These guides exist because the online side of a death is harder than anyone warns you. Each one is written for a family doing it themselves, checked against the platform's own process before it is published, and rechecked when that process changes. There is nothing to buy on any of them.
If you have not started, begin with the complete guide, which explains the two documents you need and the right order to work in. If you have already sent a request and nothing has happened, go straight to the pages for when a request is not working. And if you would rather hand the whole thing over, start a case and we will do it for you, from £149.
The complete guide
One page that explains the whole job: the documents, every major platform at a glance, and the order to do it in.
When a request is not working
You sent the form and nothing happened, or the platform said no. These pages take each situation in turn and say what to do next.
Facebook Memorialisation Request Not Working? What to Do Next
Form errors, weeks of silence, rejected documents, a suspended account. Find which one is happening and the exact next step.
Instagram Deceased Account Request Not Working? What to Do Next
Invalid username, no reply, removal refused, the account suspended or run by a stranger. Which one it is and what to do today.
No Legacy Contact on a Deceased Person's Apple Account? What You Can Still Do
Apple has said court order. What that means in the UK, why probate was not enough, what you can do today without one, and when the court route is worth it.
Cannot Get Into a Deceased Person's Gmail or Google Account? What Google Allows
No password, no recovery route, a request gone quiet, or Google asking for a court order. Which one is happening, and what to do next.
Cannot Delete a Deceased Person's WhatsApp Account? What Works With and Without the Phone
WhatsApp has no form and will not act for a family. What works with the phone, with only the SIM, and with neither.
One guide for each account
What each platform allows after a death, the documents it asks for, and where families usually get stuck. UK versions where the process differs.
Which Platforms Let You Plan for Your Own Death? 20 Services Compared
Seven let you plan ahead, three need a court order without it, one cannot be closed by a family at all. Checked September 2026, updated October.
How to Delete or Memorialise a Deceased Person's Facebook Account
Both routes explained for families anywhere in the world: the two Meta forms, the documents accepted, and what to do when nothing happens.
How to Delete a Deceased Person's Facebook Account in the UK
A step by step guide to removal versus memorialisation, the documents you need, and what to do if Facebook does not respond.
How to Remove a Deceased Person's Instagram Account
Memorialisation and removal for families anywhere in the world, and why saving the photos comes first.
How to Remove a Deceased Person's Instagram Account in the UK
A calmer route through Instagram removal, Meta document requests, and the points where families often get stuck.
What Happens to an Apple ID and iCloud When Someone Dies?
Legacy Contacts, the iCloud photo library, Activation Lock, and the one warning to read before asking Apple to close anything.
How to Close a Deceased Person's Google Account
One account holds Gmail, Photos, Drive, and YouTube. The deceased user request, Inactive Account Manager, and what closure destroys.
How to Close a Deceased Person's Google or Gmail Account in the UK
Why Google cases are often broader than email alone and what to prepare before you start.
How to Close a Deceased Person's Email Accounts
Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo compared, and why the inbox should be the last account you close, not the first.
What Happens to a Microsoft, Outlook or Hotmail Account When Someone Dies?
Microsoft's next of kin process, the two year inactivity rule, OneDrive and Xbox, and how to close the account without ever needing the password.
What Happens to a WhatsApp Account When Someone Dies?
No memorial option and no form for families. How to save the chats first, delete the account, and avoid the reused number surprise.
How to Close a Deceased Person's TikTok Account
TikTok will memorialise or delete an account when the family asks. What it wants to see, how its legacy contact works, and why saving the videos comes first.
How to Memorialise or Close a Deceased Person's LinkedIn Account
Stopping the recruiter messages and work anniversaries: LinkedIn's two routes, who can request each, and the documents needed.
How to Deactivate a Deceased Person's X (Twitter) Account
X offers deactivation only, through a form and then an email. What X will and will not do for families.
How to Close a Deceased Person's Amazon Account
Prime, Kindle, Audible, Alexa and the photos. What to save, what to cancel, and how to close the account with or without the password.
What Happens to a PayPal Account When Someone Dies?
The balance belongs to the estate. Which documents PayPal asks for, how the money comes back, and what to do about PayPal Credit and automatic payments.
How to Cancel a Deceased Person's Subscriptions
Netflix, Spotify, Amazon Prime, app store subscriptions and the rest. Which ones stop by themselves, which ones need a proper cancellation, and how to find them all.
The checklist, the documents and the decisions
Written for families anywhere: what to look for, which documents you need in your country, and how to find the accounts you do not know about yet.
A Checklist of Digital Accounts to Close After a Death
Social media, email, payment apps, shopping, subscriptions, phone and devices: the whole job on one page, in the right order, with a printable PDF.
What Documents Do You Need to Close a Deceased Person's Online Accounts? A Country by Country Guide
Proof of death, proof you can act, proof of who you are: what each is called in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, and what each platform asks for.
How to Find Out Which Online Accounts Someone Had
Ten places the accounts hide, from the inbox and the bank statement to the password manager, and what you can and cannot do with a password you find.
What to Do With a Loved One's Phone When They Die
Keep it charged, keep the SIM live, do not reset it. What to do with and without the passcode, and where the photos really are.
What Happens to Social Media Accounts When Someone Dies?
Nothing happens by itself. What each platform does after a death, what the law says country by country, and what a family can do about it.
What Is a Digital Legacy, and How Do You Plan One?
What it includes, what the law says where you live, the legacy settings on Apple, Google, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and a plan for an afternoon.
The paperwork around the accounts, in the UK
Phone networks, Royal Mail, Tell Us Once and UK law, and the UK editions of the checklist and the documents guide.
Death Admin Services in the UK: Which One Do You Need?
Tell Us Once, the Death Notification Service, Settld and Life Ledger compared: who each one tells, what it costs, and the accounts none of them can finish.
Phone Contracts After a Death: Every UK Provider's Bereavement Team
What Ofcom says you are entitled to, and how to reach the bereavement team at EE, O2, Vodafone, Three, Sky, BT, Virgin Media and the rest.
How to Redirect or Stop Post When Someone Dies in the UK
Royal Mail redirection, the Bereavement Register, what to do with letters addressed to them, and why their post is the best list of accounts you will get.
A Checklist of Digital Accounts to Close After a Death: UK Edition
The checklist with the British names: UK networks, broadband email addresses, loyalty cards and the TV licence, with a printable PDF.
What Documents Do You Need to Remove a Deceased Person's Online Accounts? UK Version
Death certificates from the General Register Office, the grant of probate, and what each platform asks a UK family to send.
What Happens to Social Media Accounts When Someone Dies in the UK?
A practical overview of what usually happens to accounts after death, why they stay live, and when families choose deletion or memorialisation.
Delete or Memorialise? How to Decide What Happens After Death
How families can think clearly about deletion, memorialisation, and preserving important material first.
What Is a Digital Legacy, and How Do You Plan One in the UK?
What it includes, what UK law says, the legacy settings the platforms give you, and a plan you can finish in an afternoon.
Carriers and mail in the United States
What each cell phone carrier says it will do, and what the Postal Service allows, checked on their own websites.
Cell Phone Accounts After a Death: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and the Rest
How each major carrier handles a death: who to contact, what they ask for, and what happens to a phone on a payment plan.
How to Stop or Forward Mail for a Deceased Person in the US
What USPS allows at a shared address, the proof it asks an executor for, and how to stop the advertising mail.
Real stories
What happens when nobody closes the accounts, told by the families it happened to.