How to cancel a deceased person's subscriptions and digital accounts
This guide covers the order to work through the list, what Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn each need, and what to do about shared plans.
How do you stop the payments before you cancel anything?
You stop the payments at source, by asking the bank to cancel the direct debits, standing orders and recurring card payments on the account. Once the bank has been told of the death and the account is frozen, those payments stop, which prevents further charges while you work through the cancellations. Our guide on direct debits and standing orders after a death explains what keeps running if you do not act, and how to notify a bank after someone dies sets out what the bank needs.
Stopping the payment is not the same as closing the account. A cancelled direct debit ends the charge, but the subscription still exists in the provider's records, sometimes accruing a notional balance and usually leaving personal data on their servers.
How do you find every subscription the person paid for?
You find them in 3 places: the bank and card statements, the email inbox, and the app store settings on the person's phone. Work back through 3 to 4 months of statements to catch anything billed quarterly or annually, because every paid subscription shows up there as a line item.
The inbox is the second source, full of receipts and renewal reminders that reveal free accounts and trials the statements never show. Accounts that leave no trace are the hardest part, and My Lost Account helps with dormant bank and savings accounts of that kind.
Sort what you find into 4 groups as you go.
Paid subscriptions: streaming, news, music, software, cloud storage and gyms, billed monthly or yearly.
Financial and shopping accounts: PayPal, Amazon and eBay, which hold stored payment details.
Social media and communication accounts: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and email.
Platform accounts: Apple and Google, which usually sit underneath everything else.
How do you cancel a Netflix or Spotify account when someone dies?
You contact the provider, tell them the account holder has died, and ask them to cancel the subscription and close the account. Netflix and Spotify both bill on a recurring payment that keeps charging until someone stops it. Most large companies now have a bereavement process, even if it is not easy to find, so search the provider's help pages for the word "bereavement".
Netflix's help centre asks anyone without account access for the account's email or phone number, plus its payment details (Netflix Help Centre). It does not list a death certificate as a requirement. Spotify publishes no dedicated bereavement policy on its support site, so contact Spotify support directly and ask what proof it needs. Some other providers do want a copy of the death certificate, and a few want proof that you are entitled to act, so settle how many death certificates you need first.
What happens to an Amazon, PayPal or eBay account when someone dies?
These are shopping and financial accounts rather than simple subscriptions, so each one needs closing as well as cancelling. An Amazon account often combines a Prime subscription, stored card details and, on some accounts, linked household members. A PayPal account can hold a balance that belongs to the estate. An eBay account holds stored payment details and a selling history, so deal with the stored card before closing anything. Amazon's bereavement support page asks for a death certificate, proof of authority such as probate or executor documents, and a valid photo ID. You email these, plus the account's email address or phone number, to Amazon's bereavement support team (Amazon Bereavement support). eBay asks for the same core documents: a death certificate, a court order or other probate proof, and the requester's photo ID (eBay Help Centre). Closure can take up to 60 days if the account has had recent transactions, payments, claims or disputes.
How do you close an Apple or Google account after a death?
You use the platform's own legacy tool first, and contact the company directly only if the person never set one up. Apple and Google accounts hold photos, documents, purchases and often the keys to other logins.
Apple offers a Legacy Contact feature, where the person may have nominated someone before death to access their account and data, with the steps on Apple's Legacy Contact support page. Where no Legacy Contact was named, you can still request access or deletion by contacting Apple with a death certificate and, usually, a court order for the data.
Google runs a similar system called Inactive Account Manager, which lets a person decide in advance what happens to their account after a period of inactivity, including passing data to a named contact or deleting everything. Where it was not set up, Google has a separate process to close the account or request funds and data, on Google's help pages for a deceased person's account. Neither company publishes a fixed timescale for a deceased-account request. Apple says only that it tries to help "as much and as quickly as possible" (Apple Support). Google says only that a decision follows "a careful review" of the request (Google Account Help). Expect either request to take longer than a streaming cancellation.
How do you close a Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn account after a death?
Facebook and Instagram give you 2 choices: memorialise the account or delete it. Memorialising freezes the profile as a place for friends and family to share memories, and the word "Remembering" appears next to the person's name. Deletion removes the profile entirely. If the person named a legacy contact on Facebook beforehand, that person can manage the memorialised profile within limits.
