Memorialized Accounts
Memorialized accounts are a way for people on Facebook to remember and celebrate those who've passed away.
About Memorialized Accounts
You can choose to either appoint a legacy contact to look after your memorialized account or have your account permanently deleted from Facebook.
If you don't choose to have your account permanently deleted, it will be memorialized if we become aware of your passing.
Memorialized accounts
Memorialized accounts are a place for friends and family to gather and share memories after a person has passed away. Memorialized accounts have the following key features:
- The word Remembering will be shown next to the person's name on their profile.
- Depending on the privacy settings of the account, friends can share memories on the memorialized timeline.
- Content the person shared (example: photos, posts) stays on Facebook and is visible on Facebook to the audience it was shared with.
- Memorialized profiles don't appear in public spaces such as in suggestions for People You May Know, ads or birthday reminders.
- No one can log into a memorialized account.
- Memorialized accounts that don't have a legacy contact can't be changed.
- Pages with a sole admin whose account was memorialized will be removed from Facebook if we receive a valid memorialization request.
Legacy contacts
A legacy contact is someone you choose to look after your account if it's memorialized. We strongly suggest setting a legacy contact so your account can be managed once it's memorialized.
A legacy contact can accept friend requests on behalf of a memorialized account, pin a tribute post to the profile and change the profile picture and cover photo. If the memorialized account has an area for tributes, a legacy contact will be able to decide who can see and who can post tributes.
Learn more about what legacy contacts can do and how to add a legacy contact to your account.
Deleting your account when you pass away
You can choose to have your account permanently deleted should you pass away. This means that when someone lets us know that you’ve passed away, all of your messages, photos, posts, comments, reactions and info will be immediately and permanently removed from Facebook.
To request that your account be deleted:
- From the top right of Facebook, click
and select Settings.
- Click Memorialization Settings.
- Scroll down, click Request that your account be deleted after you pass away and click Delete After Death.
For friends and family
If you'd like to create another place for people on Facebook to share memories of your loved one, we suggest creating a group.
Learn how to request the memorialization of an account or how to request the removal of a deceased person's account from Facebook.
In most cases, once an account is memorialized, content can't be removed from it. If the person added a legacy contact to their account, the legacy contact can do things like:
- Change the person's profile picture and cover photo.
- Write a pinned post on the timeline.
- Respond to new friend requests.
If you feel that a piece of content on a memorialized timeline doesn't follow the Facebook Community Standards, you can report it with the Report link located next to that piece of content.
If Facebook is made aware that a person has passed away, it's our policy to memorialize the account.
Please keep in mind that it's always against the Facebook Terms to log into another person's account. We'll only be able to give you access to an account if we can verify that it’s your own account.
If you believe we've mistakenly memorialized your account, please let us know.
Right now, this feature isn't available in your area, but we're working to bring it to everyone on Facebook.
If your friend passed away and their account is no longer on Facebook, it's likely because:
- Your friend asked Facebook to remove their account after they passed away.
- Your friend's family requested to have your friend's account removed.
Requesting Memorialization
Memorializing the account:
Memorialized accounts are a place for friends and family to gather and share memories after a person has passed away. Memorializing an account also helps keep it secure by preventing anyone from logging into it.
It's our policy to memorialize an account for someone who has passed if a family member or close friend lets us know. Learn more about what happens to a memorialized account.
Please keep in mind that we can't provide login information for someone else's account even under these circumstances. It's always against Facebook's policies to log into another person's account.
To request memorialization for a profile, please contact us.
Removing the account:
Verified immediate family members may request the removal of a loved one’s account from Facebook.
We can help with questions or requests from family members, including requests to remove their loved one's account. Learn more about what happens when an account is removed from Facebook.
If you'd like to submit a question or request regarding your loved one's account, please contact us.
We're very sorry for your loss. To help us remove your loved one's account from Facebook, we'll need you to provide documentation to confirm you're an immediate family member or executor of the account holder.
The fastest way for us to process your request is for you to provide a scan or photo of your loved one's death certificate.
If you don't have your loved one's death certificate, you'll need to provide proof of authority and proof that your loved one has passed away. Please see the documents that we accept below.
Submit one document to provide proof of authority:
- Power of attorney.
- Birth certificate.
- Last will and testament.
- Estate letter.
