Facebook is usually the first account families deal with, and for a painful reason: it keeps behaving as if the person is alive. Their face appears in "People you may know", friends get birthday reminders, and memories resurface without warning. Facebook handles more deceased accounts than any platform on earth, so its process is well worn, but it still confuses families at two points: which of the two routes to pick, and which documents Meta will actually accept.
This guide covers both, wherever you are in the world. The forms are the same globally; only the documents proving your authority differ by country.
Short on time? Departed Digital handles Facebook and every other platform for you, including the forms, the documents, and the follow up. Start a case from £149 → Checkout shows your local currency automatically.
First, Choose: Memorialise or Delete
Memorialisation (memorialization, in Meta's US spelling) turns the profile into a memorial page. "Remembering" appears above the name, nobody can log in, the profile stops appearing in birthday reminders and friend suggestions, and friends can still visit the timeline and post tributes. It is reversible in one direction only: a memorialised account can later be deleted, but a deleted one is gone forever.
Deletion permanently removes the profile, photos, posts, and messages. Nothing can be recovered afterwards, by anyone.
Many families memorialise first, which stops the painful reminders the same week, and request deletion months later once everyone has had time to save photos and decide. There is no deadline, and no fee for either.
Check for a Legacy Contact
Facebook lets people nominate a Legacy Contact while alive: a friend or family member allowed to manage the memorialised profile, change the cover photo, pin a tribute post, and download a copy of what the person shared. If your loved one set one up, that person will be able to act as soon as the account is memorialised. If nobody was nominated, the memorial page simply stays as it is, viewable but frozen.
Route One: Request Memorialisation
Copy the address of the person's profile, which looks like facebook.com/name or facebook.com/profile.php?id=number. If their privacy settings hide the profile from you, ask a mutual friend to copy it.
Search Facebook's Help Centre for "memorialization request" or go directly to facebook.com/help/contact/651319028315841. Anyone can submit it, friend or family. Attach proof of death: a death certificate is strongest, but Meta also accepts an obituary or a news article naming the person.
Meta usually processes memorialisation within days to a few weeks. There is no acknowledgement email in many cases; the profile simply changes. If nothing happens after two weeks, resubmit.
Route Two: Request Deletion
Deletion is restricted to immediate family or the person legally handling the estate, and the documents matter more here.
Proof of death (the death certificate) and proof of your authority. Depending on your country that second document is a grant of probate or letters of administration (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand), letters testamentary or a small estate affidavit (US), or a birth or marriage certificate showing you are immediate family.
Meta's removal form for deceased users is at facebook.com/help/contact/228813257197480. Choose "Remove account", give the profile link, and upload clear scans or photos of both documents.
Meta replies by email, sometimes asking for a second document if the relationship is not obvious from the first. Reply in the same thread with everything attached again. Full deletion, once approved, can take up to 90 days to complete in the background.
When Nothing Happens
The request goes silent
This is the most common failure, and persistence is the fix. Resubmit the same form with the same documents after two weeks. Requests written briefly, with documents attached correctly the first time, clear fastest.
Meta rejects the documents
Usually this means the names do not obviously connect you to the deceased, for example a married name differing from a birth certificate. Add the linking document, such as a marriage certificate, and a short explanation of the chain.
The account is posting or messaging people
A deceased person's account that shows activity has been compromised. Report it through facebook.com/hacked as well as the deceased forms, and warn close family that scammers sometimes message relatives from stolen accounts asking for money.
Instagram Is Separate
Meta owns Instagram too, but nothing transfers: memorialising or deleting a Facebook account leaves Instagram untouched, and the requests use different forms. Our Instagram guide covers that process.
Or Let Us Handle All of It
Departed Digital manages the whole process for families: Facebook, Instagram, Google, Apple, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, and any other platform, in one case. You send the documents once, we run every form and chase every silence until each account is memorialised or closed, and you receive a written record of everything for the family and the estate.
Packages start from £149, checkout shows your local currency automatically, and we work with families in the UK and internationally.
Let us handle it. One case covers Facebook and every other platform, with documents, requests, and follow up included. Start a case →