Digital legacy UK: passwords, accounts and access after death

Your digital legacy isn't just passwords. It's online banking your partner can't access, family photos locked in iCloud, subscriptions draining money from a frozen account, and cryptocurrency wallets nobody can recover.

Most UK families have never thought about this until it's too late. You've sorted your will, maybe even set up a Lasting Power of Attorney, but those don't give your family the technical means to access the digital accounts that run your life.

This guide covers the three-layer approach: platform legacy tools you can set up today, a private account inventory kept outside your will, and the legal authority your executor and attorneys need. The urgent switches take 30 minutes.

What Locks Your Family Out
The 30-Minute Urgent Path
Your Private Digital Inventory
Wills, Letters of Wishes, and LPAs
Platform-Specific Notes
After Death or Incapacity
How LifeOS Helps
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Steps

What Locks Your Family Out {#locked-out}

Three things stop your family accessing your digital life after you die or lose capacity:

1. Technical barriers: They don't have your passwords, can't unlock your devices, and don't know what accounts exist.

2. Legal barriers: Under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, unauthorised access to someone else's accounts is illegal—even for family. Your executor has legal authority over your estate, but most tech companies don't recognise that without proof. Banks will eventually cooperate after probate, but probate takes months.

3. Platform policies: Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Meta all have different rules for deceased users. Without pre-arranged legacy access, your family may never get into your iCloud photos or Gmail.

Never put passwords in your will. Wills become public documents during probate—anyone can request a copy for £1.50. Passwords in wills are security disasters waiting to happen.

The solution is a three-layer approach:

Layer 1: Platform legacy tools (Apple, Google, password managers)
Layer 2: Private account inventory (letter of wishes, sealed envelope)
Layer 3: Legal authority (will naming executors, LPAs for incapacity)

The 30-Minute Urgent Path {#urgent-path}

If you do nothing else, do these four things today. Total time: 30 minutes.

1. Apple Legacy Contact (10 minutes)

Apple's free Legacy Contact feature lets you nominate someone to access your iCloud after you die: photos, notes, messages, files, device backups. They provide your death certificate and an access key, and Apple grants access—no court order needed.

Set it up:

Go to Settings → [Your Name] → Password & Security → Legacy Contact
Choose someone (you can nominate more than one)
Share the access key with them or print it

Official guide: Apple Support - Legacy Contact

They can't access your account until you die. No snooping risk.

2. Google Inactive Account Manager (10 minutes)

Google's Inactive Account Manager lets you nominate trusted contacts to download your Gmail, Drive, Photos, and Calendar data after a period of inactivity (you choose 3, 6, 12, or 18 months).

Set it up:

Go to myaccount.google.com/inactive
Choose your inactivity period
Add trusted contacts and select which data they can access
Provide a backup phone number

Official guide: Google Account Help - Inactive Account Manager

Google will try to contact you before granting access, so false alarms are prevented.

3. Password manager emergency access (5 minutes)

If you use a password manager, enable emergency access. You nominate a trusted person and set a waiting period (1-30 days). If they request access, you're notified. If you don't respond within the waiting period (because you're incapacitated or dead), they get your passwords.

Password managers with emergency access:

1Password: Family/team plans include emergency access. Also provides an Emergency Kit PDF (printed recovery document) you can store with your will
Bitwarden: Emergency access on all plans including free
Dashlane: Trusted contact emergency access feature
LastPass: Emergency access with configurable waiting period

This solves the problem that passwords always change. A paper list is outdated in six months.

Note on 2FA and phone PINs: If you use two-factor authentication (and you should), your emergency contact will also need access to your 2FA codes. Consider storing backup codes in your password manager or sealed envelope. Make sure someone knows your phone PIN so they can receive 2FA texts if needed—though most password managers include 2FA in emergency access.

4. Tell one person where your inventory lives (5 minutes)

Write a brief note listing your main accounts (bank, email, cloud storage) and where to find details. Keep it in a sealed envelope with your will or in a secure vault. Tell your executor or partner where it is.

Don't include actual passwords—just account names and "see 1Password emergency contact" or similar.

