Reporting a Deceased Person on Facebook
On Facebook, you have two standard options when dealing with a deceased user’s account, plus a new legacy contact option that was recently introduced.
First, you can choose to turn the user’s account into a memorial page. Facebook basically leaves the user profile as it is, but prevents the memorialized page from being referenced on Facebook as an active user. Facebook will also take extra measures to secure the account in order to protect the privacy of the deceased user.
To have a user’s account memorialized, a friend or family member must fill out and submit a Memorializtion Request. You must provide proof of the user’s death, such as a link to an obituary or news article, so that Facebook can investigate and then approve the request.
The other option you have is to ask Facebook to close the account of the deceased user.
Facebook will only accept this request from immediate family members, asking them to fill out a Special Request for Deceased Person’s Account.
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Facebook’s New Legacy Contact Feature
Facebook recently introduced another feature to help manage memorialized profiles, called legacy contacts. Users can select a family member or friend on Facebook as their legacy contact, which gives them access to their profile when they die.
After a Memorialization Request has been made, Facebook will then allow the legacy contact to help manage the profile after the user has passed, giving them the ability to make a memorial post at the top of the deceased user’s profile, update photos, respond to friend requests and even download an archive of their information. The legacy contact will be able to manage all of these options from their own account, and will not be required to sign in to the deceased user’s account.
To choose a legacy contact, you must access your settings and under the Security tab, click or tap the “Legacy Contact” option that appears at the bottom. If you don’t want to have a legacy contact at all, you can alternatively let Facebook know that you want your profile to be permanently deleted after you’ve passed away.
