Digital Legacy Planning Ireland

What Happens to Your Online Accounts When You Die

Most people in Ireland have dozens of digital accounts — banking apps, email, social media, cloud storage, subscriptions, cryptocurrency wallets. When someone dies, these accounts don't simply vanish. They sit in limbo, continuing to charge monthly fees, accumulating unopened messages, and potentially becoming targets for identity fraud.

The problem is that Irish law hasn't caught up with digital life. The Succession Act 1965 governs how physical and financial assets pass to heirs, but it says nothing specific about digital property. Your executor has legal authority over your estate once a Grant of Probate is issued, but that authority doesn't automatically translate into access to your Gmail, your Facebook account, or your cryptocurrency wallet secured behind two-factor authentication.

Without a plan, your family faces months of frustration — submitting death certificates to companies headquartered in California, navigating automated support systems, and potentially losing irreplaceable photos, documents, or financial assets permanently.

Why a Digital Inventory Matters More Than You Think

A digital inventory is a structured list of every online account, subscription, and digital asset you hold, along with instructions for accessing or closing each one. It sits alongside your Will, EPA, and Advance Healthcare Directive as part of a complete end-of-life plan.

There are a few reasons this matters specifically in Ireland:

Financial exposure is real. Forgotten subscriptions, auto-renewing insurance policies, and recurring charges continue drawing from bank accounts and credit cards after death. The executor may be able to notify or freeze some accounts using a death certificate, while others require the Grant of Probate; in Dublin, that appointment can involve a 10–12 week wait, so charges can accumulate.

Cryptocurrency and digital investments fall outside normal probate channels. If nobody knows your wallet seed phrase or exchange login, those assets are gone permanently. Unlike a bank account that an executor can access with a certified Grant, a hardware wallet with a lost recovery phrase is mathematically irretrievable.

Identity theft targeting deceased individuals is growing. Ireland's PPS number system means that a deceased person's identity has value to fraudsters. A comprehensive digital inventory helps your executor shut down accounts quickly, reducing the window of vulnerability.

How to Build Your Digital Legacy Plan

Step 1: Create the Master Inventory

Go through your devices — phone, laptop, tablet — and list every account you use. Organise them into categories:

• Financial: Banking apps, credit union online access, investment platforms, pension portals, Revenue myAccount/ROS
• Communication: Email accounts, messaging apps (WhatsApp, Signal), social media
• Subscriptions: Streaming services, software licences, cloud storage, news sites
• Government portals: MyGovID, MyWelfare, MyDSS, PPSN-linked services
• Digital assets: Cryptocurrency wallets, NFTs, domain names, digital storefronts
• Storage: Photos, documents, and files in iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive

For each account, record: the platform name, your username or email address, and what action your executor should take (close, transfer, memorialise, or download content).

Step 2: Set Up a Password Manager

Never put passwords directly into your Will. Irish Wills become public documents once probate is granted — anyone can request a copy from the Probate Office. Listing passwords in the Will exposes every account.

Instead, use a password manager (1Password, Bitwarden, or similar) and store the master password in a sealed envelope with your solicitor or in a fireproof safe alongside your Will. Make sure your executor knows the envelope exists and where to find it.

Document your two-factor authentication (2FA) recovery codes separately. If your phone is wiped or locked, those backup codes are the only way into accounts protected by 2FA.

Step 3: Configure Platform Legacy Tools

Several major platforms offer built-in tools for handling accounts after death:

• Google Inactive Account Manager lets you nominate a trusted contact who receives access to your data after a set period of inactivity (3–18 months). You can also instruct Google to delete everything automatically.
• Facebook Legacy Contact lets you choose someone to manage your memorialised profile or request account deletion.
• Apple Digital Legacy allows you to designate Legacy Contacts who can request access to your iCloud data after your death with a death certificate.
• Instagram can memorialise or remove accounts upon request from an immediate family member with proof of death.

These tools take about 20 minutes to configure and save your family significant hassle later.

Step 4: Write Specific Instructions

Your executor needs clear guidance, not just a list of accounts. For each category, write a brief note:

• Which email account to check first (this is usually the recovery address for everything else)
• Whether to download photos and videos before closing cloud storage
• Which social media accounts to memorialise versus delete
• Whether any domain names or digital businesses should be transferred to a specific person
• Instructions for any cryptocurrency holdings, including the location of hardware wallets and seed phrases

Step 5: Store and Update Annually

Keep your digital inventory in the same secure location as your Will and EPA documents. Review it once a year — when you review your other end-of-life planning documents — and update it whenever you open significant new accounts or change your password manager.

The Irish Hospice Foundation's Think Ahead pack includes a section for documenting personal affairs, but it doesn't go deep enough on digital assets. A standalone digital inventory fills that gap.

What Your Executor Needs to Know

When someone dies, the executor should work through digital accounts in this order:

1. Email first — gaining access to the primary email account unlocks password resets for almost everything else
2. Financial accounts — notify banks, cancel recurring payments, and freeze credit cards (the executor can do this before probate with a death certificate for some institutions; others require the Grant)
3. Government portals — notify Revenue and the Department of Social Protection through normal channels; handle MyGovID, MyWelfare, and MyDSS access through their official processes
4. Social media — submit memorialisation or deletion requests using the platform's official process and a certified death certificate
5. Subscriptions — cancel everything that auto-renews to stop charges accumulating during the probate wait

Bringing It All Together

Digital legacy planning isn't separate from traditional estate planning — it's a necessary extension of it. Your Will covers property and financial assets. Your EPA covers decision-making if you lose capacity. Your Advance Healthcare Directive covers medical treatment preferences. Your digital inventory covers everything that exists on a screen.

If you're putting your end-of-life plan together, the Ireland End-of-Life Planning Guide walks through each of these components in detail, including a digital asset inventory template and step-by-step instructions for the MyDSS portal, Revenue Form SA.2, and probate applications.

The whole process takes an afternoon. The alternative — leaving your family to guess passwords, hunt for accounts, and fight automated customer service bots while grieving — takes months.

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