Lately, the subject of access to digital accounts after the death of the owner has been in the news due, in no small part, to the fact that a number of states have adopted legislation addressing the matter. However, Germany just got it’s first bit of law on the subject after a Berlin regional court ruled that the parents of the deceased minor had the right to access their child’s Facebook account including all private messages. The court reasoned that the digital messages were the same as inheriting letters and other documents under normal estate law. In addition, the court addressed the privacy issue, an important aspect under German law, along the same lines saying a third party sender had no special right to privacy online than they would have with physical messages that were inherited. This ruling was vigorously fought by Facebook which severely limits the ability of non account holders to access the account of a deceased user. Currently an appeal is pending although no trial date has yet been set.
See Jabeen Bhatti, German Parents Can Inherit Child’s Online Profiles, BNA, April 20, 2016.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
