What is a Legacy Contact?

A Legacy Contact is a person you can choose to access your accounts (e.g. Apple, Instagram or Facebook) after your death. This gives the nominated person access to certain elements of your account and allows them to make decisions as to what steps they take in relation to your social media accounts and mobile phone.

When can I appoint a Legacy Contact?

You can appoint a Legacy Contact at any time. The most recent digital aspects where you can nominate a Legacy Contact include Apple, Instagram and Facebook. This does not give your nominated person access to your passwords, but it allows them to access specific information that you may like them to access in the event of your death.

With Facebook, your Legacy Contact can write a pinned post from your account, manage tribute posts, and update your profile picture and cover photo. They can also request the removal of your account upon your death. They cannot read your messages, make new friend requests, or delete friends. 

With Instagram, you can appoint a Legacy Contact to look after your account if it is memorialised. Your privacy is still protected as your Legacy Contact will not be able to remove or alter any posts, read your private messages or remove/add any friends. They can also request for your account to be deleted.

With Apple, a Death Certificate is required to authorise your appointed Legacy Contact before they are able to access any of your information. This is to protect your secured digital files and any private information. After security checks have been completed, Apple will issue your Legacy Contact with a username and password for the new account and release the necessary key information to them.

How Can We Help?

Here at Johnson Astills our expert solicitors would talk to you about your wishes and reasons when preparing a Will for you – they would then advise you on the best way for your wishes to be reflected upon your death. Considering a Legacy Contact is particularly helpful when you hold digital assets, such as Cryptocurrency, or when you have several people who may need to be contacted upon your death or those you communicate with via social media. Please see our article on Cryptocurrency here for more information regarding this.

Making a Will ensures that your estate will pass in accordance with your wishes. Here at Johnson Astills we can provide our clients with legal advice to help ensure that our clients’ estates are dealt with in accordance with their wishes - whether this is through drafting Wills for them, updating an existing Will with a Codicil, or even preparing a side Letter of Wishes to be stored alongside your Will with specific instructions in relation to your estate. Please get in touch with us at our office in Leicester or our office in Loughborough. Alternatively, you may prefer to email us at legal@johnsonastills.com or fill in our enquiry form and our solicitors would be pleased to assist.