This is how you cancel a Facebook account when someone dies
Facebook is a social networking site that allows users to share photos, articles, videos and more with their friend groups. Facebook also has unique legacy features that enable users to "memorialize" accounts. This has a few implications for the person who passed away, so please see below for further details.
Required information
- Email address
- Password
How to close Facebook account
Facebook accounts can either be deactivated or deleted. Deactivating an account allows you to go back to it later, while deletion gets rid of it entirely. Login into the deceased person's account and choose the following options:
- Log onto the account you wish to delete
- Navigate to the “Delete My Account” page
- Click “Delete My Account”
What if I don't have the required information?
Contact Facebook the following ways:
- Login to your Facebook account, and contact customer service
- If you don't have a Facebook account, then contacting customer service is virtually impossible. Experts recommend contacting Facebook via their Facebook Help Community page.
How do I create a legacy account?
Facebook has settings that users can toggle while they're alive, and set up what happens in the event of their death. In this case, the person who passed away may have already chosen to have their page deleted upon notification from you of their death.
If they didn't choose "delete account upon my passing" as an option while they were alive, then Facebook will automatically "memorialize" the page upon notification from you of their passing.
A "memorialized" page will contain the word "Remembering" by the person's name, and Facebook claims that no one access this account to make changes. Only photos and videos that the person uploaded while living will be visible.
Official Site: www.facebook.com
Official Facebook page on closing accounts
Official Facebook page on memorializing accounts
Atticus' Legacy Review of Facebook's closing account process after someone dies = 9.5/10
Facebook gets extremely high marks in it's handling of the closing accounts process after someone dies because of the care they've given to the subject. Facebook provides an intimate look into someones, and they honor that by being sensitive to how that information is shared after someones passes. Also, having the ability to specify what you want before that happens is incredibly unique. Facebook only misses out on a perfect score because if you don't have a Facebook page it's extremely difficult to contact them. Hopefully, after receiving this less than perfect mark they'll write one for their clients.
