Handling a loved one's online accounts is one of the most time-consuming parts of estate admin — appointing a digital executor in advance removes many of the hardest steps.
What is a digital executor?
When you think about what happens after you die, you probably think about your will, your bank accounts, your home. But what about your email? Your social media? Your cryptocurrency? Your cloud storage full of family photos?
This is where a digital executor comes in — someone you trust to manage your online presence and digital assets after your death.
What does a digital executor do?
A digital executor is responsible for carrying out your wishes regarding your digital accounts and assets. Depending on what you've specified, this might include closing or deactivating social media accounts, securing or deleting email accounts, transferring digital assets that can be passed on (such as cryptocurrency or domain names) to beneficiaries, checking what happens to purchased music, films and ebooks, which are often licensed to the account holder rather than owned and may not be transferable, archiving important digital content (photos, documents, messages), canceling online subscriptions and services, managing any online businesses or revenue-generating accounts, and removing personal information from the internet.
Why do you need a digital executor?
Many people have dozens of online accounts, or more. Without someone authorized to manage them, these accounts can remain active indefinitely — creating security risks (identity theft from dormant accounts), financial drain (subscriptions continuing to charge), emotional pain (social media "memories" popping up for grieving family members), and lost assets (cryptocurrency wallets with no one who has access).
Traditional estate executors handle physical and financial assets, but they may not have the technical knowledge to handle digital accounts. A trusted digital helper can fill that practical gap — but note that a “digital executor” is usually not a separate legal role. The person legally entitled to act for the estate (such as an executor or the heirs, depending on the country) is not necessarily the same as the person you ask to help with your accounts.
How do you choose a digital executor?
Your digital executor should be someone who is tech-savvy enough to navigate different platforms and services, trustworthy enough to access your private digital life, reliable enough to carry out your specific wishes, and willing to take on the role.
This might be the same person as your estate executor, or it might be someone else — perhaps a tech-literate friend or family member. The most important thing is that they understand and are prepared for the responsibility.
What should you prepare for your digital executor?
A digital inventory. List every significant online account you have, including the service name, your username or email, the type of content or value stored there, and your wishes for each account (close, archive, transfer, memorialize).
Secure access to credentials. Use a password manager with an emergency access or legacy feature. Or store encrypted credentials in a secure vault with instructions for your digital executor. Never leave passwords in plain text in a document or note.
Specific instructions. Be as clear as possible about what you want done with each account. "Close my Facebook account" is clearer than "handle my social media." If there are accounts with sentimental value (like a photo storage account), specify exactly what should happen to the content.
Legal authority. Writing down who should handle your digital accounts — in your will or in a separate document — makes your wishes clear, but it does not by itself give that person legal authority or guarantee access. What authority they have depends on your country's law and each provider's terms, so ask a lawyer how to set this up, and use the platforms' own legacy features where available. Without proper authorization, many platforms will refuse to grant access — even to close family members.
What does the legal landscape look like?
The legal framework around digital assets and digital executors is still evolving. Some key things to know: many jurisdictions have enacted laws specifically addressing digital assets in estate planning. Most major platforms (Google, Facebook, Apple) have their own legacy or inactive account policies, and these often give limited access: Apple's Legacy Contact, for example, does not include purchased media or passwords stored in iCloud Keychain. Cryptocurrency and other blockchain assets have unique challenges — without private keys, these assets may be permanently inaccessible. Terms of service for most platforms technically prohibit sharing passwords — having legal authorization helps navigate this.
How do you appoint a digital executor?
Appointing a digital executor is simpler than you might think. Start by creating your digital inventory, choose someone you trust and ask if they're willing, record the appointment in your will or estate plan (and check with a lawyer what legal authority it gives under your country's law), use the platforms' own legacy features, set up a secure method for sharing credentials, and make sure your digital executor knows where everything is.
Review and update this plan at least once a year — your digital life changes more quickly than your physical one.
Solace Care makes digital legacy planning simple — helping you create a digital inventory, document your wishes, and securely share access with the people you trust. Start yours at app.solace.care.
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