Published on 15 October 2026.
Family photos, important correspondence and a small business website may all depend on accounts that only one person understands. When that person dies, relatives can face an unfamiliar collection of devices, subscriptions and access rules.
A digital account plan helps someone locate what matters and follow the provider’s process. It should distinguish access to data, responsibility for ongoing services and the wishes you want recorded. This article covers practical organisation; inheritance and authority depend on applicable law and individual circumstances.
Make an inventory without exposing credentials
List important services, the email address associated with each and its purpose. Include storage, domains, websites, recurring bills and accounts holding irreplaceable files. Record where protected recovery information is kept without placing passwords in an ordinary shared spreadsheet.
For each item, write the intended outcome: preserve, transfer where permitted, close or seek advice. Review the inventory when an account changes role or when you change the person you trust to help.
Use the provider’s legacy arrangements
Apple’s Legacy Contact guide describes a process for access to certain account data after death. The contact needs the generated access key and a death certificate. Some categories are excluded, including iCloud Keychain passwords and passkeys, so the feature should not be mistaken for complete access to everything.
Google’s Inactive Account Manager can notify selected people or share selected data after a chosen period of inactivity. It is triggered by inactivity under the configured arrangement, which is a different mechanism from proving a death.
Read the options carefully and keep the selected contact information current. Confirm privately that the trusted person understands their role; do not assume that configuring a setting means they know what to do.
Separate memories from ongoing operations
A family member preserving photographs may have a different role from someone responsible for renewing a business domain. Where a service supports an organisation, use its supported ownership and administrative arrangements while you are available to establish them.
Write down renewal dates and where billing is managed. This helps prevent an important service expiring while someone is trying to discover who receives its emails. Do not instruct another person to impersonate you or bypass provider checks.
Keep an accessible copy of the instructions
Store the inventory and provider access documents securely, with a clear way for the appropriate person to locate them. A plan that exists only inside the inaccessible account cannot guide anyone through recovery.
Check the instructions periodically, especially after moving between storage providers or changing your main email. The most useful plan gives someone a starting point, a clear intention and a legitimate route to the data or service that needs attention.