How to access/manage the account of someone who has passed away (find, family tree)

[Roselvr]

I don't recall anyone posting this yet. If we die, we may want a child or other relative to take over our ancestry account. Ancestry will do it as long as the person has the legal right to take it over. It is similar at My Heritage which is posted below but they do not need as much documentation yet, you have to be a first degree relative there.

Same goes if there is an elderly relative with an account that they'd like you to take over. Make sure you get everything together so that you won't have a problem when the time comes.



Managing a Deceased Person’s Account

How to access the account of someone who has passed away

In order to gain access to the account of a deceased member, collect as many of the documents listed below as possible, then contact us.

Documents Ancestry® will consider prior to providing access to deceased members’ accounts:

1. All legal documentation which confirms that you are the executor of the member’s estate, or if you are based outside the United States, the legal document required in your country of residence to confirm that you are legally entitled to act on behalf of the deceased member; or
2. Demonstrate that the executor of the estate has granted permission for you to assume control of the member’s account. If you are relying on a letter from the executor, you should demonstrate the executor’s right to write such letter, for example by providing a copy of the following:
* A letter of appointment
* A letter of administration
* A letter of representation
* A copy of the will
* Letters testamentary; and/ or
3. A copy of the member’s death certificate; and/or
4. Proof of identification that verifies your authority to take over the relevant account; or
5. An email from the email address on file for the account or proof that you have access to the email account associated with the member’s Ancestry account (after the date of death)

Please note that you will be asked to produce the above documents (and potentially other documents, depending on the specific requirements in your country) in order to prove that you are entitled to take over the account.



The webmaster (site creator) has passed away. How can I delete or take over the account?

If you wish to delete the MyHeritage account of a deceased relative or take over his/her family site, please contact our support team with the following details:

- The registered email address of the webmaster who passed away;

- The death certificate of the deceased webmaster;

- The name of three living relatives on the user's family tree.

Please note: this request can only be submitted by a first-degree relative (spouse, sibling, parent, child).

[Chava61]

I know that Geni will allow one to notify them of a relative in your family tree who is deceased so that you can change their status from living to dead (when the person has made their account uneditable normally).

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by Chava61

I know that Geni will allow one to notify them of a relative in your family tree who is deceased so that you can change their status from living to dead (when the person has made their account uneditable normally).

I have geni but don't use it. I wonder if they let people take over accounts there.

[NorthofHere]

It isn't that difficult. No need to involve ancestry. Just have the person leave passwords and login information. From there you can then change the profile information. You would then go into tree info and change who you are in the tree as well as home person assuming you are in the tree. If not in the tree put yourself in where you belong. I don't have My Heritage so I am not sure how you would do it there but it is probably similar. Same goes with other social media accounts. Let people know what you want to do with them; that is take them down, leave them up with a message for a time period, or leave it up forever.

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by NorthofHere

It isn't that difficult. No need to involve ancestry. Just have the person leave passwords and login information. From there you can then change the profile information. You would then go into tree info and change who you are in the tree as well as home person assuming you are in the tree. If not in the tree put yourself in where you belong. I don't have My Heritage so I am not sure how you would do it there but it is probably similar. Same goes with other social media accounts. Let people know what you want to do with them; that is take them down, leave them up with a message for a time period, or leave it up forever.

Although a good suggestion sometimes people die more suddenly and nobody has their login or password information. I assume in that case would contact the customer service and find out what they require.

[NorthofHere]

Understood but there are much simpler ways if you as the account holder are aware of so you can plan.

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by NorthofHere

Understood but there are much simpler ways if you as the account holder are aware of so you can plan.

I've seen a lot of posts on Facebook about people trying to get access to their parents account after they've died.

One tip that can work is going on their computer and/or cell to log into their accounts that way to change the email addy and password, some times the deceased person doesn't have that saved in auto fill.

Since I've been seeing so many posts, I figured I'd post here for anyone that wanted to get it taken care of while their elderly relative is still alive.

A lot of us have multiple adult DNA tests on our account that we manage because we did it before ancestry stopped allowing it.

If I pay for a test, I always activate it myself making them a new ancestry account, then I make myself admin, then I will send them a sharing invite so they can make their own account to see their results. I invite them as a collaborator, which allows them to see ethnicity and matches, they can not download or delete the kit.

For anyone with a gmail account, you can use it to make multiple ancestry accounts by using a trick where say your email addy is roselvr@gmail.com, I want to activate my uncles DNA, I would use roselvr+UnclekDNa@gmail.com.

Gmail "doesn't see" the plus sign + plus words used, it is like getting an infinite number of gmail accounts in one inbox.