Facebook holds a large part of many people’s social lives – photos, messages, memories, connections built over years. When someone dies, their profile does not simply disappear. Without action from family or friends, it remains online as it was: still showing up in other people’s feeds, still receiving birthday notifications, still vulnerable to being hacked by criminals who target dormant accounts.
Facebook offers three distinct options: memorialising the account, requesting its removal, or activating a Legacy Contact if one was designated before death. Each option works differently, has different eligibility requirements, and suits different circumstances. This guide explains each one, covers what to do on Instagram and WhatsApp (both Meta-owned), and flags the practical issues families commonly run into.
Quick reference:
- Request form (memorialisation or removal): facebook.com/help/contact/228813257197480
- Phone support: None – Facebook has no telephone bereavement line
- Documents needed: Proof of death (death certificate, obituary, or memorial card); proof of relationship if requesting removal
- Process time: Typically a few days for memorialisation; removal varies
Understanding your options
Facebook provides three routes for families and friends dealing with a deceased person’s account:
| Option | Who can request it | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Memorialise the account | Anyone with proof of death | Profile becomes a tribute space; “Remembering” appears above the name; account is locked against login |
| Remove the account | Immediate family members, executors, or a Legacy Contact | Account is permanently deleted |
| Activate Legacy Contact | Only the designated Legacy Contact | Contact gains limited management rights over the memorialised profile |
The right choice depends on what the family wants. Memorialisation preserves the profile as a permanent memorial, keeps photos and posts visible to friends, and protects the account from being accessed by anyone. Removal wipes the account entirely. If a Legacy Contact was set up, that person has some control over what happens next – including the option to request removal themselves.
If you are unsure, memorialisation is generally the safer first step. Removal is permanent and cannot be reversed.
How to memorialise a Facebook account
Memorialisation converts the profile into a tribute space. Once memorialised:
- The word “Remembering” appears above the person’s name on their profile
- No one can log in to the account – not even family members or Facebook staff
- Existing posts, photos, and content remain visible to the audience they were originally shared with
- The profile no longer appears in birthday reminders or “People You May Know” suggestions
- Facebook will not serve the profile in advertising
Who can request it: Anyone. You do not need to be a family member – a friend, colleague, or any person who knew the deceased can submit the request.
Step by step
- Go to Facebook’s Special Request form at facebook.com/help/contact/228813257197480
- Select “Please memorialise this account”
- Enter your full name and email address, the deceased person’s full name as it appears on their profile, and their profile URL
- Upload proof of death – Facebook accepts a death certificate, an obituary, or a memorial card. The name on the document should match the Facebook profile name; if it does not, include a note of explanation
- Submit the request
Facebook reviews each request. Memorialisation is typically processed within a few days. You will receive an email confirmation to the address you provided.
Once memorialised, a Legacy Contact (if one was designated) can pin a post, update the profile or cover photo, and respond to new friend requests. No one else can make changes to the account.
(Source: Special Request for a Deceased Person’s Account – Facebook Help Centre, last verified April 2026.)
Appointing or activating a Legacy Contact
A Legacy Contact is a person designated by the account holder – while they were alive – to manage the memorialised profile after their death. It is Facebook’s equivalent of a digital executor for the profile.
What a Legacy Contact can do:
- Pin a tribute post at the top of the profile (for example, funeral details or a tribute message)
- Update the profile picture and cover photo
- Accept or decline new friend requests
- Request removal of the account
What a Legacy Contact cannot do:
- Log in to the account
- Read private messages
- Remove or edit existing posts, photos, or comments
- See content the deceased had set to private
Activating Legacy Contact after a death
If the deceased set up a Legacy Contact, that person will need to contact Facebook to let them know about the death. The process runs through the same Special Request form – the Legacy Contact submits proof of death and identifies themselves as the designated contact.
Facebook may ask the Legacy Contact to provide additional verification. Once verified, the Legacy Contact gains the management rights described above.
If no Legacy Contact was set up, this option is not available. There is no way to retrospectively assign Legacy Contact rights to someone after a death.
