Digital Assets After Death: How to Find, Access, and Close Online Accounts

A person's financial life used to fit in a filing cabinet. Today it is scattered across dozens of online platforms, protected by passwords no one else knows, and locked behind two-factor authentication codes sent to a phone that is already in a drawer. Executors who spend weeks organizing the bank accounts and real estate often discover months later that the deceased had cryptocurrency holdings, paid subscriptions still charging a credit card, or cloud storage full of irreplaceable family photos that are about to be deleted.

Digital assets are among the most overlooked — and most frustrating — parts of modern estate settlement.

What Counts as a Digital Asset

Digital assets extend far beyond social media profiles. For estate purposes, they fall into several categories:

Financial assets with real monetary value: Cryptocurrency wallets (Bitcoin, Ethereum, others), PayPal and Venmo balances, online brokerage accounts, digital payment platforms, stored value on platforms like Amazon or Starbucks, and affiliate or advertising income from websites or YouTube channels.

Subscription services with recurring charges: Streaming services (Netflix, Spotify, Disney+), software subscriptions (Adobe, Microsoft 365), cloud storage (iCloud, Google One, Dropbox), domain registrations, web hosting, meal delivery services, gym apps, and any other service billing to the deceased's credit card or bank account.

Communication and identity accounts: Email accounts (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo), social media profiles (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X), messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal), and dating profiles.

Content and intellectual property: Photos stored in Google Photos or iCloud, documents in cloud drives, blogs or websites the deceased maintained, digital music or ebook libraries, and any creative work uploaded to platforms.

Loyalty and rewards programs: Airline miles, hotel points, credit card rewards, and retail loyalty programs. Some of these have real monetary value and specific transfer policies.

Cryptocurrency deserves special attention because it is the only digital asset category where losing access means losing the money permanently. Unlike a bank account that an executor can access with a death certificate and probate grant, cryptocurrency held in a personal wallet (not an exchange) can only be accessed with the private keys or seed phrase. If those are lost, the funds are gone — there is no customer service to call, no court order that can recover them.

Legal Authority to Access Digital Accounts

Your legal authority as an executor comes from the will and, in most cases, from the Grant of Probate issued by the court. But digital platforms do not operate like banks. Each major platform has its own policies, its own verification requirements, and its own timelines for responding to estate requests.

In Canada, there is no comprehensive federal digital estate law. Your authority is derived from provincial estate administration legislation and the platform's terms of service, which the deceased agreed to during their lifetime. Some platforms grant executors access to account contents. Others will only delete the account. A few will do nothing without a specific court order.

This patchwork means you need to approach each platform individually with the right documentation — typically a death certificate, proof of your appointment as executor (the probate grant or letters of administration), government-issued ID, and sometimes proof of your relationship to the deceased.

Platform-Specific Policies Executors Need to Know

Google (Gmail, Drive, Photos, YouTube): Google offers an Inactive Account Manager that the deceased may have configured during their lifetime. If activated, it automatically shares account data with designated contacts after a period of inactivity. If no Inactive Account Manager was set up, executors can submit a request through Google's deceased user support process. Google may provide account contents, but the process is slow and requires a court order in many cases. Google will not hand over passwords.

Facebook and Instagram (Meta): Facebook offers two options — memorialization (which preserves the profile with a "Remembering" label) or account deletion. A designated Legacy Contact can manage certain aspects of a memorialized account, but cannot read private messages or log in. Executors can request account deletion by providing a death certificate and proof of authority. Instagram follows similar policies under Meta's umbrella.

Apple (iCloud, Apple ID): Apple introduced the Legacy Contact feature, which allows account holders to designate someone who can access their iCloud data after death. If no Legacy Contact was set up, executors need a court order specifically naming Apple and the deceased's Apple ID — a standard probate grant is usually not sufficient. Apple will not unlock devices without this order and the device passcode.

Microsoft (Outlook, OneDrive): Microsoft's Next of Kin process allows executors to request account data. You typically need a death certificate, proof of your authority, and government ID. Microsoft will provide account data on a DVD or download but will not give you login access.

Financial platforms (PayPal, cryptocurrency exchanges): PayPal and most cryptocurrency exchanges (Coinbase, Kraken, Wealthsimple Crypto) have dedicated estate or deceased account processes. You will need the standard documentation package — death certificate, probate grant, executor ID. For exchange-held crypto, this process works similarly to a bank. For self-custodied crypto in hardware or software wallets, the exchange cannot help — you need the private keys.

How to Build a Digital Asset Inventory

The practical challenge is that you often do not know what digital accounts the deceased had. Here is a systematic approach:

Check email accounts first. If you can access the deceased's primary email, search for terms like "welcome to," "subscription," "your account," "payment receipt," and "renewal." This reveals most active online accounts. Email is the skeleton key to the digital estate.

Review bank and credit card statements. Every recurring digital charge — from Netflix to domain registrations — appears on a statement. Go back at least 12 months to catch annual subscriptions.

Check the deceased's devices. Saved passwords in browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox) and in password managers (1Password, LastPass, Bitwarden) provide a near-complete map of online accounts. If the device is unlocked or you know the passcode, this is by far the fastest path.

Look for a password manager. If the deceased used a password manager, the master password (or recovery key) unlocks everything. Check browser bookmarks, installed apps, and email for clues about which manager they used.

Check for cryptocurrency specifically. Look for hardware wallets (Ledger, Trezor — small USB-like devices), software wallet apps on phones or computers, exchange account emails, and any written seed phrases or recovery keys stored in safes, filing cabinets, or safety deposit boxes.

Do not delete accounts prematurely. Before closing any account, check whether it contains data needed for tax filings, insurance claims, or legal proceedings. Download and archive everything first.

Practical Steps for Executors

Start the digital inventory early in the estate process — ideally during the first month, alongside your physical asset inventory. In Alberta, the estate inventory you build for the Surrogate Court's GA2 form should include digital assets alongside bank accounts, real estate, and investments.

Cancel recurring subscriptions as soon as you confirm the estate does not need the service. Each month of forgotten subscriptions drains the estate.

For high-value digital assets (cryptocurrency, online business revenue, significant loyalty point balances), get professional appraisals or formal valuations. These values must be reported on the terminal T1 return as deemed dispositions at fair market value on the date of death.

Memorialize or close social media accounts based on the family's wishes. There is no legal obligation to maintain a social media presence, but families often appreciate having a memorialized profile for grieving and remembrance.

Document every platform interaction — who you contacted, what they required, what they provided, and when. This becomes part of your executor's records and protects you if beneficiaries later question your administration.

The Alberta Estate Settlement Guide includes a digital asset inventory worksheet alongside the physical estate inventory, structured to satisfy both the Surrogate Court's requirements and the CRA's deemed disposition reporting — so nothing falls through the cracks in the months-long settlement process.

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