What Happens To Email or Social Accounts After We Die

Have you ever given a thought on what will happen to your email accounts and social profiles such as Facebook profile when you are no more? What will happen to the personal data and information stored on your account? Who will get the access to your account? The question often crosses our mind. Services like Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and Facebook have different policies for the deceased persons’ email accounts or profiles.

How to get Access to a Deceased Person’s Gmail Account

If a person who has a Gmail account is dead and you want to get the ownership, you will have to send a fax or an email to Google containing the following information.

1. Your full name, physical mailing address and a verifiable email address.
2. A photocopy of your government issued ID or driving license.
3. The Gmail address of the individual who passed away.
4. Proof of death.
5. An email containing the full headers and the content of an earlier email message that the deceased person emailed you in past.

After gathering the above documents, you can send mail or Fax to following address.
Postal Mail:

Google Inc.
Attention: Gmail User Support- Decedents’ Accounts
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Fax: 650-644-0358

Google will take about 30 days to process and validate the documents that you have provided. Visit this page for more information on accessing Gmail account of a dead person.

How to Access a Hotmail Account After the Person dies

If you want to access Hotmail account of a deceased person then you need to send fax or mail to Hotmail authorities and provide the following information.

1. A photocopy of the death certificate for the user.
2. Paperwork stating that you are the benefactor or executor to the deceased’s estate and/or that you have Power of Attorney.
3. A photocopy of your driving license or a government issued id proof.
4. A physical mailing address.
5. Date of birth, City, State and postal Zip code.
6. The date when the account was created and the last date when it was accessed.

You can send the documents at the following address.
Postal Address:

Microsoft Corp.
Attn: Online Services Custodian of Records
1065 La Avenida, Building 4
Mountain View, CA, 94043
Fax No.425-708-0096.

For more information head over to this page. If you have a Yahoo account then you can’t do much as inactive accounts are deleted after 6 months.

Accessing Facebook Account After a Person’s Death

You can’t access the Facebook profile of a dead person even if you’ve the proper permissions from the owner. Facebook turns the deceased person’s Account into Memorial Page, removes sensitive information and sets privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile. For more information go to this page.
Were you aware of such information? Have you been in such a situation? Do share with us.