Updated: April 2025  |  bremo.io financial guides

Digital Legacy Planning Canada: What Happens to Your Online Accounts

When a Canadian dies, their physical assets — bank accounts, property, vehicles, jewellery — are relatively straightforward to find and transfer. But the digital world is different. Email accounts, social media profiles, cryptocurrency wallets, online banking portals, streaming subscriptions, loyalty points, and digital photo collections all exist in a legal and practical grey zone that most Canadians have never thought about.

The Difference Between Digital Accounts and Digital Assets

It's important to distinguish between two categories:

Digital Accounts (licensed, non-transferable)

These are services you pay for or use but don't "own" — you have a license to use them under terms of service. Examples: Netflix, Spotify, Amazon Prime, Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, iCloud storage, LinkedIn. When you die, these accounts typically cannot be transferred. They close. Any content you "purchased" through iTunes or Kindle may not be passable to heirs in the traditional sense.

Digital Assets (property, transferable)

These are things of actual value that you own. Examples: cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.), PayPal and Venmo balances, online business accounts (Etsy, Shopify revenue), domain names, digital art/NFTs, online banking portal funds (the underlying bank account is transferable even if the portal login isn't), loyalty points and airline miles (policy-dependent).

Cryptocurrency: Canada's Biggest Digital Asset Challenge

Canada has one of the highest cryptocurrency ownership rates globally. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto assets can represent substantial value — sometimes an entire retirement portfolio. The challenge: cryptocurrency held in a personal wallet is secured by a private key (a long alphanumeric string or a seed phrase). If your family doesn't have that key, the cryptocurrency is permanently inaccessible. Forever. There is no bank to call, no court order that will unlock it.

Steps to ensure your crypto is accessible to your heirs:

1. Document everything: Which exchanges you use, which wallets you have, and critically — where the private keys or seed phrases are stored.
2. Secure the information properly: Seed phrases should never be stored digitally (on a computer or cloud — they can be hacked). Write them down and store physically in a safe location.
3. Tell your executor: Your executor needs to know crypto exists. Many estate lawyers now include crypto specifically in the estate inventory conversation.
4. Consider a hardware wallet with documented instructions: A Ledger or Trezor device with clear recovery instructions is one of the safest ways to pass crypto.
5. Use a crypto-friendly estate lawyer: This is a growing specialty in Canadian estate law.

Social Media After Death

The major platforms each have different policies:

Facebook and Instagram (Meta)

You can request memorialization of a Facebook profile (it becomes a memorial page) or request deletion. You can designate a "Legacy Contact" who manages the memorial page but cannot log in as you or see private messages. Instagram can be memorialized or deleted upon request with proof of death.

Google (Gmail, YouTube, Google Photos)

Google's "Inactive Account Manager" allows you to set a plan in advance: designate who gets notified if your account is inactive for 3-18 months, and what happens to your data. You can authorize specific people to download specific data. This is the most proactive planning tool among major platforms.

Apple

Apple's "Digital Legacy" feature allows you to designate up to five Legacy Contacts who can request access to your Apple ID data after your death. They receive a Digital Legacy Key during your life to use for this purpose. Apple ID content (iCloud photos, documents, etc.) can then be accessed with a death certificate and the Legacy Key.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn profiles can be removed by family members with a death certificate. There's no memorialization option.

Twitter/X

Twitter allows family members to deactivate an account with proof of death. No memorialization.

Email: Often More Valuable Than People Think

Your email account may contain financial account logins, important correspondence, tax documents, and more. Access after death is challenging — email providers rarely give family members access without a court order, citing privacy and terms of service. Best practice:

• Create a document listing all important email accounts.
• If using Google, set up Inactive Account Manager.
• Consider whether important documents stored in email should be downloaded and stored physically or in a shared location.

Online Financial Accounts and Subscriptions

Your executor needs to know about all online financial accounts:

• Online-only banks (EQ Bank, Simplii, Tangerine)
• PayPal, Venmo, and similar services — these hold real money
• Investment and trading accounts (Questrade, Wealthsimple, etc.)
• Revenue from online businesses, affiliate programs, or content creation

Subscriptions that will continue to charge after death (Netflix, Spotify, Adobe, software subscriptions) should be cancelled promptly by the executor. These monthly charges can add up while an estate is being settled.

Loyalty Points and Airline Miles

Policies vary significantly:

• Aeroplan (Air Canada): Miles can be transferred to a designated beneficiary or estate
• Air Miles: Non-transferable upon death, though some exceptions exist
• Scene+ and credit card points: Policies vary by card issuer; many allow estate redemption

For large point balances, it's worth checking the specific program terms. Some programs allow designation of a beneficiary in advance — do this if the balance is significant.

Creating a Digital Estate Plan

The practical steps:

1. Create a digital asset inventory: List all accounts, their URLs, and whether they have financial value.
2. Store credentials securely: A password manager (LastPass, 1Password, Bitwarden) with instructions for your executor to access it, or a physical document in a safe.
3. Set up Legacy Contact/Digital Legacy features on platforms that offer them (Apple, Google, Facebook).
4. Include digital assets in your will: Your will can specifically address cryptocurrency, domain names, and digital business assets.
5. Give your executor a "digital estate guide" — a separate document (not the will itself, which becomes public) with details on what you have and how to access it.
6. Review annually as your digital life evolves.

Privacy Considerations

Not everything digital needs to be accessible to family after your death. Personal diaries, private messages, and digital content you'd prefer not to share are entirely legitimate to instruct should be deleted. You can leave specific instructions with a trusted person or in a letter of wishes accompanying your will.