Your Private Digital Inventory {#inventory}

Your family needs to know what accounts exist, even if passwords are handled by platform tools and password managers.

What to document:

Banking: Current accounts, savings, ISAs, credit cards, PayPal, Revolut
Investments: Stocks and shares ISAs, pensions, trading accounts
Email: Primary email addresses (often the gateway to everything else)
Cloud storage: iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive—where your family photos live
Subscriptions: Streaming (Netflix, Spotify), mobile contracts, utilities, gym memberships—things that keep charging
Insurance policies: Life insurance, critical illness, home insurance, car insurance—policies your executor needs to claim on
Cryptocurrency: Exchange accounts, wallet addresses (but never recovery seeds in the will)
Domain names / web hosting: If you own a website or business
Important contacts: Solicitor, accountant, financial adviser, employer HR contact
Physical assets: Safe deposit boxes, storage units, valuable items kept elsewhere (with someone else, at work, etc.)

What NOT to include:

Actual passwords (use password manager emergency access)
Cryptocurrency recovery seeds (these are bearer instruments—whoever has them owns the crypto)
PINs or security codes in plain text

Write something like: "Main email: john.smith@gmail.com — password in 1Password, emergency contact Jane. Bitcoin wallet address 1A2b3C... — recovery seed in separate sealed envelope in home safe."

Where to keep it:

Letter of wishes: A document stored with your will but not part of it. Doesn't become public during probate. Your executor finds it when they access your will. Good for a one-page summary of who manages what.
Sealed envelope: Write "To be opened by my executor [Name] after my death" on the outside. Keep it where your executor knows to look—safe, solicitor, or with your will.
Secure vault: LifeOS provides encrypted document storage your executor can access as part of your Life Plan.

Keep it to one page if possible. A simple list with account names and where to find access details (password manager, legacy contact set up, etc.) is better than a detailed document nobody maintains. Update it when you open or close significant accounts, not for every password change.

Wills, Letters of Wishes, and LPAs {#legal-authority}

Platform tools and inventories solve the technical problem. But your family also needs legal authority.

Your Will (England & Wales)

Your will names executors—the people legally responsible for administering your estate after you die. Executors have the authority to access your accounts, claim assets, and distribute your estate according to your wishes.

Critical for digital legacy:

Never put passwords in the will itself (wills become public at probate)
Do include a clause giving your executors authority to access digital accounts
Name people you trust to be executors—they'll be dealing with sensitive access

Letter of Wishes

A letter of wishes sits alongside your will but isn't part of it. Unlike the will, it doesn't become public. It's the perfect place to:

List your digital accounts
Explain your preferences (e.g., "delete my social media" or "preserve family photos")
Provide context your executor needs

Your letter of wishes isn't legally binding, but executors typically follow it when wishes are reasonable.

Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs)

LPAs work while you're alive but lack mental capacity. After you die, LPAs become legally useless—only your will matters then.

LPA for Property and Financial Affairs lets your attorney manage your money and property if you lose capacity. They can access bank accounts, pay bills, and handle digital subscriptions on your behalf.

Important: LPAs must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before they can be used. Registration takes 8-10 weeks.

Scotland and Northern Ireland note: Scotland has Continuing Powers of Attorney and Welfare Powers of Attorney. Northern Ireland has Enduring Powers of Attorney and is introducing Lasting Powers of Attorney. The principles are similar but forms and registration differ.

Platform-Specific Notes {#platforms}

Different platforms handle deceased users differently.

Apple

Legacy Contact (covered above) is the gold standard. Without it, Apple requires a court order to access a deceased person's iCloud—expensive and slow.

Google

Inactive Account Manager (covered above) lets you control what happens. Without it, Google has a process for next of kin to request data, but it's lengthy and requires legal documentation.

Microsoft

Microsoft lets next of kin request access to deceased users' accounts by submitting a form with proof of death and legal authority. No legacy contact feature yet.

