What Happens to a Facebook Account When Someone Dies — and How to Memorialize or Download It

Your mum's Facebook account is still up. Her last post is still there, and her friends are still commenting on it. You need to decide what happens to it - and you're not sure what your options even are.

Facebook offers three paths: memorialization (the profile becomes a read-only memorial), removal (the account is permanently deleted), and - only if she set one up before she died - a legacy contact, who can look after the memorialized profile and, if she allowed it, download a copy of what she shared. The order you do things in matters.

Before you start - what you need in hand:

• A death certificate, obituary link, or funeral home notice

• The email address or phone number she used for Facebook, if you know it

• Your own Facebook account, or a browser where you can reach Facebook's Help Center

• Time: Facebook replies by email - often within a few days, sometimes longer

Do not try to log in as her or reset her password. It breaks Meta's terms and can lock the account, which makes memorializing it harder.

The fastest safe way to memorialize or download a Facebook account

If you want her profile to stay up as a place where friends can share memories, request memorialization. If you want a copy of what she shared, the only sanctioned route is her legacy contact - if she named one and allowed downloads. Everything else - saving the photos you can already see, asking friends for theirs - you can start today.

Step 1: Understand the three options Facebook gives you

• Memorialization: the profile stays up, with "Remembering" next to her name. Friends can still see what she shared and post memories. Nobody can log in.

• Removal: the account is permanently deleted. It needs verified immediate family or an executor and a death certificate; if she named a legacy contact, only that person can request removal.

• A copy of what she shared: if she named a legacy contact and turned on the download permission, that person can download her posts, photos, videos and profile information. Private Messenger messages are not included. Without a legacy contact, Meta doesn't offer family a download.

Step 2: Report the account to Facebook

Search Facebook's Help Center for "memorialization request" to find the form. It asks for her full name as it appears on Facebook, a link to her profile, and proof of death - an obituary, a death certificate or a memorial card. Any family member or friend can ask for memorialization; if you aren't close family, Facebook suggests talking to her family first. Removal and other special requests use a separate form and need proof that you're immediate family or the executor.

Step 3: Save what she shared (do this first, if you want it)

If she named a legacy contact with download permission, ask that person to request the download once the account is memorialized - and certainly before anyone asks for removal. Remember it covers what she shared, not her private messages.

If there's no legacy contact, save what you can already see: photos on her profile, comments that matter to you. Ask close friends for pictures and posts they have. It's slower and incomplete, but it's yours. If you have old printed photos or physical clippings among her things, protecting those family photos from loss is just as urgent as what's online.

Step 4: Memorialize the account

Once Facebook approves the request, "Remembering" appears next to her name. Friends can still see her photos and posts and leave memories, and she stops appearing in birthday reminders.

From then on, only a legacy contact can manage the profile. A legacy contact can write a pinned post, update the profile and cover photo, request removal and, if she allowed it, download a copy of what she shared. They can't log in as her, read her messages, remove friends or send new friend requests. If there's no legacy contact, the memorialized profile can't be changed - it simply stays as it is.

Step 5: Request removal instead (if that's what's right)

Some families find the profile painful to come across. Removal is a legitimate choice. Facebook's special request form for a deceased person's account asks for a death certificate and verifies that you're immediate family or the executor; if she named a legacy contact, the request has to come from them. If a legacy contact can download her content, ask them to do it first - once the account is removed, there's no way back.

What about Instagram?

Instagram, also owned by Meta, handles this separately. Search Instagram's Help Center for its memorialization request; it asks for similar proof of death. There is no legacy contact on Instagram, so plan on saving what you can see.

If you don't have access to her email or password

You don't need either. Memorialization and removal are requested through the Help Center with proof of death and your relationship to her. Only a legacy contact can download a copy of her content; if she named one, ask them - they may not realise they have that access.

If the account has already been deleted

If the account was deleted recently, contact Facebook through the Help Center straight away and explain. There are no guarantees. If it's gone, turn to what's still there: ask her friends for photos, posts and screenshots on their own devices and collect them in one folder. Old letters, printed photos and physical mementos can also help fill in the picture - using letters, clippings and photos as memory prompts is a gentle way to gather stories from family members while you still can.

Where to keep it once it's safe

Keep whatever you save on an external drive and in cloud storage, and share it with at least one other family member so it isn't locked to your account alone. Glow offers a private family space with guest links, where her photos can sit on a year-by-year timeline for the whole family.

Questions families ask about Facebook memorials

Can I download the messages between my mother and her friends?

No. Neither family nor a legacy contact receives her private Messenger conversations. The people she wrote to still have their side - if one message matters to you, ask them gently whether they'd share a screenshot.

What if I'm not listed as next of kin - can I still memorialize?

Yes. Any family member or friend can request memorialization with proof of death. Removal needs verified immediate family or an executor, or the legacy contact if she named one.

Can I change the profile picture or add a tribute post?

Only a legacy contact can, if she named one. Without a legacy contact, a memorialized profile can't be changed by anyone.

What if my family disagrees about whether to memorialize or delete?

Talk before anyone submits a request, if you can. Facebook doesn't describe a way for families to undo memorialization, though it doesn't rule out removal later; removal is permanent. If there's a legacy contact, ask them to download her content before anyone requests removal. If this process has made you think about preserving your own mother's stories while she's still here, recording a parent's life story is something you can start without any special equipment.

Facebook's policies change from time to time. Check Facebook's Help Center for the current process before you begin.