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Facebook Adds Legacy Contact For Virtual Afterlife

What happens to your Facebook account after you die? As mentioned before, Facebook does allow family members to memorialize their loved ones that have passed away. But this can actually turn out to be an ordeal for the family because they may have to do some legal filings to actually get direct control over the account. Some people were giving their passwords to their family members so that they could get around this problem.

Facebook decided that the proper way to fix this problem was to allow all users to attach what they call “legacy contact” information to their account. This will allow this designated person to take over the Facebook account after the loved one passes. To set this up, click on the down arrow icon in the upper right, then “Settings,” then “Security,” then you will see the screen below.

fb legacy

Now click on “Legacy Contact” shown circled in red above. You will then get the screen below. Now choose a family member or close friend on Facebook that will take control over your account when you pass away. It should be somebody younger than you to avoid a situation where they pass away before you. You also have the option to have your account deleted after you pass away.

Optionally, your legacy contact will receive a message telling them they have been selected. Be sure to tell them that you are doing this first so they don’t think something horrible happened to you and panic.

fb legacy 2

Basically, that’s it. When you pass, and your Facebook account is memorialized, the legacy contact will be able to take over your account. You should probably tell them what to put on there, or more importantly, what NOT to put on there.