This is a touchy subject, but an important one. What happens to someone’s Facebook Account when he or she passes away? Relatives can request to have the account deleted, but often families don’t want to do that. They would like to keep the photos and posts of the dearly departed and leave a space for friends to leave their thoughts, but it can be very jarring to see a birthday reminder for a deceased friend.
Fortunately, Facebook does offer a memorialization option for accounts.
A memorialized account is different from a regular profile in several ways. No one can log into a memorialized account and no new friend requests can be accepted.
The account keeps the deceased’s previous privacy settings. So if he or she permitted friends to post on the timeline, friends and family can still share memories there.
Content shared by the deceased remains on Facebook and friends can still see it. Photos, status updates, links, videos etc… are still visible.
However, friends won’t receive special occasion reminders, and the deceased won’t pop up under suggestions for People You May Know.
To request that an account be memorialized, follow this link and fill out the form. It’s a simple form that requests basic information.
Family members, friends, co-workers or classmates can request the change. To prevent fraud or pranks in terrible taste, Facebook will request a link to an obituary or news article.
If immediate family members prefer, they can request the removal of the deceased’s account by following this link. For that you’ll need a birth and death certificate and proof that you are a representative of the deceased or their estate.
If you’d like to create a page in memory of someone who has already passed away, you would go to the Create a page section and create a page in memory of that person.
And I think it’s a good time to remind people that it’s a good idea to make sure that passwords to your social media accounts, blogs, e-mail and other online accounts are important. It’s not a bad idea to make sure you keep that information stored with your will and other important papers in the event you die or become incapacitated.
Hi Cynthia,
Thanks for this useful tip, and its reminder for all at its end too!
I think this is a great idea. Can I request a form for future use?
It’s an online form, available at any time.
Can I request that my own Facebook account be closed when I die? Would Fb keep it on file? I looked on their site but didn’t find this particular information. It seems a lot easier than relatives having to prove the death afterwards. Thank you.
Still, they would have no way of knowing that you has actually died without some proof. A good idea would be to put those instructions in with your will for your estate or attorney to attend to.
Got a notice that the page was not available.
Tried it again, and this time it did go through. Sorry about the earlier post.