Submit one document to provide proof that your loved one has passed away:
- Obituary.
- Memorial card.
Note: the information on the documentation you provide must match the information on your loved one's account. When submitting documentation, please cover up any personal information we don't need to fulfill your request (example: Social Security number).
Once you have the required documentation, please send us a request.
Learn more about what happens when an account is deleted.
Adding a Legacy Contact
A legacy contact is someone you choose to look after your account if it's memorialized. If you add a legacy contact, that person will be able to make decisions about your account once it is memorialized.
Your legacy contact can:
- Write a pinned post for your profile (example: to share a final message on your behalf or provide information about a memorial service).
- Update your profile picture and cover photo.
- Request the removal of your account.
- Download a copy of what you've shared on Facebook, if you have this feature turned on.
We may add more capabilities for legacy contacts in the future.
Your legacy contact can't:
- Log into your account.
- Read your messages.
- Remove any of your friends or make new friend requests.
Learn more about memorialization and how to add a legacy contact to your account.
If you're a legacy contact, learn how to manage a memorialized profile.
Note: You must be 18 or older to select a legacy contact.
You can add, change or remove your legacy contact in your account's General Settings at any time.
To add a legacy contact:
- Click
- Click Memorialization Settings.
- Type in a friend's name in Choose a friend and click Add.
- To let your friend know they're now your legacy contact, click Send.
To change or remove a legacy contact, follow steps 1–2 above, then click Remove. From there, you can add a new legacy contact if you'd like.
If your account is memorialized, your legacy contact will be notified. Learn more about what a legacy contact can do.
Note: You must be 18 or older to select a legacy contact.
Currently you can only add a Facebook friend as your legacy contact.
Learn how to add a legacy contact.
A legacy contact is chosen by the account holder, so it's not possible to add a legacy contact to an account that's already memorialized.
In your legacy settings, you can allow a legacy contact to download an archive of information you've shared after your account is memorialized. In that download, a legacy contact will receive:
- Photos and videos you uploaded.
- Wall posts.
- Profile and contact info.
- Events.
- Friends list.
Keep in mind that your legacy contact might download content that wasn't originally visible to them.
A legacy contact will not receive:
- Messages.
- Ads you clicked.
- Pokes.
- Security and settings info.
- Photos you automatically synced but didn't post.
Facebook may provide access to this type of information in response to a valid will or other legal consent document expressing clear consent.
For Friends & Legacy Contacts
If you're someone's legacy contact, you can pin a tribute post to the memorialized profile. This post will stay at the top of the memorialized profile. To add a pinned post:
- Go to your friend's or family member's profile.
- Write a post on your friend's timeline.
- Click
and select Pin to Top.
Your pinned post will stay at the top of the profile until you decide to change or remove it. To change or remove the pinned post:
- Go to the post.
- Click
- Select Unpin from Top, Edit Post or Delete.
To manage a memorialized account:
- Go to the memorialized profile.
- In the bottom right of the cover photo, click Manage.
- Use the menu on the left to do things like:
- Add a pinned post.
- Respond to new friend requests.
- Change the profile picture and cover photo.
As a legacy contact, you can also request to have the memorialized account you're managing removed. To submit an account removal request, or if you have questions about being a legacy contact, please fill out this form.
If someone let you know they chose you as a legacy contact and you don't want to be, we suggest letting them know by sending them a message or talking to them in person. Please keep in mind that everything you can do as a legacy contact is optional.
If a friend has passed away, you or their family can memorialize their Facebook account. Memorialized accounts don't appear in ads, birthday reminders or as suggestions for People You May Know.
Memorialization is a big decision. Before requesting memorialization, we recommend reaching out to the person's family.
Learn more about memorialization or contact us to request the memorialization of this person's account.
Once an account is memorialized, the content the person shared (example: photos, posts) remains on Facebook and is visible to the audience with whom it was shared. If the account holder chose a legacy contact, the legacy contact can control who can post tributes on the memorialized account and who can see those tributes.
In rare cases, we consider requests for additional account information or content. You'll be required to provide proof that you're an authorized representative (example: family member) and a court order. Please keep in mind that sending a request or filing the required documentation doesn't guarantee that we'll be able to provide you with the content of the deceased person's account. In addition, we'll memorialize the deceased person's account once we receive your request.
If you'd like to send us a request, please contact us.
