What happens to your Facebook and Instagram accounts when you die

28 October 2026 · 6 min read

Years of photos, messages and memories live on Facebook and Instagram. When someone dies, their family often discovers that nobody can log in, nobody can change anything, and the profile keeps showing up as if nothing had happened. Meta lets you decide in advance what should happen instead. Here's what each option does and how to set it up.

The three possible outcomes

1. A memorialized profile, which stays online as a place to remember you.
2. A memorialized profile looked after by a legacy contact, someone you chose to manage a few things on it.
3. Deletion, if you chose "Delete after death".

If you don't choose anything, your profile will usually be memorialized once Meta is told about your death, and anyone with the right documents can ask for that.

What a memorialized profile looks like

• The word Remembering appears next to your name.
• Your posts and photos stay on the platform, visible to the people you shared them with.
• Nobody can log in, not even your family.
• On Facebook, the profile no longer appears in birthday reminders, ads or "people you may know". On Instagram, it doesn't appear in places such as Explore.
• Without a legacy contact, a memorialized profile can't be changed at all.
• On Facebook, a Page whose only admin has died is removed, and a group whose only admin has died is paused. If you run either, add a second admin.

What a legacy contact can and can't do

A legacy contact is someone you choose to look after your profile once it's memorialized. You must be 18 or over to choose one.

On Facebook, your legacy contact can

• write a pinned post on your profile, for example to share a last message or details of the funeral,
• update your profile picture and cover photo,
• accept friend requests,
• download a copy of what you shared, if you turned that option on,
• ask for your account to be removed.

On Instagram, your legacy contact can

• update your profile picture,
• see and manage your tags,
• download a copy of what you shared, if you gave them permission.

On both, your legacy contact can't

• log in to your account,
• read your messages.

On Instagram, they also can't post or send messages as you. On Facebook, they can't remove your friends or send new friend requests, and they look after your main profile only. The important point on both platforms: a legacy contact is a caretaker, not an heir. Your private messages are not handed over.

Delete after death

If you'd rather not leave a profile behind, choose Delete after death instead of a legacy contact. On Facebook, your account is then deleted immediately and completely once Meta receives proof of your death: messages, photos, posts, comments and reactions. On Instagram, your profile is deleted after a valid memorialization request. Deletion can't be undone, so Meta strongly suggests telling your family about this choice. They may want to save photos first.

How to choose, in a few minutes

On both apps, the setting is in Accounts Center (Meta is moving some people to "Meta Account" settings, which work the same way):

1. Open Settings, then Accounts Center.
2. Go to Personal details → Account ownership and control → Memorialization.
3. Choose your profile, then either select a legacy contact or choose Delete after death.

On Facebook, your legacy contact has to be one of your Facebook friends. You can change your choice at any time, so it's worth telling the person you chose.

If you're the family

• To memorialize a profile, send Meta a memorialization request with proof of death, such as an obituary or a memorial card.
• To remove a Facebook account, you need to show you're an immediate family member or the executor. A scan or photo of the death certificate is the fastest route. Without it, Meta asks for one proof of authority (such as a power of attorney, the will or an estate letter) and one proof of death (such as an obituary).
• Don't log in with their password, even if you know it. Meta's rules don't allow anyone to use another person's account, and a memorialization request is the route Meta supports.

What this doesn't solve

Memorialization decides what happens to the profile, not to everything around it. The photos only you had, the accounts linked to your Facebook login, and your other online accounts all need their own plan. Start with our digital estate planning checklist and our guide to what happens to your passwords when you die.

Where Heritkey fits

We're building Heritkey to keep the rest of the plan in one place: your wishes for each account (memorialize or delete), who your legacy contacts are, the documents your family will need, and the logins and notes for everything else. It's all end-to-end encrypted, and the people you choose can open it only when it's needed. See how Heritkey works.