Facebook As Part of Your Estate?

Karen Williams attempted to learn more about her deceased son’s life by reviewing his Facebook account following his death. It eventually took Williams two years and a lawsuit to gain access to her son’s account after the social media site changed the account’s password. Currently, Facebook’s policy requires the social media site to place a deceased user’s account in a memorialized state, removing some information and allowing friends and family to access the user’s Facebook wall. Facebook will provide the decedent’s estate with a download of the account data if the user gave Facebook consent prior to death. Facebook will also close the decedent’s site if requested by the decedent’s relatives.

Now, lawmakers in Nebraska and Oklahoma are taking steps to help family members and friends gain access to a deceased loved one’s social media account, essentially incorporating the site into the decedent’s estate.   Last year Oklahoma became the first state to consider legislation governing how social media sites deal with a deceased user’s account. Nebraska is now reviewing legislation modeled after Oklahoma’s law that would allow relatives and friends to control the decedent’s social media accounts. The Oregon State Bar Association is working on creating similar legislation and hopes to propose legislation by next year.

See Is Facebook Part of Your Estate? States Weigh Laws to Govern Social Media Accounts After Death, Associated Press, Mar. 15, 2012.

Special thanks to Naomi Cahn (GWU Law School, John Theodore Fey Research Professor of Law) and Kristi Hsu (J.D. Candidate, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law).for bringing this article to my attention.