Accessing a Deceased/Dead Person's E-mail

It happens a lot of time that when a person passes away his or her relatives need access to the email account of that person. But what if you don't know how to contact the friends of your loved one? What if their only address book was online with their e-mail? How would you let their friends in far off places know that the deceased is, well, deceased? Furthermore, if you want a record of all the messages that were received and sent as a way to remember the decedent, you're going to need access to their e-mail account. Although it's not hard to do, it just needs some paper-work.

Google Account (Gmail Account)

To begin the process to determine, please fax or mail the following information to Google :

1. Your full name, physical mailing address, and verifiable email address.

2. A photocopy of your government issued ID or driver’s license.

3. The Gmail address of the individual who passed away.

4a. The full header from an email message that you have received at your verifiable email address, from the Gmail address in question. (To obtain the header from a message in Gmail, open the message, click the down arrow next to Reply, at the top-right of the message pane, and select 'Show original.') The full headers will appear in a new window. Copy everything from 'Delivered-To:' through the 'References:' line. To obtain headers from other webmail or email providers, please follow these instructions.

4b. The entire contents of the message.

Please provide certified English translations of the following:

5. Proof of death

6. One of the following: a) if the decedent was 18 or older, please provide a Probate- or other Court Order stating that you are the lawful representative of the deceased's estate or b) if the decedent was under the age of 18 and you are the parent of the individual, please provide a copy of the decedent’s birth certificate.

Postal Mail:

Google Inc.
Attention: Gmail User Support- Decedents’ Accounts
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Or

Fax: 650-644-0358

After you have sent this information it takes 30 days for it to get processed and Google does not delete the account itself however the next kin can choose to do so.

Windows Live (Hotmail)

Microsoft has a policy of deleting an account if the account is not accessed for 270 days so if this period has not passed then the next kin will be able to access the account after sending an email to msrecord@microsoft.com. After the receipt of the email Microsoft will safeguard the account for six months. In that period of time you have to furnish the following documents.

1. The Xerox of the death certificate of the user 

2. Paperwork stating that you are the benefactor or the deceased estate or that you have the power of attorney
 

3. A Xerox of your drivers license or a government issued ID

4. A document with the following details

              Account name

              First and the last name of the account

              Date of the birth

              city, state and zip code

              Approximate date of account creation

              Approximate last sign in date

              

5. A physical mailing address

All the documents should be faxed to 425-708-0096 or sent via mail to the following address

Microsoft Corp

Attn: Online Services Custodian Records

1065 La Avenida, Building 4

Mountain View CA 94043.

Yahoo

Yahoo has a much strict policy over who can get access to your account. And that is no one. If you want to ensure no one has access to your emails when you die, you would want to choose Yahoo. Yahoo will not grant permission to anyone to access a deceased user’s account. The only permission Yahoo grants is for the account to be deleted. Therefore, Yahoo does not allow anyone to access your emails. The only way someone can do this is if they reset your account password.