Resources / Guide 35 / NZ digital legacy guide
Social Media Accounts After Death NZ
Social media accounts after death NZ planning is part of a wider digital legacy record: people need to know which accounts exist, what should happen to them, and who can handle each platform process.
Use this when online profiles, photos, messages, subscriptions, cloud accounts, and platform-specific legacy settings need a readable plan.
What this guide covers
This guide is written as a practical reference for New Zealand families organizing private records before they become urgent. It focuses on the details that make a plan understandable to someone who may need to act quickly and carefully.
- Each platform has its own account, memorialisation, access, and deletion process.
- A useful plan records account purpose, wishes, contacts, and platform notes without publishing credentials.
- Legacy contacts, inactive account settings, and document references should be reviewed over time.
Inventory the accounts that matter
Start with social media, email, cloud storage, photos, messaging apps, creator accounts, domain names, business profiles, subscription services, and online communities that may need to be preserved, memorialised, transferred, reviewed, or closed.
- Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, and creator profiles
- Email, cloud storage, photo libraries, messaging apps, and account recovery paths
- Business profiles, websites, domains, subscriptions, and online communities
Record what should happen to each profile
Some accounts may need memorialisation, some may need deletion, some may hold photos or documents, and some should remain untouched until authority is confirmed. Write plain instructions next to each account.
- Memorialisation, deletion, preservation, transfer, or review wishes
- Photos, videos, documents, business records, and personal message notes
- Who to contact and what documents a platform may request
Track platform legacy settings
Google Inactive Account Manager, Apple Digital Legacy, and other platform settings can change how trusted people access or manage data. Record which settings exist, who was named, and where supporting documents are stored.
- Google Inactive Account Manager and Apple Legacy Contact notes
- Platform support links, death certificate notes, and account recovery paths
- Review reminders for changed platforms, devices, contacts, and wishes
Avoid turning the plan into a password list
A digital legacy plan should identify accounts and instructions while keeping sensitive access controlled. Use selected trusted access and avoid sending private credentials through ordinary messages or email.
- Account references separate from high-risk credentials
- Selected sharing for executor, family, advisor, or business roles
- Private notes for accounts that need professional or platform-specific handling
Common New Zealand questions
What happens to social media accounts after death?
Each platform has its own process. Some may support memorialisation, deletion, data requests, or legacy contacts. Legacy Toolkit helps you record the accounts, wishes, contacts, and supporting documents in one private plan.
Should I set up Google Inactive Account Manager or Apple Legacy Contact?
Those platform tools can be useful for some people. Legacy Toolkit can record whether you have set them up, who is named, where documents are stored, and which accounts should be reviewed.
Should I put social media passwords in my estate plan?
Be careful with credentials and platform terms. Legacy Toolkit is best used to organise account references, wishes, recovery paths, support links, and selected trusted access rather than making a loose password list.
How this fits in Legacy Toolkit
Use this guide as a working checklist inside the desktop vault. Create or review the relevant profile sections, attach the documents that support each record, add reminders where information can go stale, and share only the sections a trusted person needs for their role.
The goal is not to turn a private life into a public folder. The goal is to keep the plan legible, current, and controlled so the right person can find the right information without receiving the whole vault by default.
- Profile sections keep the plan readable instead of turning it into a loose notes file.
- Document attachments keep proof beside the account, asset, policy, or instruction it supports.
- Trusted access lets you prepare a handoff without exposing the full vault by default.
Social media accounts after death NZ checklist
Treat this as a first pass, not a final legal packet. Review the items, fill in what is missing, and return to the plan whenever a provider, account, advisor, family role, or document changes.
- List social, email, cloud, photo, messaging, creator, business, domain, and subscription accounts.
- Record whether each account should be preserved, memorialised, deleted, transferred, reviewed, or left alone.
- Track platform legacy settings, named contacts, support links, and document requirements.
- Attach death certificate, will, authority, device, and recovery-path notes where relevant.
- Share only the sections a trusted person needs and review the plan when platforms or contacts change.
Official New Zealand references
These links are included for context. Legacy Toolkit helps organise records and does not replace legal, financial, tax, medical, or court advice.
Related next steps
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