Digital Estate Planning: What Happens to Your Online Accounts When You Die?

Here's a scenario that plays out constantly and almost nobody plans for. Your spouse writes down your bank password. Good. Now they go to the computer, type it in, and then get this: "We've sent a 6-digit code to the number ending in 55." Your phone is sitting on the nightstand. It's locked. They don't know your PIN. Game over.

In 2026, your phone PIN is the master key to your entire digital estate. It's what unlocks two-factor authentication — which is what unlocks the bank, which is what unlocks email, which is what resets everything else. If your estate plan doesn't include it, you've left your family with 90% of a map.

Note: We're not suggesting you leave your phone PIN in an insecure place. We're suggesting you leave it somewhere specific and trusted — in your estate files with your attorney, or in a secured digital vault like MyLifeLedger accessible only to named trustees.

What Each Major Platform Actually Does

Google / Gmail

Google's Inactive Account Manager (buried in settings) lets you designate someone to access your data after a period of inactivity. Without this set up beforehand, your family can file a request — but Google reviews each one individually, approves few, and shares almost nothing.

Facebook / Instagram

You can designate a Legacy Contact in your Facebook settings who can manage your memorialized profile. But they can't log into your account and can't access messages. The account can also be permanently deleted upon verified death — but only if requested.

Apple / iCloud

Apple added Legacy Contact in 2021. Without it designated beforehand, the company is essentially locked — their terms of service prohibit account transfers, and they rarely grant access no matter the circumstance.

Cryptocurrency

There is no customer service at Bitcoin. If your seed phrase (the 12-24 recovery words) is not documented somewhere accessible, and you hold your own keys, that money is mathematically gone forever when you die. This one has no workaround.

Email Accounts

Email is the reset hub for everything else. Every 'Forgot Password' link sends a code here. Protect this access carefully — and document which email address is your primary one, since most people have several.

The Subscription Vampire Problem

Netflix. Adobe. The gym. Whatever meal kit service you still get despite telling yourself you're going to cancel it. These don't stop billing when you die. And canceling them after the fact requires logging in — which requires the password — which requires the 2FA code.

Your executor will end up calling the bank and blanket-canceling the credit card, which might be the card handling your mortgage auto-pay, which creates a whole different crisis.

The fix is a subscription audit. A simple list: every recurring charge, what it's for, whether it can be canceled and whether it should be canceled. Some things matter — domain names, cloud storage with family photos. Others don't.

The Minimum Your Family Needs

Your primary email address and which account handles the bulk of your logins

Your phone PIN

Instructions for each social media platform — memorialize or delete?

Legacy Contact set up on Google, Apple, and Facebook — do this now, takes 10 minutes total

Location of crypto hardware wallet and seed phrase (NOT the phrase itself — just where it is)

Any cloud storage that has irreplaceable family content

MyLifeLedger includes a dedicated Digital Accounts section for mapping all of this — not the passwords, but the institutions, the instructions, and the notes your family actually needs to navigate your digital footprint.

What Happens to Your Online Accounts When You Die?