Posted by Don Battah on Jun 21, 2018
Preparing one’s online personal data for moving on to greener pastures is often overlooked which might make an already stressful time for family even more so. 
 
To reduce such stress it is advised to prepare one’s online data for transfer.  A good example of this is what can be done with one’s Google account following death.  A Google account usually holds a significant amount of your personal information as well as documents, photos, emails, credit card information and more. Google now provides a service that makes this transference of information easier.
 
Normally, while it is possible for family members to access some amount of data after their loved one’s death it does involve contacting Google and providing a copy of a death certificate.  However, one’s family will not gain full access or control and they will not receive passwords.
 
Google state that: “We can work with immediate family members and representatives to close the account of a deceased person where appropriate. In certain circumstances, we may provide content from a deceased user's account. In all of these cases, our primary responsibility is to keep people's information secure, safe, and private. We cannot provide passwords or other login details. Any decision to satisfy a request about a deceased user will be made only after a careful review.”
 
A better way to do this is to use Google’s Inactive Account Manager which allows people to be more specific about how one’s data is handled and the length of time of inactivity it should take before the data should be shared.
 
This Google service will send reminder emails and text messages before the Account Manager activates due to such inactivity.  The data can be sent to one or more people who must be verified via text message before they can gain access. One can also decide whether or not to terminate the account after a nominated time after the message is sent regardless of whether the data is accessed or not.
 
Another option is to leave instructions in one’s Will as to what should be done with online accounts and the requisite steps needed to be taken to access all of the login information.  One option is to use a Password Manager that has sophisticated security measures that manage all login information by using a master password rather than the alternative of a potentially outdated and unsecure list of passwords
 
Reference Link is HERE.