For your own planning: Legacy Contact can be set up at any time via Settings → Accounts Centre → Personal Details → Account Ownership and Control → Memorialisation.
(Source: About Legacy Contacts – Facebook Help Centre, last verified April 2026.)
Requesting account removal
If the family would prefer the account to be permanently deleted rather than preserved, removal is available – but with stricter eligibility than memorialisation.
Who can request removal: An immediate family member (spouse, parent, child, or sibling), an executor of the estate, or a Legacy Contact if one was designated. Facebook may ask for documentation demonstrating your relationship or authority.
The removal process
- Go to facebook.com/help/contact/228813257197480
- Select “Please remove this account because the account owner is deceased”
- Provide your contact details and the deceased’s profile information
- Upload proof of death (death certificate, obituary, or memorial card)
- Upload proof of your relationship or authority – a birth certificate, marriage certificate, will, or grant of probate as appropriate
Important: removal is permanent. Once Facebook deletes the account, all photos, posts, messages, and data are gone. There is no recovery route. If there is anything in the account the family would want to preserve – photographs in particular – there is no mechanism for Facebook to extract and send that content to you. The removal request should only be submitted once the family is certain there is nothing they want to keep.
If a Legacy Contact was designated, only the Legacy Contact can request removal – not other family members. This is a deliberate rule: the account holder’s choice of Legacy Contact is treated as their instruction about who should make decisions after their death.
(Source: Special Request for a Deceased Person’s Account – Facebook Help Centre, last verified April 2026.)
Accessing data or content from a deceased person’s account
This is the question families ask most often, and the answer requires honesty: Facebook’s options are very limited.
Facebook will not provide login credentials to family members under any circumstances. This applies regardless of relationship, probate status, or documentation provided. The deceased person’s right to privacy does not automatically transfer to next of kin.
Facebook’s Special Request form does include an “I have a special request” option for situations outside standard memorialisation and removal. In practice, however, Facebook does not offer a formal data download route for next of kin in the way that some other platforms do. Requests are handled case by case, and families should not expect to receive email history, message content, or other private data.
UK law currently provides limited additional recourse. Unlike some US states that have enacted specific digital assets legislation giving executors access rights, England, Wales, and Scotland have no equivalent statutory provisions. Executors are reliant on Facebook’s own policies – they cannot compel access.
If photographs or public posts are the priority, the most practical step is to ask friends and family to screenshot and share content before the account is memorialised or removed, since once either action is taken, the profile is locked or gone.
(Sources: Special Request for a Deceased Person’s Account – Facebook Help Centre; Digital Assets – Law Commission consultation, last verified April 2026.)
Instagram and WhatsApp
Both Instagram and WhatsApp are owned by Meta, but each operates as a separate platform with its own bereavement process.
Instagram offers the same two options as Facebook: memorialisation or account removal.
Memorialisation: Anyone can request that a deceased person’s Instagram account be memorialised. Once memorialised, the profile displays “Remembering” next to the username, no one can log in, and all existing posts remain visible to their original audience. Memorialisation is permanent and cannot be reversed.
To request memorialisation, submit Instagram’s online form at help.instagram.com/contact/452224988254813. You will need to provide the deceased’s Instagram username and profile URL, your contact information, and proof of death (a death certificate or, in some cases, an obituary link).
Removal: Immediate family members or executors can request that the account be permanently deleted. Use Instagram’s account removal request form at help.instagram.com/contact/615188475798328. As with Facebook, removal requires proof of death and documentation showing your authority to act – a birth or marriage certificate, will, or grant of probate.
Instagram does not currently offer a Legacy Contact feature equivalent to Facebook’s.
For a full step-by-step guide to Instagram’s separate bereavement forms, required documents, and processing times, see our dedicated guide to notifying Instagram when someone dies.
(Sources: About memorialised Instagram profiles – Instagram Help Centre; Report a deceased person’s Instagram profile – Instagram Help Centre, last verified April 2026.)
WhatsApp takes a different approach – one driven by inactivity rather than formal bereavement processes.
