When someone dies, their home, bank accounts and super are dealt with through well-worn legal channels. Their email, photos and cloud storage are not. Each is held under the terms of a private company, and those terms decide who gets in, and who does not.
This guide explains what the major platforms offer, what an Australian executor can realistically do, and where gaps tend to remain. It is general information, not legal advice.
The platform tools: useful, but each covers one account
The big technology companies have all built a “legacy” feature. They only work if you set them up while you are alive, and each one applies to that company’s services alone.
- Google Inactive Account Manager. You choose a period of inactivity, and nominate trusted contacts to be notified. You can decide whether they receive a copy of selected data, such as Gmail or Google Photos, and whether the account is then deleted. Check Google’s help page for the current options and limits.
- Apple Legacy Contact. You name a person, who receives an access key. After your death, they apply to Apple with the key and a copy of the death certificate. Apple’s help page lists exactly which data is accessible and what is excluded.
- Meta (Facebook and Instagram). You can nominate a legacy contact for Facebook, or ask for the account to be memorialised or removed. A legacy contact generally manages the memorial profile; it is not a route into private messages.
If you have not set any of these up, the family is left to apply through each company’s deceased-user process. That usually means paperwork, evidence of death and, often, evidence of authority, and the outcome is up to the provider.
What an Australian executor can do
An executor’s authority comes from the will and, in most cases, a grant of probate from the relevant state or territory Supreme Court. That authority clearly covers property and money. Digital accounts are less settled.
In practice:
- Terms of service still apply. Many providers treat accounts as personal and non-transferable, regardless of what the will says.
- Logging in as the deceased can breach those terms. Some families do it anyway. It is worth getting legal advice first, particularly for anything involving a financial platform.
- Providers set their own evidence rules. Expect to supply a death certificate and, for some, a grant of probate.
- Some things have no deadline you control. Subscriptions keep billing, domain names lapse, and crypto held in a self-custody wallet cannot be recovered without the keys or seed phrase.
A solicitor experienced in wills and estates can tell you how your will should refer to digital assets. Writing down where things are, and who may act, makes an executor’s job much easier.
Where the gaps are
Platform tools are good at the single account they cover. They do not help with:
- Subscriptions and recurring charges across dozens of providers.
- Password managers and two-factor codes, which sit between the executor and everything else.
- Crypto wallets and exchanges, where no company can reset access for you.
- Accounts with no legacy feature at all.
- A single, ordered plan that tells the family what to do first.
Where Solacekey fits
Solacekey is not a replacement for the Google, Apple or Meta tools. Use those too. What Solacekey adds is the coordination layer: you record a directive for each account, such as cancel this subscription, hand this access to this person, or secure this wallet. Nothing happens until trusted Verifiers you have chosen confirm the situation. Only then are your directives carried out, in the order you set.
Solacekey works within the terms of each service and does not override them. Where a provider requires formal evidence or a grant of probate, your directives say so, and your executor does the formal part with the instructions in hand.
A practical starting point
- List your email, cloud, social, financial and crypto accounts.
- Set the Google, Apple and Meta legacy options today. They take minutes.
- Tell your executor where your records are kept.
- Ask your solicitor how your will deals with digital assets.
- Choose the people you would trust as Verifiers.
If you would like to see how directives and Verifiers work, join the Solacekey list below and we will send you the next guide.