have a fiduciary duty, and everything they do can be scrutinized by heirs, creditors, and the court. Money moved, emails deleted, or accounts changed via password access — even innocently — creates questions no executor wants to answer. Actions taken through official channels, with documentation, create a record that protects the executor. Actions taken with a borrowed password create a record that can be used against them.

Reason 4: It destroys evidence of what the estate owns

Digital balances — PayPal, Venmo, crypto exchanges, airline miles, unpaid AdSense — belong to the estate. Logging in and touching these accounts before inventory can complicate claims. The platform's own deceased-user process documents balances and transfers them properly.

The right path, in three steps

1. Establish authority: letters testamentary or a short certificate from the Register of Wills. Our executor checklist lists everything needed.
2. Preserve first: file data requests through official channels before any closure — see the Google guide for why order matters.
3. Close through official processes: every major platform has one. They exist precisely so families never need passwords.