Digital Estate Planning: What happens to your online accounts after you die

We have been in business now for almost twenty years, and so it has happened that we’ve had clients pass away. Usually we find out after from a family member trying to figure out how to close down their website, and it’s always a sad event. However, I recently got a message from one of my clients who wanted to make advanced plans for the end of her life, so that her website would be taken care of, and hopefully continue to be a resource to others for several years after her death. Many people make wills and plans for their estate, but often times people forget about their digital assets and leave behind a website that can’t be accessed, emails left unanswered, and recurring charges that their family end up paying. If you are thinking about planning for the future, these are things you should think about.

(This post has been inspired by my client Joan Price – feel free to ahead and check out her website.)

So today I’m going to write what I anticipate as being a lengthy blog post on how to plan for your eventual demise. Not a fun topic, but a necessary one.

Question 1: What do you want to happen with your website after you die?

Most of the time when I’ve had a client pass away, the end result is that the website will be shut down and all accounts closed, but that’s not the case for every situation. Do you want to keep your website live for a period as a resource? Do you want to have a message to visitors that you have passed? Do you want the website to be passed to someone else so they can maintain or benefit from it? Before you can plan for what you want to happen, you need to know what you want to happen.

So first, think about what the future of your website will look like after you are gone, and decide how you want it to end or how you want it to live on. If you want to include a message so people who land on your site know you have passed, go ahead and think about writing that up now. Nobody knows you better than you, and it will especially hard for your loved ones to try to come up with the right words once you are gone. It eases their burden and also ensures that you get to say the thing you want to say. (I like having the last word, to be honest.)

Question 2: What assets do you have that someone would need to access if you die?

The first thing you need to know is what all your digital assets are, where they are registered/located/purchased, and how to login to all those accounts. If you don’t know where your stuff is, how will someone else be able to access it after your death?

At the very least, you have a domain name and a web hosting account. These may or may not be purchased from the same vendor. Do you know where yours are? Do you know how to access them? Do you know your login and password? You’d be surprised how many people come to me and don’t know or have access to these critical pieces of information.

So my first recommendation is to make a list of all your digital assets. And to help, I’ve made this Google sheet that you can copy and save for free and edit as needed. I will continue to add to it as I think of things, but it’s fairly comprehensive right now. When you click the link to access it, you do have to be logged into a Google account, and then you’ll be asked if you want to make a copy. This will make a copy of this document so you can start to edit it with your own information.

Keep in mind that if you use something like this tool, you should have a plan in place to update it periodically because things may change between the time you collect the info and the time you pass away. I’d add a yearly note to your calendar to go back and review your sheet to make sure it’s up-to-date.

And if you aren’t already using a password manager like LastPass or 1Password, I would highly recommend you invest in one, add all your passwords, and set up Emergency Access for your trusted executor so they can manage your online accounts after your death.

• LastPass Emergency Access
• 1Password Emergency Kit

Doing something like this and setting up emergency access means that whoever is your emergency contact can sign in to your account and then will have access to all your passwords.

Question 3: Who do you want to designate to take charge of your accounts when you die?

You need to designate a person who is responsible for following through on managing or closing your online accounts. That person needs to be someone who knows what you want to do with your accounts and have access to whatever they need to keep them alive. Keep in mind that at some point, your credit cards will probably get closed, and if your web host or domain provider can’t charge you for services, then your website will get shut down. Maybe that’s what you want anyway, but that’s a decision you need to make.

If you want to keep your website online after you die, you need to make sure that you have a trusted person who can manage it. And my recommendation is you ask someone in advance, and don’t just assume the most tech-savvy person you know wants the job.

Can you just pay your web developer in advance? Well, the problem is that most of us don’t know when our time is going to come to a close and things change. What was the cost to run a website for a year in 2025 may not be the same as what it will be in 2035.

Whether you plan to keep your website going, or plan to shut it down, find a person you trust, but also someone that is fairly well-versed in online/digital accounts, who can either maintain or close your accounts for you.

Question 4: How do you deal with two-factor authentication to login to your accounts?

This is a significant problem when it comes to accessing your online accounts. Two-factor authentication has been a breakthrough in online security, but when it comes to getting people access to your accounts, it can make things difficult and many companies (like Google) don’t really have humans you can contact for help.

Step one is to create a document with your logins, whether that’s using the Google sheet, adding an emergency contact to your password manager, or something else. But having the login and password doesn’t always work because of two-factor authentication.

Two-factor authentication can look like a lot of things. It can mean getting a text, getting an email, getting a verification code, using a special app like Google Authenticator. And each account may be different. Will your executor have access to your email accounts, your phone, your apps? In the sheet I created, I put a column for indicating what kind of authentication each account needs, so the person who takes the helms will know what they’ll have to do.

Another option, and one I recommend, is adding your digital estate person as a delegated administrator to as many accounts as possible, and granting them the highest level of access possible. Not every account has this option, but this at least gives that person a connection to your account, and access to support to that account. I previously wrote a blog post about how to grant delegate access to your accounts, and most of that is still pretty relevant.

---

Finally, make sure that the person or persons you work with to make your website or other online accounts knows what you want to happen, and who will be contacting them in the event of your death.

---

Planning ahead for your death isn’t exactly a pleasant thought, but if you are looking for a positive, having all these details ready to go and a plan in place will make the life of your loved ones much easier. I did some digging to see if I could find resources at the various vendors with their policies for death, so check out the list below to find out more. I’m disappointed I couldn’t find more resources from vendors, because people die everyday and this is an unfortunate deed that will need dealt with.

Question 5: What if you don’t have their login, password, or delegate access?

Well, it’s going to be a tough road. The number one thing I see across these websites is that you are going to need a copy of the death certificate of the account owner you are trying to access. You’ll need your own ID and documentation that you are the executor of the digital estate.

Start by finding the Support page for the company you need to gain access, and send an email explaining who you are and what access you need. Provide as much information on the account as you can. Account owners name, the account number if you have it, their email they would have used, phone number, and then your own information, your ID, and the certificate of death.

Even if these vendors don’t have public facing policies regarding what to do (and they should!) – there’s very little chance that these companies haven’t had one of their clients pass away. Someone should be able to help you, although at what speed and at what lengths or hoops they make you jump through will vary.

---