What happens to a deceased person's Facebook account?

Facebook gives a deceased person's account two paths: memorialization or permanent deletion. Anyone can request memorialization with proof of death, such as an obituary. The profile then shows the word Remembering above the name, and nobody can log in again. A Legacy Contact, if one was chosen in advance, can manage the memorial but cannot read messages. Immediate family or the executor can instead request deletion with a death certificate.

• Cost: free
• Nobody can log in to a memorialized account, even with the password (Facebook Help Center, 2026)
• Deletion: immediate family or the executor, with a death certificate or proof of authority

What is a memorialized account?

Memorialization freezes the account as a memorial. The word Remembering appears above the person's name, everything they shared stays visible to whoever could see it before, and the profile stops appearing in birthday reminders and friend suggestions. Nobody can log in to a memorialized account again. Not the family, not a hacker, not someone holding the password.

Anyone can ask Facebook to memorialize an account, and the bar for proof is low on purpose:

1. Gather proof of death. A link to an obituary or a news article is enough; a death certificate also works.
2. Open Facebook's memorialization request form.
3. Submit the person's name, profile link, date of death, and the proof.
4. Facebook reviews it and memorializes the account, usually within days.

Memorialization is the default outcome. Everything else on this page is about changing it.

What can a Legacy Contact do?

A Legacy Contact is one Facebook friend the person chose, while alive, in their settings. After the account is memorialized, that contact can write a pinned post (a funeral announcement, usually), accept new friend requests, update the profile and cover photos, download a copy of what the person shared if that permission was turned on, and ask Facebook to delete the account.

The list of what they cannot do matters more. They cannot log in. They cannot read messages. They cannot remove old posts, photos, or friends. Facebook built the role to tend the memorial, not to inherit the account. If no Legacy Contact was chosen, the memorialized profile simply sits unmanaged, and only the deletion request below can change that.

How do you get the account deleted instead?

Deletion is the narrower door, and Facebook only opens it for immediate family members or the executor of the estate. You submit the removal request with documentation: the death certificate is the cleanest, and when you do not have one, Facebook accepts proof of your authority (a will, an estate letter, or a power of attorney) together with proof of death, such as an obituary. Facebook reviews the request and permanently deletes the profile, photos, posts, and messages.

Deletion is final and it removes things other people may still want, like tagged photos of the person that relatives visit. Families argue about this more than any other step, so decide together before you file. The form does not have an undo.