Planning your digital legacy, in plain English.

1. List what exists

Start with the accounts that unlock other accounts. For most people that is the main email address and the phone, because password resets and sign-in codes arrive there. Then add:

• Photos and files: cloud storage, photo libraries, drives at home.
• Money: online banking, card accounts, payment apps, anything with a balance.
• Things that charge you: streaming, software, memberships, phone plans, domain names.
• Social media and messaging.
• Work, business, websites and anything other people rely on.

2. Decide where the keys live, then write down only the place

Your family will need a way in. Two common ways to give them one:

• A password manager with its emergency or recovery kit kept somewhere safe that your executor can reach.
• A sealed envelope kept with your will papers or in a fireproof box, with the passwords written inside.

Your plan here records which one, and where it is. It never records what is inside. That is also why a will is a poor place for passwords: a will is usually filed with a court when an estate goes through probate, and many people may read it. Ask your attorney how that works in your state.

3. Do not forget the devices

A locked phone can block everything else, because many accounts send a sign-in code to it. Say where the phone's unlock code is kept, and what should happen to each device: erase it, save the photos first, or give it to someone.

4. Google: Inactive Account Manager

You choose how long Google waits after your account goes inactive, then up to 10 people you pick can get a message from you and, if you choose, download parts of your data (for example Drive, Mail or YouTube).

Where to set it up: myaccount.google.com/inactive.
Google's help page (read October 11, 2026).

5. Apple: Legacy Contact

A Legacy Contact can ask Apple for access to data in your Apple Account after you die, using the access key you give them and your death certificate. It does not include purchased movies, music, books or subscriptions, or items in iCloud Keychain (passwords, passkeys, payment details). Needs iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2 or macOS 12.1 or later.

Where to set it up: On an iPhone, iPad or Mac signed in to your Apple Account (Apple's page shows the steps).
Apple's help page (read October 11, 2026).

6. Facebook: Legacy contact

After your profile is memorialized, a legacy contact can write a pinned post, change the profile and cover photo, request removal of the account and, if you allowed it, download a copy of what you shared. They cannot log in, read your messages or change your friends. You can instead choose to have the account permanently deleted.

Where to set it up: In your Facebook settings (Facebook's page shows the steps).
Facebook's help page (read October 11, 2026).

For other services, search the service's help pages for "deceased user" or "memorialize". Processes change, so check the service's own page rather than a summary.

7. The law, and why to see an estate attorney

Many U.S. states have passed laws based on the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, approved by the Uniform Law Commission in 2015. Its section 4 sets an order: a service's own online tool comes first.

"A user may use an online tool to direct the custodian to disclose to a designated recipient or not to disclose some or all of the user's digital assets, including the content of electronic communications. If the online tool allows the user to modify or delete a direction at all times, a direction regarding disclosure using an online tool overrides a contrary direction by the user in a will, trust, power of attorney, or other record."Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (2015), section 4(a). Section 4(b): without an online tool, a will, trust, power of attorney or other record may allow or prohibit disclosure.

Whether and how your state adopted this, and what your will should say about digital accounts, are legal questions. Ask an estate attorney licensed in your state. Digital Descendant does not give legal advice, and a plan here does not give anyone legal authority.