The short answer: A digital legacy checklist covers four things: naming who can legally access your accounts, putting every password in one place, telling each major platform, Google, Apple, LinkedIn, Netflix, who your contact is inside its own tools, and backing up the photos you can’t afford to lose. No single law or company does this for you automatically. You set it up once, in your own accounts, and update it as things change.
A digital legacy checklist is a single list of every online account you hold, who should have access to each one after you die or become incapacitated, and where the passwords live. It replaces hoping someone remembers your email password or guesses which subscription auto-renews on your card. If you’re earlier in life than you think this applies to, our piece on estate planning as a millennial makes the same case for starting now.
What belongs on a digital legacy checklist?
A complete digital legacy checklist has four columns for every account: the platform, the login, the person you want to have access, and the tool that platform offers, if any, to grant that access legally. Start with what matters most: your password manager, your primary email, banking and payment logins, cloud photo storage, and any social or subscription account your family will need to close. Our guide on what a digital legacy is and how to plan for one covers the full picture; this is the checklist version.
Who has the legal right to open your accounts after you die?
In the United States, the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), finalized by the Uniform Law Commission in 2015, gives an executor, guardian, trustee, or power-of-attorney agent legal authority to manage a person’s digital assets after death or incapacity. Most states that adopted RUFADAA still require the account holder to have already granted that access, through a platform’s own online tool or through language in a will or power of attorney. Naming someone as executor is not enough on its own.
Email and social media providers are also bound by the federal Stored Communications Act (18 U.S.C. § 2702), which bars them from handing over the contents of private messages to anyone, including an executor, unless an exception applies, such as the account holder’s own prior consent. That is the gap this checklist closes: the legal authority exists, but the access has to be switched on inside each account ahead of time. See why the pandemic showed the need for a digital will.
How do you build the password foundation first?
Every item on a digital legacy checklist depends on one password manager, not sticky notes or a memorized pattern reused everywhere. CISA’s official guidance on password managers recommends generating and storing a unique, strong password for every account, in line with NIST SP 800-63B’s recommendation of at least 15 characters per password. One master password, shared with your executor through your estate plan rather than by text or email, unlocks everything else on this list.
How does Google’s Inactive Account Manager work?
Google’s Inactive Account Manager lets you name up to 10 trusted contacts, set a custom timeout for how long your account can sit unused before anything happens, and choose exactly which data types, Gmail, Drive, Photos, YouTube, each contact is allowed to download. Nothing is shared until your account has been inactive for the period you set yourself, so turning this on today costs you nothing.
How does Apple’s Legacy Contact work?
Apple’s Legacy Contact requires two things before anyone gets in: the access key generated when the contact was added, and the account holder’s death certificate. Even then, the contact cannot see licensed media such as purchased movies, music, or apps, in-app purchases, payment details, or anything stored in Keychain. Set this up once in Settings, and give the access key to the same person named in your will, so it isn’t lost between now and when it’s needed.
What happens to LinkedIn, Netflix, and other subscriptions?
LinkedIn will memorialize a profile, adding a marker, locking it from login, and preserving posts, at the request of nearly anyone who reports the death. Closing the account for good is harder: LinkedIn requires Letters of Administration, Letters Testamentary, or another court order, and states it will never disclose a deceased member’s username or password to family under any circumstances.
Netflix has no inheritance or transfer process at all. An account can only be cancelled, either by someone who already has access, or by contacting Netflix with the email or phone number on file and the payment method used. Survivors then start a new account under their own payment details. List every subscription this way: cancel, don’t try to inherit.
How do you protect the photos and family memories?
The Library of Congress recommends the “3-2-1” rule for anything you can’t afford to lose: keep at least three copies, on two different types of storage media, with one copy in a separate physical location, and refresh the storage media every five years. A single cloud photo library is not a backup plan on its own. Add one external drive and one offsite copy, and note who holds each one.
Frequently asked questions
Is a digital legacy checklist the same as a will?
No. A digital legacy checklist lists your accounts, passwords, and chosen contacts; a will is the legal document that can give your executor authority under RUFADAA to act on that list. You need both: the checklist tells people what exists, and the will or power of attorney gives them the right to use it.
How often should I update my digital legacy checklist?
Update it whenever you open, close, or change the password on an account, and review the full list at least once a year. A checklist built on three-year-old passwords is close to useless, since most entries will have changed by then.
Where do I start if I have dozens of accounts?
Start with your password manager, your primary email, and any account tied to money: banking, payment apps, and subscriptions on autopay. Those three unlock most of what follows, and CISA’s password manager guidance is the fastest way to get every login into one place at once.
A finished checklist is worth more than a perfect one. Start with the accounts that would cause the most trouble if no one could reach them, and build out from there. Read the full picture in Your Digital Legacy, and if a platform isn’t covered here, ask Justine anything, right on Myend.com.
This article is general information, not legal, medical, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional in your jurisdiction before acting on it.
Last reviewed: August 2026
