How to notify Facebook when someone has passed away

Steps to notify Facebook

  Verify authorization

Before starting, gather the documentation showing your legal authorization to proceed. If in doubt, double check with your estate executor, or trustee. Facebook generally requires:

• Death Certificate - A death certificate is an official document issued by the government, which declares cause of death, location of death, time of death and other information about the deceased.
• Account Required - Provider requires you to have an account already established in order to be named as a contact or gain access.

Facebook Supports Advance Digital Directives

Check to see if the deceased left an advance directive with Facebook, which supports:

• Legacy Contact
  Legacy Contacts can look after memorialized profiles.
• Automatic Deletion
  You can configure your account to be deleted after your passing.

 

  Identify wishes

Facebook is a social network Identify what the deceased's instructions are, or what they wanted to have happen to this asset when they passed away. This is usually located in their will or living trust documents. Or, if they're using Eternal Me, authorized executors can login and view their instructions.

Facebook provides the following options:

   
• Memorialize - Legacy Contact to request the platform locally Memorialize your profile.
 
• Auto Deletion - You can configure automatic account deletion directly with a Digital Directive.
• Legacy Deletion - Assigned Legacy Contact to delete this account directly.
• Delete - Fiduciary to follow the policy to request deletion of the asset or closure of the account.

Digital Executor and Crypto Executor clients also have these options for Facebook:

• 
  Manual Deletion
  
  Request removal or deletion of the asset, or closure of account.
• 
  Eternalize
  
  Transfer a complete digital copy to your beneficiaries or an Eternal Memorial.
• 
  Custom
  
  Attempt custom instructions for managing this item.

 

  Administer Facebook

Now that you've verified your authorization and identified the deceased's wishes, do the work to carry out their instructions. You can click here to begin the process of administering Facebook. Or, if using our Digital or Crypto Executor service, you're all done -- just wait until you hear back from us on the status.

 

  Document activities

It's important to carefully record each interaction, and be able to check on and report the status to heirs and estate executors. This is automatically handled for users of Eternal Me.

 

  Continue to other assets

After handling the notification, move onto other assets. Here's a selection of other digital assets to address.