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Explore clear, step-by-step guidance for planning ahead and for handling digital responsibilities after a loss.

Plan ahead

If you want to make this easier for your family later, start with the guide to building a digital estate plan.

Read the planning guide

Get after-loss help

If you are helping someone now, use the support guides for the first digital tasks after a loss.

Go to support

Use the glossary

If a term changes what you should do next, use the glossary before moving on.

View the glossary

Planning Ahead

Start here if you want to document accounts, trusted people, and recovery methods before a crisis forces quick decisions.

Digital legacy planning

How to Create a Digital Estate Plan

Step-by-step guidance for documenting accounts, preserving digital assets, naming trusted contacts, and giving loved ones clear instructions.

Digital legacy planning

What Happens to Your Digital Accounts When You Die

An overview of major platform policies, common after-death account outcomes, and how to plan so loved ones are not left guessing.

First Steps for Loved Ones

These guides help families stabilize access, protect important accounts, and avoid early mistakes that can cause lockouts later.

First steps

Do This First When a Loved One Dies: Managing Digital Accounts

A practical first-steps guide for preserving access, gathering records, and avoiding digital mistakes during the first phase after a death.

Account access

How to Access a Deceased Person's Online Accounts

How to gather documents, request lawful access, work with providers, and protect privacy when managing a deceased person's online accounts.

Phone number after death

What Happens to a Phone Number When Someone Dies?

What usually happens to a cell phone number after death, when families can keep it, and how to avoid losing access to bank alerts, account recovery, and two-factor codes.

Email, Social, and Memorialization

Use these guides when the question is whether to preserve, close, delete, or memorialize a specific account or platform.

Email management

How to Close or Transfer a Deceased Person's Email Account

What families should expect when dealing with Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo after a death, including documentation, likely outcomes, and connected services.

Social media

Memorialize or Close a Facebook Account

How to choose between memorialization and deletion, what each option preserves, and what families should prepare before they submit a Facebook request.

Social media

Memorialize or Close an Instagram Account

How memorialization and deletion differ on Instagram, what remains visible, and what families should preserve before making a request.

A person organizing digital estate planning documents on a laptop and tablet.

Digital legacy planning

How to Create a Digital Estate Plan

Published: 2025-10-10 • Updated: 2026-04-02

Step-by-step guidance for documenting accounts, preserving digital assets, naming trusted contacts, and giving loved ones clear instructions.

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