Microsoft process: support.microsoft.com - Requesting access to a deceased person's account

Meta (Facebook, Instagram)

Memorialisation settings (covered above) let you choose between a memorial account or deletion. Without settings in place, family can request memorialisation by providing a death certificate.

Meta help: facebook.com/help - Memorialisation and Remembering Accounts

Banks

UK banks have bereavement services. When someone dies, banks freeze accounts once notified. Executors access funds after probate by presenting the grant of probate (takes 3-6 months typically).

Some banks offer "small estates" processes for accounts under £5,000-£50,000 (varies by bank) without requiring probate.

Official guidance: GOV.UK - What to do after someone dies

Cryptocurrency

Never put recovery seeds in your will. Recovery seeds are bearer instruments—whoever has them owns the crypto. If your will becomes public, anyone can steal your cryptocurrency.

Instead, keep recovery seeds in a separate sealed envelope in a safe or with a solicitor, and note in your inventory that they exist and where to find them.

After Death or Incapacity {#after-death}

If You Die

Your executor (named in your will) takes charge. They will:

Register the death and obtain multiple death certificates
Notify banks and financial institutions (accounts freeze)
Apply for probate (legal authority to access your estate)
Access digital accounts using the legacy tools, password manager emergency access, and inventory you've set up
Close or transfer accounts according to your will and their legal duties

With preparation: Your executor finds your letter of wishes, uses Apple Legacy Contact and Google Inactive Account Manager, gets your passwords from your password manager's emergency contact, and wraps things up in weeks.

Without preparation: Your executor spends months fighting with tech companies, potentially loses access to photos and documents forever, and watches money drain from subscriptions they can't cancel.

If You Lose Capacity

Your attorney (named in your LPA for Property and Financial Affairs) takes over. They can:

Access bank accounts to pay bills
Manage subscriptions and cancel unnecessary ones
Handle financial admin on your behalf

They cannot access your personal email or cloud storage without your passwords. This is why password manager emergency access matters even while you're alive.

How LifeOS Helps {#lifeos-helps}

LifeOS is your AI family office—the kind of strategic life planning traditionally reserved for the wealthy, now accessible to everyone at £100 per month.

Sage, your LifeOS advisor, treats digital legacy as part of your complete protection plan:

During your discovery call, Sage learns about your digital life—what accounts you use, where your photos live, how your family would access things if something happened to you.

Your Life Plan includes digital legacy alongside wills, LPAs, and insurance. Sage prompts you to set up Apple Legacy Contact, Google Inactive Account Manager, and password manager emergency access as part of getting your foundations in place.

Secure document vault stores your digital inventory, legacy contact screenshots, and executor instructions. Your nominated executor can access everything when needed.

Monthly check-ins remind you to update your inventory when you open new accounts or close old ones. Digital life changes constantly—your plan needs to keep up.

Guidance, not advice: LifeOS provides education and prompts, not regulated financial or legal advice. For complex estates or unusual situations, Sage can connect you with qualified professionals.

14-day free trial, no credit card required. See if it works for your family.

Frequently Asked Questions {#faq}

Next Steps {#next-steps}

Do the 30-minute urgent path today

Apple Legacy Contact (10 min) → Settings → Password & Security → Official Apple guide
Google Inactive Account Manager (10 min) → myaccount.google.com/inactive → Official Google guide
Password manager emergency access (5 min) → Check your password manager's settings
Tell someone (5 min) → Let your executor or partner know where your inventory lives

This week

Write a basic digital inventory listing main accounts (don't include passwords)
Store it in a sealed envelope or letter of wishes with your will
If you don't have a will, sort that first: Legal Documents Parents Need

This month

Review your will to ensure it includes executor authority for digital accounts
Consider setting up LPAs if you haven't already (8-10 week registration time)
Update your inventory whenever you open or close accounts

Last updated: September 2026. This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Laws and processes are specific to England and Wales unless otherwise stated. Scotland has different legal frameworks (Continuing Powers of Attorney, Scottish probate). Northern Ireland is introducing Lasting Powers of Attorney to replace Enduring Powers of Attorney.

Digital legacy UK: what your family needs if you die tomorrow

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