WhatsApp automatically deletes accounts that have been inactive for 120 days (roughly four months). Inactivity means the account has not connected to WhatsApp’s servers – the app has not been opened or had an internet connection in that time. After 120 days, the account is removed from groups and the account data is deleted.
WhatsApp does not offer memorialisation. There is no mechanism for family members to formally notify WhatsApp of a death, and no form to request account removal. The 120-day inactivity policy is the default outcome for all accounts where the phone is no longer in use.
This means WhatsApp accounts will resolve themselves over time without any action required from the family. If, however, the deceased’s phone is still active and connected, the 120-day clock will not start – which is worth bearing in mind if the phone is being retained by the family.
(Source: About inactive account deletion – WhatsApp Help Centre, last verified April 2026.)
Tips and what to watch out for
Accounts can be hacked after death
Dormant accounts are actively targeted by criminals. Hackers scan for inactive profiles, attempt to gain access using compromised password databases, and then use the account to post scam content – fake advertisements, messages to friends and family asking for money. The deceased’s name and photo are used to make the scam convincing.
Memorialising an account as soon as possible is one of the most effective things you can do to prevent this. Once memorialised, no one can log in – which closes the door on account takeovers.
Two-factor authentication can complicate removal requests
If the deceased had two-factor authentication enabled and linked it to a phone or authentication app that the family no longer has access to, this does not affect memorialisation or removal requests submitted through Facebook’s Special Request form. Those requests go through Facebook’s review process, not through the account login. You do not need to be able to log in to submit a bereavement request.
Memories and “On This Day”
Even after an account is memorialised, friends of the deceased may continue to see the person appear in Facebook’s Memories feature and “On This Day” prompts. Facebook’s algorithm generates these from historical data, and they can arrive without warning – a photograph from several years ago, a birthday reminder, a memory the platform has chosen to surface. This is a known issue and a source of genuine distress for bereaved people.
Friends who want to stop seeing a particular person in Memories can use the “Hide memory” option when one appears, or manage their Memories preferences in their own account settings. There is no setting that prevents a deceased person from appearing in other people’s Memories feeds, even after memorialisation.
Pages associated with the account
If the deceased administered any Facebook Pages – a community page, a business page, a group – those pages will lose an admin when the account is memorialised or removed. Pages with no other admin will be removed by Facebook. If the Pages are to be preserved, another person should be added as admin before the bereavement process begins, while anyone with existing access to the account is still available to help.
Summary
Facebook gives families meaningful control over a deceased person’s account, but the options work very differently depending on what you choose. Memorialisation preserves the profile as a tribute space and prevents account takeovers – it can be requested by anyone with proof of death, using the Special Request form. Removal permanently deletes the account and requires proof of relationship as well as proof of death. If a Legacy Contact was designated, that person manages the process and has the final say on removal.
Act promptly – dormant accounts are a target for criminals, and memorialisation is the fastest protection. Download or screenshot any photographs or public posts you want to keep before submitting any request, because there is no mechanism for retrieving data once an account is locked or deleted.
For Instagram, use the separate forms on Instagram’s Help Centre. For WhatsApp, the process is separate from Facebook and Instagram – see our dedicated guide to closing a WhatsApp account when someone dies for the full process, including group chats, encrypted backups, and WhatsApp Business.
For a broader overview of all the accounts and services to deal with after a bereavement, see our what to do after a death hub. If you are dealing with Google or Apple at the same time, our guides to notifying Google and notifying Apple cover similar digital account issues in detail. For handling LinkedIn – another social platform, but with a very different bereavement process – see our guide to notifying LinkedIn when someone dies. For TikTok, which has no memorialisation feature and fewer options for families than Facebook, see our guide to notifying TikTok when someone dies. For X (Twitter) – which also has no memorialisation option and works quite differently from Facebook – see our guide to notifying X (Twitter) when someone dies. For Snapchat, which also offers deletion only and has no memorialisation feature, see our guide to closing a Snapchat account when someone dies. For a full overview of how the law treats online accounts, photos, and digital purchases, see our guide to what happens to digital assets when someone dies.