Cannot get into a deceased person's Gmail or Google account? What Google allows, and what to do when a request stalls

Most families reach this page after trying the obvious things. The password is not written down anywhere. The "Forgot password?" screen asks for a code sent to a phone that is locked, or for answers only the person knew. Or a request went to Google weeks ago and nothing has come back, or it came back asking for a court order.

This page picks up where the how-to leaves off. If you have not sent Google anything yet, start with our Google guide, which explains the three requests Google accepts and why saving the photos comes first. If you have, or you are looking for another way in, find your situation below.

Which of these is happening?

• You are trying account recovery, or looking for a way to log in
• The form has no option that fits your relationship
• You sent the request and nothing has happened
• Google has said you need a court order
• Google asked for more documents, or a translation
• You asked Google to close the account, and now want something from it
• There is money in the account
• You are worried the account will disappear
• Google is still taking payments

You are trying account recovery, or looking for a way to log in

Account recovery is the "Forgot password?" route on the sign-in screen. It is built for the account's owner, and it checks things only they have: their phone, their recovery email, a device they have used before. It is automated, and it has no step for telling Google that the person has died.

Google's position on a death is set out on its page for requests about a deceased user's account, and it is short: "We cannot provide passwords or other login details." That holds however close you were and whatever documents you have, including a grant of probate or letters testamentary. Anyone who offers to get you into the account for a fee, by "recovering" or "hacking" the password, is running a scam.

There are three things worth doing instead, in this order.

The form has no option that fits your relationship

Google's form asks how you are connected to the person and gives two answers: "Immediate family (spouse, sibling, child, parent)" or "Legal representative or executor". A grandchild, a niece or nephew, an unmarried partner or a close friend is not on the first list.

If that is you, the request needs to come from someone who is on it, or from whoever has been appointed to deal with the estate. It has to be in their name, with their ID. Nothing stops you sitting beside them and doing the typing.

You sent the request and nothing has happened

Google does not publish a timescale. What its form does say is that it will review the request and "notify you of the result and any further instructions by email". Everything arrives at the email address you typed into the form, so search that inbox, and its spam and promotions folders, for anything from Google before deciding nothing has happened. A reply asking for one more document, sitting unread in spam, looks exactly like silence.

If a reply did come, answer in the same thread and attach every document again, not only the new one.

If three weeks have passed with nothing at all, send the request again with the same documents and a line saying it is a second request. One exception matters. Google's form says that if you have already asked for the contents of the account, you should wait for that request to be complete before sending any other. Do not send a closure request on top of a pending data request, for the reason explained further down.

Google has said you need a court order

This happens when the request was for the contents of the account: the emails, the photos, the files. It is not a brush-off, and it is not something a death certificate or the estate paperwork can stand in for. The form warns of it before you submit. You tick a box saying you understand that, if Google approves the request and Google LLC is the service provider for the account, you will need to obtain a court order issued in the United States, and that Google will give you the wording the order needs.

Google LLC is the provider for accounts in the United States and, under the UK version of Google's terms of service, for the United Kingdom as well. For people in the European Economic Area and Switzerland, Google's terms name Google Ireland Limited instead. The form does not say what Google asks for there, so wait for Google's reply to find out.

Two things follow from the wording.

The order comes after approval, not before. Google reviews the request, decides whether it will release anything, and only then tells you what the court order must say. Do not pay a lawyer to obtain an order in your own words first.

It is rarely worth it for photos alone. A court order in another country is slow and expensive, and the cost usually falls on the estate. It can be the right step where the account holds something that exists nowhere else and matters to the estate or the family. Take advice from a probate lawyer or solicitor before spending anything. Our page on Apple accounts with no Legacy Contact works through the same decision, because Apple asks for a court order too.

What you can do without one:

• Copy what is already on the person's phone, tablet and computer.
• Ask whether anyone received an Inactive Account Manager email from Google.
• Ask family and friends to save the photos and messages the person sent them. Those copies sit in their own accounts and are not affected by anything Google decides.
• Close the account when the family is ready. Closing does not need a court order.

Google asked for more documents, or a translation

To close an account, the form asks for two uploads: your government-issued ID or driver's licence, and the death certificate. It also has a place for additional documents. When Google comes back asking for more, it is usually one of these.

• The names do not line up. The name on your ID should match the name you typed. If the Google account was in a nickname or a maiden name, say so, and add a document that connects the names.
• The relationship is not shown. If your surname differs from theirs, add the birth or marriage certificate that links you, or the estate paperwork if you are the executor.
• The documents are not in English. Google asks for "a certified, notarized English translation prepared by a professional translator". A relative's translation does not meet that.
• The email address is slightly wrong. One letter out is a different person's account. Copy the address from an email they sent you instead of typing it from memory.
• The scan cannot be read. Photograph each document flat, in daylight, with all four corners showing.

Our guide to the documents each platform asks for covers what each one is called in your country and how to get certified copies.

You asked Google to close the account, and now want something from it

Google's form carries a warning that is easy to miss: if you choose to close the account, Google is unable to process any later request to turn over its contents. Closing is final for the data as well as the login.

If the closure has not happened yet, reply to Google's email straight away and ask to withdraw the request. If it has, what remains is whatever is on the person's devices and in other people's accounts. This is why every guide on this site says to save first and close last.

There is money in the account

The funds request is separate from the other two. The form lists AdSense, which is also how YouTube pays its creators, and Google Pay. It asks for your ID, the death certificate and, in its American wording, "court-certified letters testamentary". In the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand the equivalent is the sealed grant of probate or letters of administration.

The form also asks you to certify that you are the sole authorised recipient of the funds. If several people are dealing with the estate, the request should come from the person appointed to represent it. Whatever is paid out belongs to the estate, so keep Google's emails with the estate records.

You are worried the account will disappear

Google's inactive account policy says a personal account that has not been used for two years may be deleted, along with everything in it. Google says it sends warnings to the account and to its recovery email first, which a family will usually never see. It lists exceptions, such as an account holding a gift card balance.

Two years is long enough that nobody needs to rush in the first months. It is also the outside limit for deciding about the photos and emails, so put a date in the calendar and do not leave it to the policy.

Google is still taking payments

Storage plans, YouTube Premium and app subscriptions billed through Google carry on until the card stops or the account is closed. You do not need to get into the account to stop them. Once the bank has been told about the death it stops the card, and the payments fail. If the subscription is on someone else's card, that person can ask their own card provider to stop it. Our subscriptions guide goes through the common ones.

Or let us take it over

Departed Digital closes or memorialises online accounts for families. For a stuck Google request that means the right option on Google's form, the documents in the form Google asks for, replies answered in the same thread, and a written record of the outcome. We never ask for passwords and we never log in to anyone's account. We cannot make Google release an account's contents, and we cannot make it move faster than it moves. What we can do is make sure nothing is missed and that you do not have to keep checking.

One case covers Google and every other account you need dealt with. Packages start from £149, checkout shows your local currency automatically, and we work with families in the UK and internationally.