You make the request through Facebook's memorialisation and deletion process, providing proof of death such as the death certificate or a link to an obituary. LinkedIn sits outside that process and has to be dealt with separately. Anyone can report a LinkedIn member as deceased, and LinkedIn will memorialise the profile without asking for legal documents (LinkedIn Help Centre). Closing the account instead needs authorisation, such as letters of administration, letters of testamentary or another court order naming you as the estate's representative. You also need the member's email address, the date they died and a link to an obituary or news report.
Other platforms vary: some let a verified family member close an account, others only respond to the account holder. Decide as a family, because a deletion cannot be undone.
When should you close the person's email account?
Close the main email account last, after every other subscription and platform account has been dealt with. That inbox receives the password resets, the renewal notices and the verification codes for almost everything else, so closing it too early cuts off your route into the other accounts. Use it to find and confirm the others, then close it last.
Can you log in with their password and cancel everything yourself?
You should not, even though the saved passwords make it the obvious shortcut. Logging into someone else's account, even a deceased relative's, can breach the provider's terms of service and sits awkwardly with the Computer Misuse Act, and it can invalidate the proper bereavement process if the company notices unusual activity. Going through each provider's official channel is slower but leaves a record that you acted correctly.
The Information Commissioner's Office confirms that UK data protection law applies to living individuals, so a deceased person's data is not "personal data" under UK GDPR in the same way. The providers' own rules still govern access, but the estate can generally ask for accounts to be closed and data removed. The ICO guidance on personal information is the reference point if a provider disagrees.
What happens to a family plan or a shared subscription?
Cancelling the account holder's plan cuts off everyone else on it, so agree who is affected first. A Netflix or Spotify family plan, an Amazon Prime account with linked members, a shared cloud storage plan, a shared calendar, a shared photo library or a password manager may all have other people relying on them. Set up a fresh account in a living person's name where the family wants to keep the service.
Is there money in these accounts that belongs to the estate?
Yes, and it is worth reclaiming rather than writing off. A PayPal balance, gift card credit, store points and the unused portion of an annual subscription all belong to the estate, not to the provider, so a partial refund is worth asking for. PayPal balances are usually released to the estate on production of a death certificate and a grant of probate. Loyalty points and gift card balances vary by retailer, so ask each one directly.
These sums are individually small, but across a full list of accounts they add up, and they form part of the estate's value for probate. Where the total pushes the estate towards the inheritance tax threshold, the amounts need counting rather than ignoring.
How do you protect against fraud while you work through the list?
You register the death with the free mail-reduction and notification services, because an open account in a dead person's name is a fraud risk. Identity theft after a death is more common than most people realise, and a dormant email or social media account is a soft target.
Our guide on the Bereavement Register covers all 3 free services, the Bereavement Register, the Death Notification Service and the Deceased Preference Service. Report any fraudulent charge or misused account through Action Fraud, the UK's national reporting centre, and Citizens Advice sets out the immediate steps on its what to do after a death pages.
The government's Tell Us Once service handles the public sector in one go, informing HMRC, the DWP and the DVLA. Tell Us Once touches no private subscription or digital account, which is the gap this guide fills. Our guide on who to notify when someone dies gives the full checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Not always. Most streaming and software providers cancel on the account holder's name and registered email address alone. Gyms, memberships and anything with a fixed-term contract usually do want a copy of the death certificate, and many providers keep the copy they are sent rather than returning it.
A copy of the death certificate ends a gym or membership contract in almost every case, including a fixed-term agreement with months left to run. Some operators try to hold the estate to the remaining months. Consumer protection is on your side, so push back on any provider that resists.
No. Tell Us Once covers the public sector only, informing HMRC, the DWP, the DVLA and other government bodies from one submission. Tell Us Once touches no private subscription, streaming service, social media profile or platform account. Each of those has to be cancelled separately by someone acting for the estate.
That is a family decision, and it is worth taking slowly. Memorialising freezes the profile as a place for friends and family to share memories, with the word "Remembering" next to the person's name. Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. A memorialised profile can always be deleted later.
Yes, in most cases. Cancelling a subscription or closing a digital account rarely requires a grant of probate, because most providers ask only for the death certificate and the account details. Releasing money is different. A PayPal balance is usually paid to the estate on production of a grant of probate.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Individual circumstances vary. If you are dealing with an estate, consider taking advice from a solicitor who specialises in probate. For other guidance specific to your circumstances, speak to a funeral director, Citizens Advice, or a regulated financial adviser.